Called it.

-Rog

AHEMMMMMMM.

Gentlemen, technically, its called a cylinder head cover.



Additionally, I've found Victor Reinz gaskets to be meh. I started just buying gaskets right from MB. So far just an oil pan gasket, OEM is Elring.

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82 300SD 145k
89 420SEL 210k
89 560SEL 118k
90 300SE 262k RIP 5/25/2010
90 560SEL 154k
91 300D 2.5 Turbo. 241k
93 190E 3.0 235k
93 300E 195k

I call it a spinning springy things cover.

My Victor Reinz cylinder head/cam/valve/springy things cover gasket seems to let a bit of oil by. Just enough to crust up around the ends. Next time I'll get an OEM gasket and we'll see how it goes.

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1979 300D 040 Black on Black - 1985 300D Maaco job (sadly sprayed over 199 Black Pearl Metallic) on Palamino

http://i.imgur.com/LslW733.jpg

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Unless I missed it no one has mentioned getting another Valve Cover (or what ever you want to call it) from a Junk Yard.

One might also wonder if there is some Hair Line Cracks in the Cover.

Is there any evidence of a high Crancase Pressure?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

I bet high crank case pressure would do it. Also, I watched the video, kind of curious what the secret is

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1982 300D Turbodiesel, daily driver. Mods so far: Fram 8038 paper filter, 4 brake light mod, Gen II w126 (front) rotors/calipers, boost turned up to 12lbs, non-egr manifolds, water/methanol injection, 4-speed manual
1980 300SD Turbodiesel, project car, nearly ready to hit the street

1974 240D, New paint

Hi,

I was too cheap to pay the $3 for the video at M...source.com. I like the place and I love the free videos for entertainment value, but I'm just a cheap old benz wrench and I just couldn't pay up. So here is what I did. I have had a lot of weepy Victor Reinz gaskets. My last three valve adjustments have leaked.

So I was thinking maybe the gaskets suck and that may be true. I read all the threads on this and realized I should try something. Unfortunately like others here I padded my orders at Peach with extra VR gaskets so I really was faced with using some kind of sealant or trying to figure out what M....source.com had done to their modified valve covers.

SO i pulled off my cover and the little bolt holes looked like this. Really mashed up from the shoulder on the stud. Either the PO crushed down the gasket and mashed the lugs, or perhaps I did that in desperation trying to stop the leak. Now really, if this was mashed up, I should still be able to torque the cover down properly to make it seal. So perhaps the new VR gaskets aren't tall enough. Will overtorquing ruin the cover so it cannot seal? I dunno.

The head had some residue of sealant that was from the PO. I've done vc gasket several times so I guess I didn't really clean up the surface that well. I really didn't want to use goop so I carefully scraped up all the old goo. There were some pretty deep gouges in my gasket. It looked like it had indentations from a sharp object, maybe the nuts on the cam towers as I muscled it on last time. I made a point to to be careful installing today.

Here is my damaged cover lug.



You can clearly see the shoulder embossed itself a dent in the surface. Heheh, maybe I did this.

So I shaved them down with a big bastard file.



And here is how it looked after I put the gasket on. I think I shaved off 1mm roughly speaking.



It doesn't make sense why this would help seal unless the gaskets are thinner now. Perhaps. It would be neat if somebody could measure a VR and OEM MB side by side.

Anyhow it is wait and see now. I torqued to 10 ft lbs with a torque wrench.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

I would try filing the bosses. But, I would only do so after carefully measuring clearances w/ a vernier caliper, against a flat surface. Perhaps another way to get the seal tight is to stuff a length of O-ring material inside a new gasket so it compresses more. Buna-N (nitrile) should work).

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1984 & 1985 CA 300D's
1964 & 65 Mopar's - Valiant, Dart, Newport
1996 & 2002 Chrysler minivans

There's a newer, much better thread here:

Cam cover leak repair

I'm re-posting the missing image now.

-Rog

Ive been fortunate using just the slightest thin film of Hylomar. It's kind of nasty stuff, as once you start to wipe it, it "dries" quick. But it never cures. You sure don't want residues/remains squeezing out into the oil system, so what one perceives as too little may still be too much. But it helps tack the gasket to the cover, and seems to work ok...

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

My car didn’t have wave washers. Never did. Thanks for the link. I’m off to the hardware shop.

or maybe I lost one and tossed the other three...it would be like me to do something dumb like that.

I guess those take up the thermal expansion? Oh, I guess the rubber gets soft when hot and the clamping force needs to be maintained.

Ok, I’m an idiot. Time to ride my bike to the store.

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79 300TD “Old Smokey” AKA “The Mistake” (SOLD)
82 240D stick shift 335k miles (SOLD)
82 300SD 300k miles
85 300D Turbodiesel 170k miles

Nice drawing! It shows that over tightening the cam cover nuts does not compress the gasket any further. I never have problems with leaky VC gaskets on the 617's. Don't know why so many have problems. I make sure the VC is flat, then tack the VC gasket to the VC with adhesive so it does not fall off, wipe clean the head mating surfaces of debris, install and torque to spec.

I did 3 valve adjustments for a forum member within a period of a few months last year. The first time the VC gasket was replaced with a new one. 2nd and 3rd time we re-used the same gasket. None of them leaked.

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I checked my valves, removing a non leaking Victor R gasket, and put in a new one. Leaks at front and rear, both on passenger side. My son later loosened the cover nuts and carefully worked the cover and gasket to seat better and retightened. No leaks.
It's about getting the u shaped gasket to set right against the cover. I think he used a popsicle stick tapered at one end to run around the lip that was trapped under the cover and free it.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles

I seem to remember once upon a time before Kent started making pay per view videos he actually had a video where he talked about filing down the valve cover just a littleness so that it would clamp down just a littleness tighter. He even showed you how to do it.

I've noticed a few of his older videos where he actually showed you how to repair things for free have been selectively removed. Too bad really.

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2004 F150 4.6L -My Daily
2007 Volvo XC70 -Wife's Daily
1998 Ford F150 -Rear ended
1989 J-spec 420SEL -passed onto its new keeper
1982 BMW 733i -fixed and traded for the 420SEL
2003 Volvo V70 5 Speed -scrapped
1997 E290 Turbo Diesel Wagon -traded for above
1992 BMW 525i -traded in
1990 Silver 300TE -hated the M103
1985 Grey 380SE Diesel Conversion, 2.47 rear end, ABS -Sold, really should have kept this one
1979 Silver 300D "The Silver Slug" -Sold

is it really a diesel mercedes if it doesn't leak SOME oil ?

My other cars are air cooled vw's. A benz leaking like them is an embarrassment.

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95 E300D working out the kinks
77 300D, 227k, station car
83 300CD 370k, gone away
89 190E 2.6- 335k, no more
79 VW FI Bus- 145k miles, summer driver
59 VW Beetle ragtop- 175k miles
12 VW Jetta- 160k miles