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Any one every experienced how hard it is to switch out a valve cover gasket on a 4cyl. MX-3? I have to switch mine because oil is leaking down into the spark plugs and causing it to fowl out and stutter real bad. Any tips on how to make this job a lil easier, or a cheap place to get one would be very appreciated. I found one for $25us at NAPA. Thanks for any help that is thrown this way.

Its actually pretty easy..just on bolt the valve cover peel off the old gasket and put the new one in its place!!! Make sure to put silicone in the corners so you dont get anymore leaks!!! Good luck!!

Also don't forget to clean the groves where the gasket goes.

Doing it yourself saves some $ and takes advantage of putting your own eyeballs on the valve train area to see interior surface conditions.

Use a flexible gasket sealant on fully cleaned surfaces where the old gasket was and torque the valve cover bolts carefully to spec or they can easily strip threads. Uneven tightening can also cause oil leaks again. Tighten the bolts working from the valve cover center bolts outwards in a criss-cross direction from bolt to bolt. Dunno the SOHC torque specs but the DOHC 1.6 specifies 5.0-8.8Nm/50-90kgcm/44-78inlb. Notice those ranges may seem pretty lightweight - that's because you're working with soft alloy and why it's important to proceed with reasonable care.

Thank you very much all of you. I am going to go ahead and do it some time through out the week depending on when I get the gasket. I am sure I would have forgotten to put a sealant on there, also Neutral your input was incredibly helpfull and thank you all again. Take it easy!!!

Hey I will probably be changing my valve cover gasket tommorrow. I'll tell you how it goes.

That would be great info. You can email me on how it goes and what I need to expect. How much did you buy your gasket for?

jna3@cox.net

Jeremy V.