Ever had loose screws?

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Oct 27, 2003
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As i was starting on the sliders, and as i have discussed on this board before, i have a small oil leak of which i wasn't able to tell if it was the HG or the valve cover gasket. When i started on the sliders and was under the truck i noticed the oil leak had gotten worse. The second day, there was oil all under the bottom of the truck. The leak had gotten real bad. It looked as though i had blown a head gasket. I took the shield off the header so i could see how high up the oil was leaking. What i found puzzled me. The back 4 bolts holding the valve cover to the head were almost falling on the ground loose. THey had backed completely out! :eek: Oil was leaking all down the back of my block from this area. I have never had the valve cover off as long as i have owned the truck. According to the PO, they never had the valves adjusted. So as far as i know the valve cover has never been off.

What in the world would cause the bolts to come out like that? I have tightened them back down, but i'm guessing i should go ahead and replace the valve cover gasket at this time. Any other things i should look for?
 
Sounds like some work had been done on it before. Don't they usually recommend a retorque after a few weeks following that type of work? Probably wasn't done. Then again, that's over my head so what do I know.
 
This is not all that common, but I have seen it a few times. What I usually found is that the rubber seal has lost it elastic quality thus real hard and not pushing back on the VC thus allow vibration to back out the screws. Another reason to do maintance at reccommended intervals. I would replace the spark plug seals and check the valves at the same time, also clean the throttle body if this has not been done as you will have to move it out of the way to remove the valve cover. later robbie
 
Thanks robbie. looks like I'll be giving CDan a call.
 

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