# Valve cover gasket questions.



## gliderdriver (Jan 7, 2018)

I just did a couple of days ago on the 1.4. I had replaced the valve cover as part of the PCV system fix, but managed to catch about 2" of the gasket on something and pull it out of the groove, and then tightened it down without being able to see my error, so it leaked and I had to replace it. 

The gasket I got from O'Reilly's was a Fel-Pro and seemed to be a bit better of a gasket than the OEM one, but it did not fit as tightly into the groove in the valve cover, so a lot of care was needed to make sure it stayed in place as the cover was positioned and bolts threaded in. 

I'm not sure what material the OEM gasket is, but it did NOT age well. My Cruze is a 2011 with about 83,000 mi on it, and the gasket was hard and brittle and stuck to the head. I broke a chunk of the old valve cover trying to pry it loose, and had to spend a couple hours peeling/chipping off the old gasket and then cleaning off the remnants with carb cleaner. What a mess.


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## Snappa (Mar 31, 2013)

How long did it take to replace?


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## gliderdriver (Jan 7, 2018)

The first time around, probably about 3 hours since the original gasket was stuck to the head so bad. The second time around, probably 45 minutes to an hour.


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## Snappa (Mar 31, 2013)

Any possibility of anyone being able to provide the torque specks as well as sequence to the 1.8 valve cover?


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## ralph1981 (Jul 29, 2019)

On the 1.8L at least, the valve cover torx bolt holes use metal sleeves that meet with the head surface. I hand tighten when using a socket screw driver. If you over tighten, you risk distorting the metal sleeves and ruining the valve cover.


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## Ma v e n (Oct 8, 2018)

Absolutely, go ahead and replace just the gasket using the FelPro version. 

The bolts get tightened to 8Nm or 71lb-inches 
There's no specified sequence, start roughly from center and work your way out and around evenly in a cross cross fashion 

The bolt between the cam gears, inline with coil pack {call-out #4} requires Teflon pipe sealant PASTE on the treads. You can substitute RTV if you have to. Don't use Teflon tape.


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