Thankyou for your determined efforts to improve these Crossfires . Whether I personally will ever use "his" demo is buried in about 65 yrs of automotive & aircraft experience , or , I think I can handle it .
I have taken apart auto motors failed due to RTV plugging so I'm really just throwing in my 2 cents to hopefully discourage poor RTV applications . .

 

terrific input, guys.

considering that metals expand with heath, when we should torque the bolts? when hot or when cold?
especially as we are coupling parts of aluminum (magnesium) and steel, with different expansion coefficient.
i have not seen any reference to this.
thanks

 

cold

 

makes sense.
does it mean that we have to let the engine cool off overnight? what do you do guys?
seems that is why is convenient to check torque from time to time. what often you do or recommend?

 

If you do this fix so fast that the engine is still hot when you put it back together - you wasted your time doing it in the first place.

 

1st the condition of my 65,000 miles car: previous owners took great care on its appearance. no scratches. clean. mechanically not much, but ran fine in general. engine compartment had some dust, but nothing outstanding. regarding oils, i have changed oil to the engine, transmission and differential.
just to get an idea of the oil leak, 2 weeks ago i cleaned the engine with degreaser, and a little of water. not to run a lot, just to wash the oil.. on the passengers side there was a little oil below the small cover. on the drivers it was wet all the way down from the edge of the small cover. even at the shield below there was some dirt.
then yesterday opened the hood, removed the engine air filter cover and let it cool off for 5 hours. there was no oil signs on the passengers side. at the drivers still there was oil from the edge of the small cover down. then checked the torque on all small and large bolts. all were considerably below the indicated torque. i increased it to specifications. then used degreaser again.
am going to see if by just doing this it takes care of the leak. will wait 1 week driving it regularly and see if there is any leak. (although most likely the large leak at drivers side may need further action).
only if there are leaks i will proceed further. but considering that the engine is not dark as some pictures, i expect the inside of the covers to be just wet. will see.

 

My 06 was dripping a bit when first purchased w/ 47k & bolts were quite loose so I snugged them up ,cleaned the areas , & no leaks as before worth further action .

 

Nearly all torque ratings for assembly of parts are listed for cold conditions. "Hot torquing" is required for critical applications in some industrial verticals. And the hot torque spec (value) will typically be lower than the cold torque spec (value).

 

great data. thank you very much. problem is, that for this car the engine takes forever to get back to cold conditions. overnight maybe?

 

from my previous post:
" 1st the condition of my 65,000 miles car: previous owners took great care on its appearance. no scratches. clean. mechanically not much, but ran fine in general. engine compartment had some dust, but nothing outstanding. regarding oils, i have changed oil to the engine, transmission and differential.
just to get an idea of the oil leak, 2 weeks ago i cleaned the engine with degreaser, and a little of water. not to run a lot, just to wash the oil.. on the passengers side there was a little oil below the small cover. on the drivers it was wet all the way down from the edge of the small cover. even at the shield below there was some dirt.
then yesterday opened the hood, removed the engine air filter cover and let it cool off for 5 hours. there was no oil signs on the passengers side. at the drivers still there was oil from the edge of the small cover down. then checked the torque on all small and large bolts. all were considerably below the indicated torque. i increased it to specifications. then used degreaser again.
am going to see if by just doing this it takes care of the leak. will wait 1 week driving it regularly and see if there is any leak. (although most likely the large leak at drivers side may need further action).
only if there are leaks i will proceed further. but considering that the engine is not dark as some pictures, i expect the inside of the covers to be just wet. will see. "

update:
well, what do you know? no leaks at all! so seems that the 1st step is: wash to see where it leaks;
then, wait a few days; if no leaks, then:2-tighten all bolts to torque. as it happened to me, that was all that is needed.
if not, then you need to remove the covers, wash and add sealant, then torque.
good luck

 

washing won't help except cosmetically, You have to use wood or plastic scrapers on the old sealant.
Make sure you remove it ALL. Then a very thin bead of RTV all around and around the screw holes too.
Let it cure 24 hours before driving.

 

You have to clean the grooves thoroughly and the surface, fill the groove evenly all around. An uneven thickness of sealant will set up unevenly and cause uneven drying, some require longer setting times so read the instructions.
Use the correct sealant, not some cheap general usage stuff, it should say sensor safe, not sure if that really matters but good brands are mentioned in this thread.

 

i agree. when said wash, i really was thinking on cleaning to look for leaks. and then later do a compete cleaning removing all the previous sealant. thanks for clarifying.
and about cure 24 hours... i think permatex has a version that dries way fast, so you dont have to wait that long.
thanks again.

 

You do not want to use a fast setting sealant, if you make an error you could be stripping the newly applied sealant within minutes of putting it on. Thin areas of sealant will dry and not allow you to clamp down evenly and maybe distort the cover.

 

well, as there was some leak, today i removed the cover. the liquid gasket some1 used was very well attached and had to struggle to remove it. still, was leaking. perhaps the material used was not the most suitable. anyway, removed all the stuff. all the surfaces were completely free of the gasket and oil. cleaned with toluol. added black permatex, enough to fill the grooves but not too much. reinstalled the cover and tightened to torque as per instructions.
allowed to dry several hours before starting it or driving, despite the instructions saying is instant. just to be sure. will see in a week or 2 how it works. and will check the torque too.
thanks all who have provided so much data.
this is 1 thing that, even if not vital, is something that just has to be done. and is very common. the engine (and all the other mechanical components) are of great quality and design and this great car deserves to be kept clean. is a joy to watch it.
thanks again to all you great guys.
this is what i used:

 

This is the schmoo of my choice :

 

could be the same chemical formula of the 1 i used? i have seen manufacturers assigning different id numbers to the same product depending of the presentation. same product but in several sizes.
and the 1 i used has different p/n for the u s and for canada. you can see both 1 behind the other. same tubing.
see: https://www.permatex.com/products/ga...asket-maker-3/
go figure.

 

Yea, do this in a hurry.

Then wait for Dr. Phil to ask, "You hurried. How did that work out for you?"

 

I didn't read far enough.

My assessment:

YOu used the wrong stuff.
You did the job in a hurry.

My Prediction:

The leak is now fixed.
The leaks wil come back in maybe six months.

If you read the LONG thread about this, like I did, you would see that NO quickie fix lasts. I saw how others did JUST what you did, only to to it all over again in less than a year.
I did mine in 2016 (I think it was, you can read in the thread when it was) and today, I STILL have not ONE DROP showing.

I don't know how many hours it took me, but I let things dry overnight after cleaning. I then let things sit for a few DAYS after sealing the breather to the cover. Only then did I put the assemblies back on the car.
Yes, I removed the breathers and valve cover assemblies from the car and did the work on the workbench. I put used Ultra Black RTV, new gaskets and a new bolt set from Needwings.

 

the product i used was permatex the right stuff.
instructions say:
5. Apply a continuous and even bead of The Right Stuff to one surface, first tracing the internal areas of the gasket configuration, then all surrounding bolt holes as shown below:
6. Assemble parts within 5 minutes while The Right Stuff is still wet. Secure or tighten to recommended torque specs.
7. Re-torque will not be necessary after the product has cured.
i did as instructed. i thought they knew what they are telling.
now:
TYPICAL CURING PERFORMANCE Cure Time The surface of this adhesive becomes dry to touch on exposure to atmospheric moisture within 15 minutes at 23± 2°C, 50 ± 5% RH. The product cures on exposure to moisture in the air and dries tack free in two hours, with full cure in 24 hours.
which i didnt wait that long. well see how long mine lasts.