Have an '06 Commander 4.7L, 155K miles, noticing valve cover 'leaching' oil at lower fire wall corners., (Makes sense with oil sitting there). After reading I'm NOT going to replace gaskets, but because metal bushings bottom out the tightening bolt and doesn't allow enough 'squeeze' on gasket, going to remove the lower tightening bolts and then per 'Grandpa Thugs Garage' post, install some small orings before I put the bolt/bushing/gasket back in and tighten to 8 ft/lbs (106 in/lbs) and see if they put enough 'squeeze' to stop the leak. No matter how much more one torques, the bolt will bottom on bushing. All new gaskets, unless genuine MOPAR wont seal well for long because they are not 'high' enough to overcome the bushing length for proper sealing. I'll try to write back results
I know this is an old post but still a lot of 4.7 's on the road yet.The same thing happen to me. I used Fel-Pro gaskets and got about 200 miles then the right side started to leak. Dodge is using steel bushing in center of rubber bushing washer/seal to secure the cover. So the bolt "bottoms out" against the steel bushing and the squeeze out is now determined by starting thickness - you could over torque the bolts only and not gain any more seal squeeze out because the bolt bottoms out against the steel bushing. I'm not knocking Fel-Pro because I know a lot of people had great results with their products. Funny how my leak was in the exact location as the one in the video. Maybe some kind of design quirk with covers that combined with non-oem gaskets that don't play well together. In my opinion "Grandpa Thugs Garage" has nailed it , if you want a better chance of no leaks (aftermarket gaskets) add a o-ring around the rubber bushing before installing. If I understand his idea right it makes the steel bushing stand taller giving you more gasket squeeze out. I am going to try his method as I just discovered my leak yesterday. Will keep you updated. P.S. -- I used Fel-Pro everywhere when re-doing my timing chain - water pump - main seal - oil fill spout - valve covers.
Thank you for that information. I sold this Jeep Commander about 2 years ago and I occasionally see it on the road and glad to see it is still running. Thanks for the comments!
Hi Bruce, thanks for the info. I will ask GranpaThug the same question... "can I remove the V.C. bolts without removing the V.C. (and everything else...🙄) to do the "O-ring fix" "? Thanks, Paul
Yes there is a distinct smell of burning oil that could indicate trouble. One day I need to do a video how to clean under the hood. It takes a little time but I like the results. Thanks for the comments!
I just replaced a set for a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Overland....I found the passenger side of the engine a little more difficult to do which had several items needing removal to make room for the valve cover.....it's not very difficult, but it is a pain in the neck....lol....
I rebuilt my 4.7 around 5 years ago and the valve cover gasket and water pump gasket went bad both got from felpro, they were the blue ones. Amazing the difference a gasket makes, just sucks they make low quality on something that can cost us a whole engine.
Yep. Put new heads in my 2005 4.7L Jeep and made the mistake of Fel-Pro, Blue, aftermarket valve cover gaskets. I guess I did a fairly good install as they lasted 5.5 years before leaking by cylinders 7 and 8. Replacing the aftermarket with Mopar valve cover gaskets at $38 each. Should have done that from the start.
I was thinking I should have got the valve covers too cuz mine are so rotten. It ain't worth cleaning. I'm a new ones. Would have saved me 3 hours 4 hours
I'll post this even though this is an older video because this problem will persist as long as these engines are on the road. Mine is a 2001 4.7L and the covers ooze oil onto the manifold. I found that the problem is not the big squiggly O-ring type seal itself. The problem is the seal not being squeezed enough to make a good seal. Why is that? Well, the cover is held down with fasteners that bottom out on the head itself. What compresses the the actual seal is the rubber bushing that surrounds the 12 fasteners. If those rubber bushings compress over time then just tightening the fasteners to whatever torque you use won't allow the rubber bushings to exert enough force on the valve cover to compress the seal. Those rubber seals are not there for any oil retention ability and so you can modify these things to work better. They need to be made thicker and you can do this a couple different ways. The method I used was to remove the rubber bushings around the the bolt and spacer and place an O-ring on the spacer/washer before replacing the bushing. This extended the bushing about 3/32" and it then provides that much more compression on the valve cover seal. I had removed the passenger cover to diagnose exactly what the problem was, replaced the gasket and added the O-rings then re-assembled. To test this further, I removed each fastener one at a time on the driver's side cover, added the O-rings for thickness and replaced them without replacing the gasket. It worked. Leaks stopped. New bushings may also work, new ones being thicker than bushings that have been in use for a long time. Depending on how long this works I may just get rid of the rubber bushings and make some thick custom aluminum or nylon washers that will allow the proper 'squeeze' on the gasket and just eliminate the compressed rubber problem altogether. Hope this helps. The burning oil smell sucks.
Thanks for the tip TJ! Makes perfect sense what you explained and that may help those with a leaking gasket. My old engine never leaked but the new one did with the supplied thinner aftermarket gaskets. I should have used new Mopar gaskets when I installed the engine but I'm just a shade tree mechanic. Thanks for the comments!
Tried the OEM gaskets, too. First used the gaskets that came with the rebuild kit. Those didn't work and so ordered another set, installed with the same results. I now have the mopar gaskets and comparing these with the aftermarket it appears the size or thickness is the same but the Mopar gaskets are a bit more firm than the aftermarket. Honestly, I don't think this matters that much if you fix the hold down rubber bushing issue. All the gaskets advertise as rubber but the aftermarkets feel more like a silicone type gasket material. More slippery. Anyway, it appears if you deal with the hold down bushing problem then any of the big O-ring type gaskets should work. Just to keep things even I'll eventually replace the driver's side gasket with the Mopar part when I get the time.
Tj M im looking to do my valve cover gaskets soon, its a pain driving around/uphill and burning oil😰is Omix Ada a decent OEM alternative? $12per gasket on rock auto- also, what o rings did you use?
Hi Grandpa, thanks for the info. . Can I remove the V.C. bolts without removing the V.C. (and everything else...🙄) to do your "O-ring fix" "? Thanks, Paul
Hi Arron, Sorry for the slow response, working 12 hour nights. I used a Fuel Rail Disconnect Tool. You can find these at most auto parts stores and of course Amazon for less than $10. Hope that help.
Did you also replace the valve cover grommets? The online listings for the aftermarket ones all include the grommets but the mopar one just has the gasket itself.
Can anyone help me. I’ve been trying to find valve cover gaskets for my 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee overland 4.7. None of the part stores seem to have the right fitting one. How would I go about finding the right ones?
Very good video my friend. I have a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 with a 4.7, love the truck, only 76,308 miles on it, second owner. Passenger side valve cover is leaking. Should I try just tightening down the nuts? What is the torque spec? I have two torque wrenches, one in ft lbs and one in inch lbs.
If think it is 106 in-lbs or about 8 ft-lbs in a criss cross order. A couple of years ago someone made me an offer on this Commander and I took it. Hope it last a long time for them. Thanks for the comments and I hope that helps.
My remanufactured engine came with a Magnum gasket set, they were the orange colored ones as shown in the video. I learned my lesson to only use OEM gaskets and in this case it would be Mopar.
Sorry, I don't remember the brand right off hand but the Mopar was much thicker. I sold this Commander a few months ago and I actually miss it now. The new owner is thrilled with it so that was a plus. Thanks for the comments!
Hi GW, Can't go wrong with OEM Mopar gaskets. I bought them from MoparPartsOnline the best I can remember. The cylinder head cover torque for my 4.7L is 12 N-m or 105 inch pounds. Thanks for the comments!
I have to say if you are a lightweight mechanic trying to do valve cover gaskets on that 4.7 l Chrysler motor step away from the job it's all I can say
Probably not. The valve cover gaskets supplied with the rebuilt engine were mounted previous to installing the engine into the Jeep. They leaked because they are not the same thickness as the OEM Mopar gaskets.
The covers are just tight enough to collapse the gasket to make the seal. My service manual says to torque cylinder head cover bolts to 12 Nm or 105 inch pounds. Be sure to hand tighten first. Strangely it does not give the order of sequence. I started in the middle like you do the actual cylinder head then work your way to each side back and forth. Hope that makes sense and thanks for watching.
man!! good job.
like the illustrations.
thank you.
Have an '06 Commander 4.7L, 155K miles, noticing valve cover 'leaching' oil at lower fire wall corners., (Makes sense with oil
sitting there). After reading I'm NOT going to replace gaskets, but because metal bushings bottom out the tightening bolt and doesn't
allow enough 'squeeze' on gasket, going to remove the lower tightening bolts and then per 'Grandpa Thugs Garage' post, install some small orings before I put the bolt/bushing/gasket back in and tighten to 8 ft/lbs (106 in/lbs) and see if they put enough 'squeeze' to stop the leak. No matter how much more one torques, the bolt will bottom on bushing. All new gaskets, unless genuine MOPAR
wont seal well for long because they are not 'high' enough to overcome the bushing length for proper sealing. I'll try to write back results
The Mopar gaskets were better. I sold this Commander several years ago.
i was looking for the torque and found it in your string below, very helpful video, thanks for sharing
I know this is an old post but still a lot of 4.7 's on the road yet.The same thing happen to me. I used Fel-Pro gaskets and got about 200 miles then the right side started to leak. Dodge is using steel bushing in center of rubber bushing washer/seal to secure the cover. So the bolt "bottoms out" against the steel bushing and the squeeze out is now determined by starting thickness - you could over torque the bolts only and not gain any more seal squeeze out because the bolt bottoms out against the steel bushing. I'm not knocking Fel-Pro because I know a lot of people had great results with their products. Funny how my leak was in the exact location as the one in the video. Maybe some kind of design quirk with covers that combined with non-oem gaskets that don't play well together. In my opinion "Grandpa Thugs Garage" has nailed it , if you want a better chance of no leaks (aftermarket gaskets) add a o-ring around the rubber bushing before installing. If I understand his idea right it makes the steel bushing stand taller giving you more gasket squeeze out. I am going to try his method as I just discovered my leak yesterday. Will keep you updated.
P.S. -- I used Fel-Pro everywhere when re-doing my timing chain - water pump - main seal - oil fill spout - valve covers.
Thank you for that information. I sold this Jeep Commander about 2 years ago and I occasionally see it on the road and glad to see it is still running. Thanks for the comments!
Hi Bruce, thanks for the info. I will ask GranpaThug the same question... "can I remove the V.C. bolts without removing the V.C. (and everything else...🙄) to do the "O-ring fix" "?
Thanks,
Paul
THANK YOU!! That burning smell is terrible. Just saved me some money! By the way your commander is clean under the hood. Nice Jeep!
Yes there is a distinct smell of burning oil that could indicate trouble. One day I need to do a video how to clean under the hood. It takes a little time but I like the results. Thanks for the comments!
Beautiful 4.7! They are pretty engines👍
I sold this Commander a couple of years ago and it's still running, I still see it every once in a while. Thanks for the comments!
I just replaced a set for a 2002 Jeep Grand Cherokee, Overland....I found the passenger side of the engine a little more difficult to do which had several items needing removal to make room for the valve cover.....it's not very difficult, but it is a pain in the neck....lol....
How did you do it
I rebuilt my 4.7 around 5 years ago and the valve cover gasket and water pump gasket went bad both got from felpro, they were the blue ones. Amazing the difference a gasket makes, just sucks they make low quality on something that can cost us a whole engine.
Yep. Put new heads in my 2005 4.7L Jeep and made the mistake of Fel-Pro, Blue, aftermarket valve cover gaskets. I guess I did a fairly good install as they lasted 5.5 years before leaking by cylinders 7 and 8. Replacing the aftermarket with Mopar valve cover gaskets at $38 each. Should have done that from the start.
Glad yours lasted that long and I learned that hard way. Thanks for the comments.
I got one oem and took off one of the after market ones and one Mahler gasket and they all have a double flange on them but the oem one
I was thinking I should have got the valve covers too cuz mine are so rotten. It ain't worth cleaning. I'm a new ones. Would have saved me 3 hours 4 hours
I'll post this even though this is an older video because this problem will persist as long as these engines are on the road. Mine is a 2001 4.7L and the covers ooze oil onto the manifold. I found that the problem is not the big squiggly O-ring type seal itself. The problem is the seal not being squeezed enough to make a good seal. Why is that? Well, the cover is held down with fasteners that bottom out on the head itself. What compresses the the actual seal is the rubber bushing that surrounds the 12 fasteners. If those rubber bushings compress over time then just tightening the fasteners to whatever torque you use won't allow the rubber bushings to exert enough force on the valve cover to compress the seal. Those rubber seals are not there for any oil retention ability and so you can modify these things to work better. They need to be made thicker and you can do this a couple different ways. The method I used was to remove the rubber bushings around the the bolt and spacer and place an O-ring on the spacer/washer before replacing the bushing. This extended the bushing about 3/32" and it then provides that much more compression on the valve cover seal. I had removed the passenger cover to diagnose exactly what the problem was, replaced the gasket and added the O-rings then re-assembled. To test this further, I removed each fastener one at a time on the driver's side cover, added the O-rings for thickness and replaced them without replacing the gasket. It worked. Leaks stopped. New bushings may also work, new ones being thicker than bushings that have been in use for a long time. Depending on how long this works I may just get rid of the rubber bushings and make some thick custom aluminum or nylon washers that will allow the proper 'squeeze' on the gasket and just eliminate the compressed rubber problem altogether. Hope this helps. The burning oil smell sucks.
Thanks for the tip TJ! Makes perfect sense what you explained and that may help those with a leaking gasket. My old engine never leaked but the new one did with the supplied thinner aftermarket gaskets. I should have used new Mopar gaskets when I installed the engine but I'm just a shade tree mechanic. Thanks for the comments!
Tried the OEM gaskets, too. First used the gaskets that came with the rebuild kit. Those didn't work and so ordered another set, installed with the same results. I now have the mopar gaskets and comparing these with the aftermarket it appears the size or thickness is the same but the Mopar gaskets are a bit more firm than the aftermarket. Honestly, I don't think this matters that much if you fix the hold down rubber bushing issue. All the gaskets advertise as rubber but the aftermarkets feel more like a silicone type gasket material. More slippery. Anyway, it appears if you deal with the hold down bushing problem then any of the big O-ring type gaskets should work. Just to keep things even I'll eventually replace the driver's side gasket with the Mopar part when I get the time.
Tj M im looking to do my valve cover gaskets soon, its a pain driving around/uphill and burning oil😰is Omix Ada a decent OEM alternative? $12per gasket on rock auto- also, what o rings did you use?
@@gtgarage I will look into this when I replace my aftermarket gaskets with the Mopar valve cover gaskets.
Hi Grandpa, thanks for the info. . Can I remove the V.C. bolts without removing the V.C. (and everything else...🙄) to do your "O-ring fix" "?
Thanks,
Paul
Great vid! Really in depth, I'll be doing this soon
I guess it's pretty randomly asking but does anybody know of a good site to stream new series online?
@Martin Michael flixportal :)
@Juelz Tadeo Thanks, signed up and it seems like they got a lot of movies there :D Appreciate it !!
@Martin Michael Glad I could help =)
What was the special tool used for undoing the fuel rail?
Hi Arron, Sorry for the slow response, working 12 hour nights. I used a Fuel Rail Disconnect Tool. You can find these at most auto parts stores and of course Amazon for less than $10. Hope that help.
Did you also replace the valve cover grommets? The online listings for the aftermarket ones all include the grommets but the mopar one just has the gasket itself.
That has been several years ago and I do not remember replacing any grommets.
Can anyone help me. I’ve been trying to find valve cover gaskets for my 04 Jeep Grand Cherokee overland 4.7. None of the part stores seem to have the right fitting one. How would I go about finding the right ones?
Did you ever found the correct one? I also need it
Very good video my friend. I have a 2005 Dodge Ram 1500 with a 4.7, love the truck, only 76,308 miles on it, second owner. Passenger side valve cover is leaking. Should I try just tightening down the nuts? What is the torque spec? I have two torque wrenches, one in ft lbs and one in inch lbs.
If think it is 106 in-lbs or about 8 ft-lbs in a criss cross order. A couple of years ago someone made me an offer on this Commander and I took it. Hope it last a long time for them. Thanks for the comments and I hope that helps.
@@CarveTools Thanks buddy. Can I try tightening it down first?
@@mikestackhouse9001 Hi Mike, what did you end up doing? Did it work? Thanks, Paul
@@EhWassAmattaU It ended up being a leaky exhaust gasket. Replaced it and new studs, all good now.
Did this fix your issue
what brand aftermarket gasket did you use?
My remanufactured engine came with a Magnum gasket set, they were the orange colored ones as shown in the video. I learned my lesson to only use OEM gaskets and in this case it would be Mopar.
Bravo25 there owned by Dana but they are a economy brand that's why these they come with a lot of crate engines they are very cheap
I agree felpro gaskets are way better than Mopar.
What's the brand of the aftermarket gasket?
Sorry, I don't remember the brand right off hand but the Mopar was much thicker. I sold this Commander a few months ago and I actually miss it now. The new owner is thrilled with it so that was a plus. Thanks for the comments!
@@CarveTools ahh dang. I love my grand cherokee. Im going to do mine soon!
Where can i get the OEM ones, and what are the torque specs?
Thanks!
Hi GW, Can't go wrong with OEM Mopar gaskets. I bought them from MoparPartsOnline the best I can remember. The cylinder head cover torque for my 4.7L is 12 N-m or 105 inch pounds. Thanks for the comments!
I have to say if you are a lightweight mechanic trying to do valve cover gaskets on that 4.7 l Chrysler motor step away from the job it's all I can say
nice video ! Did you need to drain the oil before doing it ?
+titimto
No need to drain the oil. Thanks for watching!
How about coolant?
@@CarveTools
Same gasket I got from my remanufactured engine and now their leaking ...p.o.s
I learned my lesson to only use OEM gaskets.
CarveTools did you scratch part of the engine block while removeing the valve cover with the screws? Cuz i did ):
Probably not. The valve cover gaskets supplied with the rebuilt engine were mounted previous to installing the engine into the Jeep. They leaked because they are not the same thickness as the OEM Mopar gaskets.
i got the same aftermarket, not leaking problems!! from felpro!!!
Does this mean you had leaks with felpro, or did felpro stop the leaks?
so is there a leak since the change?
No leaks! I should have used the OEM Mopar gaskets from the beginning.
CarveTools thanks for getting back to me on that so quickly!
Where did you find the Original Gasket? I have an 4.7L 2009 And it just started leaking Oil... @@CarveTools
what about torque and tightening order?
The covers are just tight enough to collapse the gasket to make the seal. My service manual says to torque cylinder head cover bolts to 12 Nm or 105 inch pounds. Be sure to hand tighten first. Strangely it does not give the order of sequence. I started in the middle like you do the actual cylinder head then work your way to each side back and forth. Hope that makes sense and thanks for watching.
105 seams like way too much
My service manual indicates 105 Inch pounds which is equal to 8.75 foot pounds. I used my inch pound torque wrench on these cover bolts.