Rusted out Valve Covers

[8cylRWD]

In my 40-odd years of doing work on my own vehicles (and more than a few others) I have never seen a rocker cover rust out before! but from the looks of the topic list, I'm not the first one to post on it. Quite the challenge to get it off, especially the top front bolt, ended up taking the throttle body off to get to it, and the A/C compressor to get the harness's to clear the tab.

Once it was off, I cleaned the oil from the leak at the center clip it started to chip the rust on at the back, on the two clip welds. Then I put it in the media blast cabinet, hit it with 80 grit at 40 psi, got daylight before I got clean metal. So much for planning to use JB weld or Quik Poly, seems that for the time and trouble to R & R the valve cover not much point in trying to cut any corvers and have to R & R it again in another year. Looks like a trip to the Ford Store tomorrow. What was Ford's advertising motto years ago--"Quality is Job One"???

 

[Big Jim M]

It's a pity! You have failed to post the year of the engine and the location.. Around here we will die of old age before that would happen to any of our rides.. But in other places it is to be EXPECTED!

Big JIm

 

[8cylRWD]

Guess I did leave that out--

Snowbelt, Indiana. Driven 365 days a year for 16 years. 143,000 mi

 

[baddis]

i have seen a few that the valve covers rusted out. i have even seen oil pans on ford and chevys rust out

 

[midtnranger]

I have the same problem with my Driverside valve cover. Just going to have to look for some new ones.

 

[sholzy]

It's a pity! You have failed to post the year of the engine and the location.. Around here we will die of old age before that would happen to any of our rides.. But in other places it is to be EXPECTED!

Big JIm

My truck spent 13 years in the salty north and 4 years in the salty south (Florida). No problems with rusty valve covers. Come to think of it, I haven't had much of a problem with rusty bolts either.

 

[pcollins]

i live in western NY. Snowbelt, and NY is know for its salt mines. So they use it on every damn road. Two words. F*** SALT. Every nut and bolt on my truck is rusted, and the valve cover is leaking very slowly. I've seen a ton of rangers with leaky valve covers around here.

What i would do, is see if you can get a nice set from a junk yard, then paint them up to look nice. A lot cheaper than new ones.

 

[97RangerXLT]

i live in western NY. Snowbelt, and NY is know for its salt mines. So they use it on every damn road. Two words. F*** SALT. Every nut and bolt on my truck is rusted, and the valve cover is leaking very slowly. I've seen a ton of rangers with leaky valve covers around here.

What i would do, is see if you can get a nice set from a junk yard, then paint them up to look nice. A lot cheaper than new ones.

Yep, this is how Indianapolis area takes care of snow and ice: by using a crapload of salt.

I had to replace my valve covers this summer because they were leaking. turned out it was from the drivers side gasket failing and rusting through right next to one of the welded on brackets.

The passenger side was rusted through around one of the bolt holes, but was not leaking yet.

I got a pair from the Indy Pull a Part that was good and I painted them up in Ford Blue.


8cyl, What part of Indiana do you live in?

AJ

 

[97RangerXLT]

Here are some pics of mine:

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showpost.php?p=854571&postcount=3

AJ

 

[pcollins]

^^ how difficult was it to do that? i have same year and engine, and i really am NOT looking forward to diving into it. All the vacuum hoses and wires etc...

 

[97RangerXLT]

^^ how difficult was it to do that? i have same year and engine, and i really am NOT looking forward to diving into it. All the vacuum hoses and wires etc...

ask and ye shall recieve..

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?p=841672#post841672

with all the plumbing and connectors, it is a bit of a pain, butfor the most part all the connectors will only go where they need to go, so you can't get them mixed up. its more of an aggravation than anything, but you gotta remember to get everything plugged back in vacuum hose and connector wise, and with the sheer amount of stuff that you have to remove or unhook, I gave it a 7 out of 10.

Good luck with the project, and if you have any questions, give me a holler...

AJ

 

[pcollins]

Hmm. That may end up being a dealer job, just because of my shitty schedule. If i did it i wouldn't do the lower intake gasket, just the upper and fuel rail ones.

 

[stx4.0]

The problem is not the quality even though the cologne V6 is german built.These covers rust out because of all the little tabs they spot weld to the covers for plug wire routing.They are bare steel where they are welded against the covers so no protection from moisture or the salt bath that we get here in the eastern states.I am lucky,I have a brother in AZ that gets me a set when I need them.I like the 4.0 so I buy something all the time with that engine.They sell for virtually nothing out there as there is no demand for them.The sets I get I make sure to get paint under all those little tabs.None of mine have ever rusted out after that.It is a hassle but its more of hassle if you let them keep rusting untill they leak oil.Most of the ones I have had blasted did go thru so I generally only use the AZ parts.

 

[97RangerXLT]

Hmm. That may end up being a dealer job, just because of my shitty schedule. If i did it i wouldn't do the lower intake gasket, just the upper and fuel rail ones.

yeah it is a time consumer to do. if you got the money for the dealer to do it, I would say go for it, but keep in mind this is going to cost a pretty penny in labor to do (the main reason I did it myself...) If you do it yourself, the actual step of doing the lower intake does not add much effort to the total task. the intake is held on by 8 bolts and thats it. you will spend more time cleaning the gasket surfaces than you will anything else. plus with the entire intake out of the engine, it will make things much easier when you do the fuel rail gaskets.

AJ

 

[8cylRWD]

Yep, it was about a 1.5-2 hr teardown, upper intake section, a/c compressor, and misc stuff. Bought a new one from dealer, OE lasted 16 yrs and 140,000 mi, truck will be gone before the replacement rusts out.

Still not as bad as valve cover gaskets and valve seals on my 302 Mark VII!!!

Where is the EGR on this engine? I see a control diaphram on the RF of the lower intake that has a braided steel line going to it, but I also think (without looking too hard) the braided steel lines are gasoline lines.