M52 valve cover

[Colby.325e]

Okay, this is my first time getting into a motor. Gonna be upfront. When I pulled the valve cover, there are two pieces of plastic underneath on each end that broke. Does this mean I need a new valve cover entirely? I'm assuming the answer is yes, but I want to make sure before I spend money. Guess I'm gonna learn this stuff the hard way.. :up:

[NickL]

Kind of hard to tell what broke without pictures but the general rule of thumb is if something breaks you might as well replace it to be safe. The plastic valve covers are kind of flimsy and depending on where it broke it could cause leakage etc, you could always do an OBD1 valve cover thats metal and that would allow you to properly use the OBD1 coilpacks/harness since I'm assuming you are going the OBD1 route.

Although I made my OBD2 valve cover work with the OBD1 packs/harness with some trimming.

[Colby.325e]

Sorry for phone pics. Only Internet access is through my cell.

[luckysnafu]

That's just part of the old valve cover gasket. When they get hot and old they tend to get brittle and feel/look like plastic. Just pull it out before installing your new gasket, it will make sense when you start putting the new gasket on.

[Colby.325e]

Awesome. Coulda sworn it was plastic! Lol. So far so good. Nothing else has broken... Yet. ;)