I've been trying to diagnose an oil leak in my m42 with no luck. So I decided to replace the valve cover gasket since I know the leak is coming from a high area because it's leaking onto the header. The only shop manual I have for it is a Haynes, and the directions in it are fairly simple.
This engine is a crate motor I bought from a BMW dealer. It has some M44 features, like the plastic oil filter cap, which makes me think it was a somewhat recent rebuild or maybe even newly assembled from left over parts. When I pulled the valve cover off, there were small blobs of RTV around the semi-circular cutouts at the rear and where the timing cover meets the head. Those are spots one would think are leak prone so it would not have been a surprise if someone else had worked on the engine, but it has not been apart since I bought it in the crate from the dealer. The RTV was hard and inflexible so I removed it. The Haynes didn't mention using RTV so I was afraid to put any on there. Is it standard practice on M42's and will I end up with even more leaks?
This engine is a crate motor I bought from a BMW dealer. It has some M44 features, like the plastic oil filter cap, which makes me think it was a somewhat recent rebuild or maybe even newly assembled from left over parts. When I pulled the valve cover off, there were small blobs of RTV around the semi-circular cutouts at the rear and where the timing cover meets the head. Those are spots one would think are leak prone so it would not have been a surprise if someone else had worked on the engine, but it has not been apart since I bought it in the crate from the dealer. The RTV was hard and inflexible so I removed it. The Haynes didn't mention using RTV so I was afraid to put any on there. Is it standard practice on M42's and will I end up with even more leaks?
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