valve cover gasket leaking

[free300e]

hey guys, I finished the head gasket job on a 88 300e a week ago. the car runs fine except for a leak towards the rear of the valve cover. I used a new valve cover gasket. good thing I used infared dye when putting in the oil. oil is dripping out by the trans dipstick and all around the trans and eventually into puddles on the floor. glowing puddles. could it be possible that I overtorqued the valve cover gasket(why would this cause a leak I ask). I know the torque spec is quite low and I put it on pretty snug. I going to pull the cover off again to see whats going on. any ideas?

[J.J.]

Where did you get the infrared dye to put in the oil?

JJ

[michaelrking]

Most leak check dye fluoresces in UV light. Should be a able to get it at a well stocked auto shop. It's similar to the UV dye used in AC systems to locate freon leaks.

[free300e]

the dye is pretty cheap online if you buy a few boxes. dont let the kits fool you into thinking you need a certain type of uv light. I bought a flourescent uv bulb from bulbman.com or something like that, 100w should do. the dye I use is a all in one formula from tracer dye. can be used in trans, engine, coolant. etc.

I took off the valve cover and used a little goop on it and the leak stopped. she just has a little hesitation starting up but runs fine with a little lifter noise. all and all, it was worth it. oh I also sanded off the powercoating on the valve cover and its nice and shiny, I couldn't get myself to paint it some wild color. thank god.

[gidpor]

"oh I also sanded off the powder-coating on the valve cover and its nice and shiny, I couldn't get myself to paint it some wild color"

Glad you fixed the leak, sounds like you had over torqued it initially.

Now about this sanding....
I went through this on my 103 and did end up painting the cover. I was told by many that on the 103 the cover is not 100% Aluminum - There is Magnesium there too. The valve cover material is porous and (without paint) is now exposed to the elements. In simple English - not good, needs to be painted.

[free300e]

are you serious? so the paint is there to prevent oil from leaking out of the porous surface? what the family?

[free300e]

did you paint it because of what you were told or did you paint it because something went wrong? I'm wondering what could be the consequences.

[hihosilver]

I repainted mine with no leaks, I use a light grease on both sides of the gasket this helps

[gidpor]

Gosh no. Nothing to do with oil leaking. Let me try and shed some light on my earlier post.

I repainted because I was told the exposed metal -(which I had sandblasted) would very soon be susceptible to rust. As I had mentioned before, the valve cover for the 103 is not pure Aluminum as were some of the other engine valve covers - which were not an alloy and could be polished nicely.
The 103 has a "rough" surface due to the composition of the Alloy materials. The paint is there (to begin with) so that the thick paint makes it nice and smooth - hiding the manufacturing imperfections.