Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

I have just completed the job and was inspired by a thread on the british forum to document the instal and show everyone that this is a job that can be completed by you.

The thread on the british forum is as follows if you would like to see another version:
http://www.mdocuk.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=31985

Here are some pictures of my engine before the process: The seal was leaking a fair bit and starting to burn on the manifold causing a strong smell in the cab. Looking at it it needed to be done. The rubber seemed very cracked on the cone pressure gaskets. The valve cover seal was replaced when imported 20K ago.

Step 1:
Remove intercooler pipes and the 4 10mm bolts holding it on. Step 2:
Once the intercooler is free, undo the 2 plugs at the back and remove the 2 10mm bolts attaching the vacuum switches. I found the tip from the british of threading them back in to be quite useful.

Step 3:
Remove the Oil Breather Hose and swing it out of the way. Step 4:
Undo the 10mm bolt holding the Transmission Fluid dipstick and bend it slightly out of the way. Step 5:
Pop the cover off. I found it a bit fussy as there is a tube coming down into the crankcase for the oil breather. To get it out easily just hold the vacuum switches up and out of the way to get you that extra bit of clearance. Make sure you have rags handy as it is quite grubby and likes to drip all over your nice clean engine bay. Step 6:
Clean it up nice and pretty on the inside and out if you are a bit anal like me. I just used some brake cleaner and an old toothbrush. Pay special attanetion to the groove on the cover where the gasket will sit. I had a bit of a tought time getting the leftover silicone from the many other times this has been done on the block. This took of the most time and I ended up having success using a flat screwdriver wrapped several times in a rag and doused in brake cleaner, being careful not to scratch the block. Step 7:
Seat the gasket in the groove of the cover. Also seat the half moon seals in their proper locations using silicone as Jesse mentioned previously. The back one is a bit of a bitch if you have big hands, but definately do-able. Also don't crap the bed if you grab a half moon seal out of the bag and it appears to be way to small for the front. You grabbed the wrong one as the front seal is considerably wider than the back. Step 8:
Take your time and place the cover back on the engine. Remember to lift the vacuum switches out of the way as it will slide in easier. Also don't bend the breather piping while placing it back in. Then thread the two bolts on top back in with the new cone seals until you feel it get tight. Don't torque them down too hard.

Step 9:
While you have everything ripped apart you might as well grab your volt meter and check your TPS voltage setting. 0.78 is optimum. Mine had risen a litlle to 0.89 since the fall so it was worth giving it a little tweak. Step 10:
Reverse the process and put it all back together and crack a beer. Looks done to me...for now? I decided to do a seafoam treatment on the crank case before I started this process so I added a can to the crankcase and drove for about 60km. Then I dumped the oil and flushed it with a litlle dino oil I had laying around just to get out all the gribbleys. Not too many gribbleys but it sure was black. I have left it void of oil until tomorrow while the silicone is drying on the new seal and will refill tomorrow with some fresh Amsoil 15W40 synthetic heavy duty deisel oil and change the filter of course. While driving with the seafoam I was actually surprised by how quiet it became. Lifter noise was gone. Sounded healthy for a change. Hope this write up helps as I felt it was time I contributed a little back instead of always asking questions (which I still did alot of for this by the way )

Craig

Sorry: forgot to give thanks to Jfarsang and John64 for their write ups. They made it easy, I just took pictures.

ummm, just a little out of sequence don't you think? This really was your first time changing a valve cover gasket........ noob

CREGAN wrote:Step 10:
Reverse the process and put it all back together and crack a beer.

I think I'm going to need some backing on this one..... but who in their right mind does something like that to their vehicle and "THEN" cracks a beer...... for shame

I'll spell it out for you other backyard mechanic wannabe noobs....... for example, an oil change: (from the web)

WOMEN:

1. Pull up to Jiffy Lube when the mileage reaches 3000 since the last oil change.
2. Drink a cup of coffee.
3. 15 minutes later, write a check and leave with a properly maintained vehicle.

Money Spent:
$20.00 Oil Change
$1.00 Coffee
----------------
$21.00 Total

MEN:

1. Go to auto parts store and write a check for $50 dollars for oil, filter, kitty litter, hand cleaner and scented tree.
2. Discover that the used oil container is full. Instead of taking it back to recycle, dump in hole in back yard.
3. Open a beer and drink it.
4. Jack car up. Spend 30 minutes looking for jack stands.
5. Find jack stands under kid's pedal car.
6. In frustration, open another beer and drink it.
7. Place drain pan under engine.
8. Look for 9/16 box end wrench.
9. Give up and use crescent wrench.
10. Unscrew drain plug.
11. Drop drain plug in pan of hot oil; get hot oil on you in process.
12. Clean up.
13. Have another beer while oil is draining.
14. Look for oil filter wrench.
15. Give up; poke oil filter with screwdriver and twist it off.
16. Beer.
17. Buddy shows up; finish case with him. Finish oil change tomorrow.
18. Next day, drag pan full of old oil out from underneath car.
19. Throw kitty litter on oil spilled during step 18.
20. Beer. No, drank it all yesterday.
21. Walk to 7-11; buy beer.
22. Install new oil filter making sure to apply thin coat of clean oil to gasket first.
23. Dump first quart of fresh oil into engine.
24. Remember drain plug from step 11.
25. Hurry to find drain plug in drain pan.
26. Hurry to replace drain plug before the whole quart of fresh oil drains onto floor.
27. Slip with wrench and bang knuckles on frame.
28. Bang head on floor board in reaction.
29. Begin cussing fit.
30. Throw wrench.
31. Cuss for additional 10 minutes because wrench hit Miss December (1992) in the left breast.
32. Clean up. Apply Band-Aid to knuckle.
33. Beer.
34. Beer.
35. Dump in additional 4 quarts of oil.
36. Beer.
37. Lower car from jack stands
38. Accidentally crush one of the jack stands
39. Move car back to apply more kitty litter to fresh oil spilled during step 23.
40. Test drive car.
41. Get pulled over; arrested for driving under the influence.
42. Car gets impounded.
43. Make bail. Get car from impound yard.

Total Time Spent ???
Money Spent:
$50 parts
$12 beer
$75 replacement set of jack stands; hey the colors have to match!
$1000 Bail
$200 Impound and towing fee
---------------------------
$1337 Total

Ah to hell with you, probably won't listen anyway, I'm grabbing a beer.......

Hey- my wife offered to take the kid off my hands for as long as it took, and beleive me it took the whole day including breaks and a Canadian Tire run! There was also some precise viewing of the back of the engine which required her make-up mirror and at least an hour. I decided to wait until the end to crack the beers because I needed to have my whits about me in case I encountered any potential problems- so I drank some cherry whiskey while doing the job instead.

Craig

Good documentation Craig.

You upgraded the bus bar. Nice

Just had to change my valve cover gasket again. It was just pissing the oil out the back half moon seal. Anyway, decided to try something Lee is making at TigWeld4U in the UK. He made a new hold down washer to keep even pressure on the valve cover and hopefully prolong the life of the crappy rubber donuts on the top. It cost about $50 and is made quite well, although it was a bitch to compress the new rubber donuts to get the new bolts to catch. I swore a lot. I will keep you posted on the wear and tear testing. Here are some pictures:
Craig

And how are the washer plates working so far Craig?

Those half moons are a PITA....they shrink a little and if too little sealant was used on all the rubber to metal surfaces....well they leak.

I had a '81 Mitsubishi Challenger with the 2.6L gas motor, exact same gasket design as the 2.8TD. I learned how to fix this issue after it puked a liter of oil during an engine break-in period. What a mess.

I have to do this sooner than later so I'm also curious if you think the Tigweld4U super washer things are worth investing in.

No issues yet. I did this on the 17th of May and I have recently changed my oil. I think one of the major contributing factors was that I think I may have overfilled my oil last January. SO... don't over fill it or check your oil on a hill, like me.

I think these washers are very good and are helping by evenly distributing the pressure on the valve cover- way better than the other ones were. One important thing is that these were a bitch to get on because the bolts were short, so go get a longer one from CT and snug one bolt down, then you can put in the smaller one it is supplied with. Remove longer one and put in the last one supplied. Learned this the hard way involving lots of swearing.

Craig

Well- it is back again. I just cannot get the valve cover to stop leaking! It has started seeping in the front and is leaking down the back of the engine again. If I replace it this summer it will have been replaced every year for the 3 years I have owned it. Pisses me off. The half moons are the biggest POS. They seem to be where the issues always start. Any ideas on what to do to get this issue to stop happening? Or, do I just learn to live with dropping oil straight through the crankcase to piss out onto my driveway? Argh. Never had a vehicle I love equally as much as I hate.

Craig

I goop the hell out of it with the orange gasket maker.
Lots. I didn't care that some say not to.. I do.. lots of it.

Firesong

Hey Firesong- does it make a difference between using the orange silicone or the grey? I have been using grey permatex and it keeps leaking.

Some of the other factors I am CSI-ing to see if they are playing a part in the gasket failure are as follows:

- I park on a driveway that has an incline. The engine is always pointing up the driveway and the leaks always start from the back.
- I use grey Permatex for sealing the case when I finish
- I leave it plugged in for extended periods of time during the winter. Wondering if the oil gets heated up and wants to vent so it pushes out on the gasket.
- I run 15w40 Amsoil Heavy Duty Deisel oil all year round.

I would love to be able to fix it and not have to worry about it again. This yearly replacement is starting to chap my bum. As an added bonus right now it is leaking on the side onto the exhaust manifold and the burning oil smell stinks up the cabin when I am at a stop. LOVE IT.

Craig

Heya! I've not used grey so I can't say what the difference is. The orange has always worked so well for me. I use 5/40 amsoil in the winter. Extended plug-in during the winter. 15/40 in the summer. I don't really think there is a venting push but who knows. What are the specs on grey vs orange ?

Alright- so the weather is pretending to warm up a little and I have the parts so I am thinking that I will replace the gasket again soon. I have a couple questions for all you guru's out there before I give it another go:

1) Is there a certain torque setting that I have to be using when cinching the cover down on the new gasket? I have a feeling that I may be over-tightening it which is causing it to fail.

2) I am thinking of trying the super high temp copper silicone, is that wise? I have used the grey for the other 2 times I have done it. I also apply a little bead to the inside of the cover gasket grove before I put the gasket in and a thin coat to the top of the engine. This time around I am thinking of doing the same but then running a bead all the way around after the cover is cinched down to fill the gap around the whole engine. Is that wise or a messy overkill?

I have noticed some leaks happening all around the gasket, but the main culprit is the stupid half moon in the back. I am getting very tired of having to do this every spring so any advice to help prevent me from having to do this would be greatly appreciated. My neighbors would also appreciate not having to listen to the foul mouthed swear fest every spring also.

Craig