valve cover gasket replacement

[Corey Djcoreyt Tindal]

Hi all, picked up a Chilton and working on my car. I cant for the life of me get the engine lift bracket off. Is it known to take forever to get the last screw that is hiding underneath the fuel lines?

[gtpeddie]

what year is your car? and maybe post some pics of what your talking about, im not really sure what bracket your talking about, but im sure someone else will know

[Corey Djcoreyt Tindal]

2000 pontiac grand prix gt. The bracket next to the spark plugs which is over the valve cover. There is a screw underneath the wire harnesses which is becoming a true pain.

[Corey Djcoreyt Tindal]

nevermind, got the thing off. Not much room in there, thats for sure. How long does it normally take to replace the front valve cover gasket? Im slowing down for now as I started at 6:30am in order to beat the heat. Sliced my finger real good around 7 and took an hour break to ease the pain. Then jumped on here. All help is great help. Thank you!

[BillBoost37]

Front cover should take you about 30 minutes total, rear up to an hour.

The key is .. Remove the two 15mm bolts holding the black bracket to the aluminum one. Then there's one 13mm nut lower on the black one, remove the black piece. Now remove the two bolts holding the aluminum bracket to the head, I want to say they are 13mm. Remove the aluminum piece and you have wide open access to the front cover.

On the rear, I find that removing the two 13mm nuts holding the center (engine cover) bracket to the rear exhaust is key in doing the job. Next take off the alternator, loosen the three 15mm bolts holding the alternator bracket to the head. This will give you just enough wiggle room to get the rear cover off.

[deadsnake]

Luckily I was able to get the rear valve cover without removing anything extra....just the bolts holding it down

[Corey Djcoreyt Tindal]

so if I may ask, why do the shops in the area total out the job to be 4 hours and you are able to do it in 2 Bill? Is applying the gaskets difficult?

[BillBoost37]

I never said 2 hours. I think you are milking the job at 2 hours.

It's actually very easy. First off, I know these things with my eyes closed, can tell you bolt head sizes off the top of my head and walk to the car once with all the things I need. Hell...a good buddy of mine has his own shop. Been a mechanic at dealerships etc and owned his own business for a total of about 35 years now. I zipped out the rear cover quicker than he did the front. When you practice on only one type of motor..it's super easy.

Labor guides pay .5 for the front and .75 or 1.00 for the rear.

[Corey Djcoreyt Tindal]

I never said 2 hours. I think you are milking the job at 2 hours.

It's actually very easy. First off, I know these things with my eyes closed, can tell you bolt head sizes off the top of my head and walk to the car once with all the things I need. Hell...a good buddy of mine has his own shop. Been a mechanic at dealerships etc and owned his own business for a total of about 35 years now. I zipped out the rear cover quicker than he did the front. When you practice on only one type of motor..it's super easy.

Labor guides pay .5 for the front and .75 or 1.00 for the rear.

I know you never said 2 hours, I was just doing the math in my head was all. My fault. Alot of the bolts have been really tough to take off and I was following the chiltons until I started asking for help on here. There are more steps than what you have listed. Thanks again though.

[BillBoost37]

The reason the bolts are tough is because the valve cover bolts aren't 10mm, they are 3/8". As for the other bolts...you'll get them. No worries.