Valve cover leaking 1.9L NA engine

[astroboy]

My 1.9L NA engine in my Vanagon had a bit of oil leakage. The valve cover was leaking a bit, so when I ordered a new starter, I also ordered a one piece rubber valve cover gasket which I installed. The next time I checked oil I was down almost a quart. I traced it to the valve cover which allowed oil to flow down the side of the head. Not good.

I created a shim out of some mylar and installed it on top of the rubber gasket which slowed the leakage some. I then created a thicker shim out of manila folder material which did not seem to make any difference. I then ordered two new cork? gaskets. I used the flexible Permatex to keep the gasket in place on the head figuring that there is no way this is going to leak. But it does.

On this forum there was a discussion about the usage of a plastic oil deflector that just sits on top of the cam pillow blocks and helps to reduce this. My engine does not have a deflector sitting on the cam. I know the 1.6L NA has one.

So, my question is: Anyone who owns the 1.9L NA engine (from Canada) who has had their valve cover off, and did you see an oil deflector sitting on the cam? Would it help with oil leakage by keeping the oil from spaying on the gasket?

If I need to get one, the part number seems to be 026103547. I will get one if it helps.

Thanks for any help.

[Caerbannog]

I can't comment on the 1.9 per se, but do you have a thin sheet-metal valve cover, or a thick cast aluminum cover? If sheet metal, is it fairly flat, or is it kind of bowed downward around the stud holes? If bowed, you may need to hammer it flat. Do you have the 5-hole stiffener on top of the valve cover (or something like that)?

I know when I got the rubber gasket, I used the longer studs that came with the kit. However, the longer studs are for the thick aluminum cover. If used with the sheet-metal cover, the nut will bottom out the stud threads without really clamping the gasket tight, causing leaks.

You could clean the head with a solvent and maybe pinpoint the problem area(s).

[Fatmobile]

The 1.9 has the bolts in the center of the valve cover,.. instead of along the edge.
They make a rubber valve cover gasket for the 1.9?

You can put a 1.6 valve cover on them if you drill and tap the holes around the edge.
That migth help seal better,.. and offers a wider range of valve cover options.

[astroboy]

Actually, my valve cover looks very similar to the one on the old 1.6L NA engine. It is a nice shiny stamped sheet metal part. It has four holes along each long side of the cover and a metal piece that sits on the edges under the nuts where the studs are to insure that it is seated uniformly along each long edge (kind of like my old 55 Chevy had if I remember correctly). It is actually quite rigid. I think it is faily thick - like 0.025 inches or something like that. When I take it off again, I will mic it. It does not flex very much.

The studs have pretty long threads, and go down into the aluminum head. The holes continue through the aluminum and the studs protrude a bit. What happened on this engine and the 1.6L was that the nuts somehow get tightened down so that they run into the non threaded middle section of the stud. So what happens is that the studs come out (6) with the nut. Not really a problem, but end up screwing the stud with nut on it back into the head each time. I dropped one last time I had it apart and it took me 40 minutes (dropped shroud below engine) to find it sitting on the shock absorber bracket.

There is one difference, and that this one has an oil filler cap on the back end (toward the rear of the car) that I can remove and look down inside. I could add oil there if I wanted.

So, I will keep trying to find out if this engine needs an oil deflector.

Thanks for getting back to me.

[Fatmobile]

Sounds like the nuts are tightening down on the studs,.. instead of the head.
I like using allen head set screws,... they don't have the bald spot in the middle to interfere.
and can be screwed in easily.