How hard is it to do myself? I just looked over my Haynes manual and it seems like a total pita to do, not like the old 350 chevy motor back in the day..... I'm guessing it's just the valve covers that are leaking? With 143k miles would it be more likely that the upper and lower intake gaskets have been replaced? I haven't really paid much attention to this but it is leaking and I thought that it might be something I could maybe tackle myself? After reading the directions I'd say a mechanic would charge atleast $200+ to do the job.......

any help or thoughts on this would be great, thanks.......

 

I think the rear ones are the ones that would be a pain, the fronts are just the 6 bolts (2 on top, 4 on bottom) and then replacing the gasket, whereas the rear you would have to disconnect the dogbones and rock the engine forward, then do the same.

I may be completely missing something, but it doesn't seem like a horrible job to me, just the rear one is a complete pain to work on.

You would probably want to drain the oil first though, not sure how much would be sitting up in the valve cover.

 

Thanks man.... It's not like I need it done asap or anything like that so maybe I can get it done myself? It's just been a very long time since I did anything that requires thinking.....

 

I hope to say this in 4 months, at the end of summer haha

Do you have a torque wrench? That may be the only thing you need to worry about, torquing the bolts down the the correct poundage.

I think you should have an easy time getting it done though, especially if it's the front one.

 

If it's like doing it in a 6th gen 3800, it's really not a pain, just removing a lot of tiny little brackets. The "tough" part is getting the valve cover with gasket seated properly (not having the gasket fall out of it's "groove" in the valve cover).

 

You have to remove coil bracket, alternator, tensioner, and some other small stuff. Takes 2-3 hours.

 

for the rear I'm assuming?

 

Yes, on a 6th gen. I just realized the title said 5th gen.

 

Yeah, it should be the same basically for a 5th gen also tho

 

Problems keeping a gasket in place during assembly? I've sworn by this stuff for years and it works great!

http://www.permatex.com/products/aut...et_Sealant.htm