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Decided to remove the left camshaft cover since it is supposedly easier. The bolt on the bottom closest to the shock well took forever. The teeny little tool pictured with a swivel saved the day. Thanks to Thomas! Who would have thought that such a big engine would require such a delicate tool. Now, I am very concerned about getting the cover back on, more later. I am going to finish this one first before I start the left. I have to figure out how to keep the dipstick in.
One question: I will clean the cover & the head surface. Do you sand the surfaces lightly? I was thinking a 600 grit? If not, what is the preferred method? The gaskets, etc. won't be here until Monday.
Although there are different opinions about this, I personally would never sand machined surfaces just to clean them.
There are so called seal scrapers that, together with special solvent sprays for gasket residues, do a pretty good job of cleaning the surfaces without damaging them, provided that you do the job carefully. Also scrapers for cleaning ceramic hobs are suitable for the job.
I, personally, have been using successfully blades from carpet cutters. They are cheap, if one is not sharp enough anymore you just throw it away and use a new one, but, because of the hardness of the blade material, you really have to pay attention not to cut into the surface you are cleaning. It's a matter of angles (not too steep) and experience.
I thought to have some pictures, as well, but that's not the case.
I used the method of cutting the ring of the dipstick and bending it out of the way, without having to remove the dipstick tube from the engine. It's fiddly, and you need the small tools, but it worked fine for me.
You remove the first bolt, cut the eyelet of the dipstick tube (I think that I used a small saw because I could not reach the eyelet otherwise), and after bending it out of place you can reach the bolt underneath.
Thanks, Thomas. I am amazed at how clean and smooth everything is & the gasket is perfectly seated. While I haven't removed the gasket yet, I would think carpet cutter (razor?), followed by a solvent should do the trick.Or, depending on how the gasket comes off, maybe just a solvent?
Since I use a high quality synthetic oil, I change the oil once a year since we don't drive her the mileage limit. It was time for the change when I started this and the oil is still golden.
I will study the dipstick info you so kindly sent.
An unexpected benefit of all of this is a heightened appreciation for the sheer beauty of this engine and the genius of the engineers and technicians having crafted her. This forum makes it abundantly clear that with the human touch, so much more is added than with technology alone!
The gasket is rubber and it should come off quite easily with not much, if any, residue, so what you propose should work well. Try the solvent first, and see what happens...and yes, a razor also should also do the trick.
The scraping method is actually needed more for paper gaskets, or sometimes for cylinder head gaskets, because they normally do not come off as cleanly as a rubber gasket.
I, too, do an oil change once a year, using quality oil and filter, but when I do it, my oil is not that golden anymore. I would say that this is because, here in Germany, the car gets driven much harder than in the States, what with my long trips at high speed.
I searched my pictures again and found one where I could enlarge the part with the dipstick. It is not perfectly clear anymore, but you can see the cut I made and also (with a bit of fantasy), see how I bent the eyelet:
I used a plastic putty knife to start the gasket coming out of the trough & it pulled out nicely. Kudos to the folks designing this gasket/cover installation. Couldn't be any better! I'm just hopeful that the gaskets arriving soon are as good.
Thomas, thanks for the info on the dipstick, etc. Can't quite visualize it all, but, I suspect, that is a temporary condition..
Stupid question: Why can't you just reinsert the dipstick if it has been removed? I plan to follow the directives, so this is a rhetorical question. Also, I seem to recall that the O-ring on the dipstick performs a sealing function, probably in the material that you sent. I will be rereading all of it.
The problem is to reinsert the dipstick tube into the engine block. It is a very tight fit and you cannot see a damned thing down there (excuse my French...), so the risk to damage something by removing and reinserting the tube is quite high.
05-15-2024, 06:49 PM
Hero of the Battle of the Cam
