Need a little advice on a leaky valve cover gasket on my 2010 focus

Automotive
#1

Long story short, I didn’t know I would need to replace the gasket at 100k miles, and now it’s leaking. What I’m concerned about is, can I reuse my ignition coils? I watched a video on how to perform this repair, and it was discussed that the boots might be messed up due to sitting in oil, and it being safest to just swap out the all 4 ignition coils.

What I’d like to know is if I can get away with just swapping out the boots on my ignition coils and calling it a day?
Here’s some pics of the carnage:

valve%20cover%202
valve cover 2.jpeg3024×4032 3.73 MB
valve%20cover
valve cover.jpeg3024×4032 2.99 MB

1 Like
#2

If it has a pcv valve replaced it, degrease everything and see if things improve.

3 Likes
#3

Could you explain what you mean by “pcv valve replaced” in a little further detail? I have this disease where I don’t know things, doctor says it’s incurable.
Also, thank you for the input, I feel a bit more at ease.

#4

Positive crankcase ventilation valve. Some 4cls don’t have them but if you have one they commonly go bad, they can increase the crank case pressure pushing oil out e path of least resistance. The pcv valve is cheap and most often located on the valve cover on a line between the valve cover and intake.

1 Like
#5

Gotcha, so I may want to replace this too, and if I degrease my spark plug boots (and get the grease out of the wells) everything should be fine?

#6

You need to change the valve cover gasket set. It is leaking and there is no magical way to stop it.

The spark boots can be re-used as long as they don’t get damaged when you pulled them off the spark plugs - most folks are not kind enough to put a dab of dielectric grease in the boot when installing them.

The valve cover on your engine is plastic - be careful when you tighten the fasteners - so you don’t damage the fragile valve cover.

Buy a GOOD quality gasket set - otherwise you will be doing it again. The factory gasket was made of blue rubber.

This is an ideal time to change the spark plugs - if you haven’t done so yet.

The PCV valve on your engine is not like “cheap” like the old cars - it is only available with the hose and is about $24.

2 Likes
#7

Yeah, as I thought it over, I figured there’s probably no way around changing the gasket set. I have indeed purchased a new set from Fel-Pro in that blue you mentioned, along with some other incidentals. Now I’m just trying to find a PCV valve that isn’t $50, since my research suggests it may be the cause of the gasket failure anyway.
I did swap out my spark plugs just before 100k, at the makerspace no less, so now I’m just going to see if any friends have access to a private driveway where I can do this work since my apartment complex has a moratorium on car repair.

Thank you for the insight, I really appreciate it.

1 Like
#8

It’s not magic, many seals including crank seals are replaced unnecessarily due to a malfunctioning pcv and it should be replaced if you’re doing a valve cover anyway. Replacing it ahead of time and degreasing everything to assess it’s relation to the leak is the way to go. It’s not uncommon for a leaking valve cover to be fixed, only to develop a rear main seal leak down the road as it becomes the weakest leak with excessive crank case pressure.

Pcv valve are consumables but often overlooked.

#9

I’m seeing $33 on eBay

#10

Thank you, I did find one for a little over 20 on rockauto that should arrive soon.

#11

My god it’s finally done… I went to an empty parking lot and got to work. While I can appreciate the cleverness of this engine design, I feel nothing but contempt for this DuraTech engine and its designers. No human hand can easily reach some of the things I had to reach… I replaced the gaskets and then got to work pulling out the intake manifold so I could reach the PCV valve and replace it. I ache in several places and lost one of the bolts to hold down my ignition coils, so my partner popped over to a shop to grab some replacements. I think I’ll finish filling up the oil and drive around a bit this week to make sure I did it right and there’s no more leaks.
Thank you all for the advice and suggestions!

1 Like
#12

To be fair to the designers, their design believes that this engine will only be touched twice by *“human hands”: once when it’s guided into the bay on the assembly line and again when it’s guided into the recycling shredder.
Great work!

*human hands might actually be guiding a robot

2 Likes
#13

Oh absolutely. Putting it back in was a tad easier, except when I broke the plastic snaps to secure an electrical plug down… on the bright side, it’s much more accessible now!

1 Like
#14

This is why I’m not in a hurry to get anything new. I own a Pontiac fiero so that’s already a circus to work on and starting to buy stuff with the gm ecotec engine because they are so simple and easy to work on.

1 Like