nothin' like the sweet smell of burning oil on the exhaust manifold. after having to replace the gasket for the second time on both my wife's and my 320, make sure you use a sealant like permatex form-a-gasket with the new gasket. at least use on the lower half of cover.

 

under normal circumstance I would agree with FI. I buy two of the cars, both leak from all valve covers. the manufacturer put those on and one was already replaced by the dealer and it leaked. I replaced all four and after a period of time they start leaking again, mostly from the drivers side.. I put form-a-gasket #2 on all of them with new gaskets and so far they don't leak. Is it possible there is a design flaw?? I don't know. using form-a-gasket sparingly seems to have solved my problem. Even without sealant or a gasket in a tube it would take about a year before it would start leaking. you can try to re-torgue, didn't help me. don't over do it. In the past, especially on some older American valve covers, I'd use some form-a-gasket on the cover so the gasket doesn't get out place when you invert the cover. on the 320 the gasket fits into a groove. I filled the grove with form-a-gasket set the gasket, wiped off excess and put a slight film on the gasket surface. I only used it on the lower half of cover where the leaks were. if you use it all the way around it makes it rather difficult to remove in the future. let the engine set for at least a day before starting. form-a-gasket #1 is harder and faster curing, if you need to go in again it will be very hard to take apart. #2 doesn't totally harden. be very careful on tightening, I think it's 9nm on the cover bolts and 4nm on the breather. Don't want to either strip the threads or break the bolts. If you have a leak at the breather plate, I'd use a RTV gasket maker like permatex black or orange. You can't buy a gasket for that. fill the groove only. read directions. the rtvs can be used instead of form-a-gasket too. be careful you don't over do it and use too much..