Thread: Oil leaks. gaskets, and wishful thinking

Had a spare min this arvo so thought I would replace the rocker cover gasket on the TD5. It has been slowly weeping ever since I got it and Im tired of degreasing! So off and into it!
8mm head bolts, so 1/4 drive set will do....NOT! Thought I was going to break the 1/4 drive so stepped up to 3/8 drive breaker and man were they tight! Was amazed I got them off with out a breakage! 10nms they were not, more like 20.
All did come off so lifted rocker off and saw why it was leaking, then found why it had started leaking. There was no ferrule/ spacer in that bolt hole! The injector loom had been replaced before I bought the car and it looks as if the spacer had been lost and they neglected or did not notice it missing and proceeded to tighten it down..and down...and down until the gasket was damaged, It is amazing the cover is not warped!
So I made a temp 1 up and refitted it all, nicely torqued to 10nms and the new gasket looks neat and happy all round now. Another job ticked off except there is a trace of oil in the loom plug already, 35000 kms only, oh well need something to do I suppose
Cheers Scott