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My neighbor has the subject car and I'm trying to help him do some maintenance to it before he takes off for college.

He's got a couple of oil leaks that I'm trying to help him chase down. I'm fairly sure that one is the oil drain plug which is easy enough. The other looks like it is coming from the passenger side valve cover (see pic below). I might be fooling myself, but it doesn't look that difficult to change, other than being a little tight in the engine bay. Any tips from anyone who has done this before? Is there a recommended brand of gasket that seems to work well?

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In need of car.

It doesn't seem to be a hard job nor have I heard stories of it being hard. Probably the hardest part is cleaning the mating surface on the head due to the tightness with the chassis.

I'm pretty sure with a VC gasket you could get el cheapo at AA/AZ/PB or $$$ OEM at the dealer and they'll last longer than you need them to. You will also be replacing the spark plug tube seals too. Use some RTV.

Torque on the bolts is 5 ft/lb

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2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

I use the gaskets from Subaru for those. Not difficult, not really that tight (you should try doing this on a WRX if you think that's tight). I use the Ultra Black from Autozone to help the gaskets seal. Replace the perimeter gasket and the spark plug gaskets. And preferably the bolt gaskets, but I've re-used some and didn't have new leaks.

Changed the valve cover gaskets. That was easy enough. It looks like he also has a rear main seal leak.

I'll check into that later, but for now I'm trying to help him replace his front ball joints. Anyone have any tricks to getting those things out of the knuckles? This is my first fight with an inverted joint like this and at the moment it's winning.

Does anyone have one of these: http://turninconcepts.com/product_info. ... ts_id=1134

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In need of car.

That tool is widely touted on NASIOC. You could probably put it together from mcmaster by yourself, but it'd probably be the same cost.

Have you got the pinch bolt out at least? Sometimes they break too. Do a little prying between the two halves too. I bet rigging up a slide hammer with a long nut would probably do the trick.

_________________
2011/2012 Autox VP
2013/2014.5 President
2013 Top Gun

2015 Fit

22R-EC => 4G63 => D16Y7 + D16Y8 => EJ255 + K24Z2 => K20Z3 + K24Z2 => K24Z2 + M54 => L15B

The "rear main seal leak" is probably the rear oil separator cover leaking. That's what it was on my '98 2.2L wagon. Rear main seal looked fine (replaced it anyway). You'll need to get the cover and new screws, and use sealant in a tube - there's no gasket. You'll also need an impact driver to get the old screws out.

If the knuckle is really rusty, good luck with that. I ended up breaking the knuckle on the one that I tried. If it's not rusty, tapping on the control arm with a hammer while it's still bolted to the control arm should work.

Have fun.