M4000 Valve Cover Gasket help

[abryan.la]

Hi All - new to the group but have already enjoyed - and learned from perusing previous posts.

I have a question I'm hoping someone can help me with. The valve cover gasket on my M4000 has begun leaking pretty bad. I can't complain, this Kubota has been pretty much maintenance free (knock on wood) since I've had it (15 years). I picked up the valve cover gasket at my local Kubota dealer, but after reading a post or two, got kind of concerned about 'simply' replacing it. I don't want to screw up any adjustment settings, etc. I don't have a maintenance manual (I do have parts & operator manual...) for this tractor - like I say, it's been pretty maintenance free so I haven't been able to justify spending the cash. This looks pretty straight forward, but I've said that before on other projects!! ;-)

Can anyone offer any tips/tricks on this? Also, does anyone have a maintenance manual they would be willing to scan the valve cover gasket replacement page(s) and e-mail me?!?!? PLEEEEZE?!

Thanks In Advance for any words of wisdom - and/or encouragement!!!

Andy

 

[pat331]

Andy, welcome to OTT. Before you rip off that valve cover, check to see if the vent from the valve cover to the atmosphere isn't clogged. I had a L4150 that started leaking oil out of the valve cover. Turned out the vent was clogged by a mud-daubber. Cleaned it out and the leaking stopped. I put a new gasket on anyway, but the cause was the stopped up vent that caused pressure to build inside the engine that caused the leak. Good Luck!

 

[abryan.la]

Thanks for the input Pat331. We have pretty bad problems with dirt/mud daubers in our area too! I did double check the line first, and it was clear. I suppose enough oil residue in the line to keep them from choosing that as a nest area!!

Update: I tackled my valve cover replacement this weekend. I had prepped up by pulling off the hood and cleaning the engine with Gunk Engine Brite and pressure washer combo. Once I had everything where I could see it, I started disassembling. I was concerned about the compression switch on the front of the valve cover, but took it one step at a time. The six nuts on top of the valve cover were the only thing holding it on.

It can't be that easy though... I found that I didn't have enough clearance to get the valve cover out b/c of the power steering lines and tank attached to the top of the manifold. I had to remove one of the supply/feed lines from the power steering assembly and the p/s tank in order to get enough clearance to get the valve cover out. Big mess there, but once I got that done, piece of cake. I cleaned all my surfaces up, replace the old gasket (old one was very stiff) and then re-assembled. It was interesting to me that the nuts holding the valve cover on were not extremely tight.... which leads me to...

I do have one question, is it possible to over-tighten the nuts on the valve cover? I replaced the nuts, tightened them in a 'round-robin' fashion to make sure I had even pressure on the whole cover, and continued to tighten them about a half turn at a time. Unfortunately, I don't own a torque wrench, but tightened them what I would consider 'very, very tight'. The valve cover feels pretty heavy - cast aluminum maybe? I don't want to crack the top of the valve cover!! I have mind to loosen everything about a half turn before I proceed to crank her back up... thoughts?

I haven't fired her up yet, before I do, I wanted to go ahead and change oil, oil filter, in case i dislodged grime, dirt, etc. - and obviously replace the power steering fluid too!!

Any feedback would be appreciated...

 

[abryan.la]

Quick follow-up post - in hopes it helps someone in the future. Spoke with the repair guys at my local Kubota dealer. He advised most valve cover gaskets normally required 25ft/lbs torque. He also said one of their tricks was to use a 1/4 inch ratchet, and tighten with two fingers. Also advised that if it was overtightened, the seal would potentially roll/buckle & NOT seal well.

Loosened up on mine, and re-tightened as advised... Changed oil, oil filter and ran for about 3 hours this weekend, so far so good!

 

[handyman]

Glad you got it fixed. If I was doing the work on my own equipment (which I have always done) I would watch for a williams. wright, armstrong, or proto not challenger on ebay some times you can find them at a very decent price. I am always to particular some people say but dont like doing things twice.handy