How clean is clean enough for rocker cover gasket?

[Sports140]

Hi!

Currently putting on a new rocker cover as part of other repairs and also because the breathing at oil filler was way heavy (enough to blow away loose cap) and the old cover seemed a bit clogged at breather (though not fully blocked). Gonna see where new rocker cover and reamed injector seats plus new copper washers get me.
If it still breathes heavy, does that only leave worn piston rings as cause? (I’m a bit beginner still)

Anyway, how clean does the gasket mating surface need to be?
I’ve been rubbing with a cloth wetted with brake cleaner along the mating surface, but a thin layer remains. Considering scraping it off with a scalpel or barber blade while simultaneously vaccuuming (not sure how sensitive things around rockers are to debris;)

Will try attach some pictures now

Cheers, McGilvray

[Sports140]

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[metalworker0]

not clean enough around the bolt holes ..
a stanley knife blade held at a shallow angle works

all the best.mark

[Sports140]

Thanks Mark! I gave it some scraping with a short flatblade scalpel, maybe 9mm wide, worked alright, got some dusty scrapings off. Noticed that the area around/outside many of the bolt circles (there's a maybe 2mm wide outer circle around the threaded hole) was slightly lower, maybe 1mm or so, or less. I assume their machined that way, would be a bit odd if the metal had "sunk" over the years (?)
Will see how it turns out by the end of the day I hope. Extra excited to see how the cylinder balance will look after two new injectors, but might need to get the pump learn and injector learn done first.

Cheers, McGilvray

[dumper]

Used to use a Bluepoint gasket scraper it used a razor blade in a brass holder used to slide a new blade when worn

[Sports140]

Thanks for the tip Dumper!
Hey, a little curious, seeing as you have a 2025 model; I guess it's way too early for repair season, and you're still under warranty I too, but;
Do you know anything about how accesible such new models are for doing your own repairs on everything?

(My next van when this "rust fleet" runs aground would be something newer, but I'm a bit afraid of being limited in what I can repair or not, or by potentially needing a proper FDRS licensed to get anywhere

Cheers, McGilvray

[dumper]

Mine is 25 reg but is a 24 built so still has manual handbrake so brake service shouldn’t e a problem and general service should be possible but for me it has too much electrical control on it all from the info screen at the moment it gets over the air updates maybe when out of warranty that will probably stop
It’s a automatic box but has the shift lever not the rotary knob but still computer controlled so it’s going to be a Ford job if it has problems I’m 73 so I will be cutting back on what I do myself even though it hurts when I have to pay and trust garages to do the big work for now it will be Ford to keep up the warranty

[andz327]

https://ebay.io/m/TPyXyq

great scraper

Sent from my SM-G990B using Tapatalk

[Sports140]

Thanks for the tip Andy! "Tungsten carbide", sounds like I could almost scrape welds flat with that thing! Think I'll get me one (or two)


Dumper: At least being able to do the brakes is good, such an essential service task! I heard from my local workshop they needed software to able to do it on several newer models.
I hope the "right to repair" wins back some of these freedoms in the future, but I can't guess the odds on that when brand manufacturers can hide behind the need for "safety" derived from licensensed dealer workshops doing the work on such "dangerous" things as automobiles..

The physical toll of wrenching is real though; even though I'm about half your age, long sessions on my knees at the front suspension, or bent over the engine bay getting can really get to my knees and back. Maybe some of it comes down to tools or technique, but still

Anyway, must be nice with such a fresh model, everything running smooth and unimpeded. Happy for ya!


On the posts topic, think the repair went well. Diesel fill hole breathing has reduced a tad (lid just bounces around now rather than blowing off), and everything is looking tight and dry so far. Tightened the nuts in two stages, 5nm - 10.5nm ish, going from center outwards to finish off in corners.

Added maybe 30 degrees or so to the 180 for injector bolts, which gave a 20nm reading on my digital torque wrench. Felt right. Logic was the seats had some minor circular groving, and the fresh copper washers would need extra pressed down for that, in addition to whatever pressure would be lost from them "seating further in" over time.

However, the van now has three new injectors, which feels a bit silly. When I did a leak back test prior to installing these two new injectors, the old one still in had about the same result as a brand new one already installed at that point, but a leak back is of course only one data point on injector health...
The odd one out was very visible on injector balance in forscan afterwards, being surrounded by three new ones. After a first attempt successful injector pilot learn, things looked miles better, but the odd one out could still be told.

I was expecting the injector learn to fail due to egr delete mapping, but it seems that primarily affects pump learn. Will be doing some tests with various beta software editions, maybe drive it for a while inbetween, and finally without the egr mapping (do a pcm update) to try get the pump learn through (new denso scv, prv seemed fine, non-leak). Subject for another post

Cheers, McGilvray