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Pontiac Tempest Valve Cover Gasket Replacement at your home or office.

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Valve Cover Gasket Replacement Service

How much does a Valve Cover Gasket Replacement cost?

On average, the cost for a Pontiac Tempest Valve Cover Gasket Replacement is $185 with $45 for parts and $140 for labor. Prices may vary depending on your location.

CarServiceEstimateShop/Dealer Price
1990 Pontiac TempestL4-2.2LService typeValve Cover Gasket ReplacementEstimate$1192.56Shop/Dealer Price$1293.86 - $1552.40
1991 Pontiac TempestV6-3.1LService typeValve Cover Gasket ReplacementEstimate$1461.09Shop/Dealer Price$1573.31 - $1879.87
1990 Pontiac TempestV6-3.1LService typeValve Cover Gasket ReplacementEstimate$1212.90Shop/Dealer Price$1322.16 - $1626.48
1991 Pontiac TempestL4-2.2LService typeValve Cover Gasket ReplacementEstimate$1390.29Shop/Dealer Price$1484.99 - $1738.58
Show example Pontiac Tempest Valve Cover Gasket Replacement prices

What is a valve cover gasket and how does it work?

Each cylinder head on your car’s engine has an aluminum or plastic valve cover bolted to it. Between this valve cover and the cylinder head, there is a gasket that keeps engine oil from leaking out. The valve cover bolts keep the gasket compressed, thus preventing leaks. Over time the gasket becomes brittle from the engine’s heat or the bolts loosen, creating an engine oil leak.

When to consider replacing a valve cover gasket?

Look for these signs of oil leakage at the valve cover gasket:

  • Oil seepage or dripping. Should the joint between the valve cover and the cylinder head fail, oil often becomes visible on the valve cover or cylinder heads. Usually, the oil will attract and hold dirt.
  • Oil accumulating inside the spark plug well. The spark plug tube seals are part of the valve cover sealing system. If the tube seals are leaking, you will see oil on the spark plugs or wires. The valve cover gasket and tube seals are all replaced at one time if either fails.
  • Oil leakage at the rubber grommets. The bolts holding the valve cover to the cylinder head sometimes have rubber grommet seals under the bolt heads. If these seals are leaking, you will see oil seepage around the bolt heads.

How do mechanics replace a valve cover gasket?

  • Remove engine cover. Some engines have plastic covers over the entire top. The plastic engine cover is removed to access the valve cover(s).
  • Remove components. On 4 cylinder engines, the valve cover is usually readily accessed once any electrical components and emission control tubing are removed, plus any accelerator linkages that might be in the way. On 6 or 8 cylinder engines, depending on which valve cover gasket is leaking, removal of the air intake plenum might be required, as well as additional steps.
  • Remove valve cover. Once the valve cover(s) is accessed, the cover retaining bolts are removed and the cover pulled off. The valve cover sealing surface is checked with a straight edge to be sure the cover is flat and thus reusable.
  • Install new gasket. The new valve cover gasket is applied along with new rubber grommets under the retaining bolt heads. If there are spark plug tube seals, these are replaced as well. In some applications, oil resistant RTV (room temperature vulcanization) sealant must be applied to specific segments of the sealing surface, along with the new gasket, to ensure a complete and effective seal. The cover is bolted back on, using a calibrated inch pound torque wrench, and all other components are restored to their original position.
  • Check for leaks. Finally, the car engine is run and a visual check is made for oil leaks.

Is it safe to drive with a valve cover gasket problem?

Yes, as long as the amount of oil leaking is small, and there is no leak onto hot engine parts such as the exhaust manifold, it is safe to drive your car until you have an opportunity to fix it.

If you notice oil leaking on to the ground beneath your car after it is parked, you do not have a small leak, and it needs to be found and repaired as soon as possible. Any leak, of course, means your oil level is dropping as you drive the car. If you have a leak, be sure to check your oil more frequently than usual so you do not run low on oil and damage the engine.

When replacing a valve cover gasket keep in mind:

  • The mechanical components of a car engine will typically outlive the gaskets used to seal the engine. However, many of these gaskets, including the valve cover gaskets, are relatively easy to replace.
  • Never add stop leak type products to engine oil or other vehicle fluids. Not only are these materials not approved or specified by the original equipment manufacturers, but they also can create additional problems that may be costly to repair.
  • Often, if a car is old enough to have a valve cover oil leak, there will be oil leaks elsewhere on the engine, so you should request a complete leak inspection. It may be more cost effective to repair multiple leaks during one service call.
  • Often, the PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation) valve is inserted into a rubber grommet in one of the valve covers. An old rubber grommet is a potential leak source, as well as connections to the PCV valve. These components should be inspected and considered for replacement while there is access to the valve cover.

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Number of Pontiac Valve Cover Gasket Replacement services completed
297+
services done by our mechanics
TOTAL NUMBER OF EXPERT Pontiac MECHANICS
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Real customer reviews from Pontiac owners like you.

Excellent Rating

(27)
Rating Summary
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H

27 years of experience
828 reviews
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H
27 years of experience
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by John
Pontiac Tempest L6-3.8L - Brakes, Steering and Suspension Inspection - Los Altos, California
On time. A true gentleman. Skilled with cars that date over many years. He knows older cars including many classics. Younger mechanics probably would know know a thing about a 4BBL Carburetor. One can see that he has a true love of cars & the work he does. This is only one experience so I would hope to see him back when needed.

Chris

23 years of experience
2372 reviews
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Chris
23 years of experience
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by Harald
Pontiac Tempest V8-5.3L - Pre-purchase Car Inspection - Laguna Niguel, California
Chris did a great job inspecting the vehicle, I live in GA and wanted to purchase a car in CA so I needed an unbiased third party to look at it for me. My primary concern was that the car was represented accurately in the online ad (there are a lot of scams online now), which he did, we had a great conversation after the inspection which did a lot to comfort my concerns. This was a "project" car and needed to be evaluated accordingly, it was something that I had planned on doing a restoration on so I knew it needed some work. My only critique is that when the car was delivered there was a little more rust than I had expected, I wish that he had pointed that out, I accept some of the responsibility for not asking enough questions during our conversation. Overall I am extremely happy with the inspection service and would highly recommend Chris .

Torrieanto

13 years of experience
632 reviews
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Torrieanto
13 years of experience
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by Christopher
Pontiac Vibe L4-2.4L - Valve Cover Gasket - Tampa, Florida
He was great will call again!!

Kiri

21 years of experience
372 reviews
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Kiri
21 years of experience
Request Kiri
by chris
Pontiac G6 V6-3.5L - Valve Cover Gasket - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
As always he's great! Sorry for cancelling the last appointment. I just found out that this car needs $2000 worth of work, I'm going to sell it soon. I hope I didn't cause too much trouble cancelling last minute; I have been running all day and forgot all about it.

Excellent Rating

(27)
Rating Summary
26
1
0
0
0
26
1
0
0
0
Number of Pontiac Valve Cover Gasket Replacement services completed
297+
services done by our mechanics
TOTAL NUMBER OF EXPERT Pontiac MECHANICS
800+
experts on our platform
Yourmechanic was featured in

New York Times NBC CBS Forbes INC Tech Crunch

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