I got to work last night on adjusting my valves, with the help of Kerry's kit and the how-to playing on my laptop in the garage.  Got the tank off, the breather cover, and all 6 of the allen head bolts out of the valve cover.  But the cover won't budge!  It's stuck.  Can't get it to budge at all.  The Haynes book says not to try to pry it off, but to tap it "gently" with a rubber mallet to loosen it.  I tried that, no luck.  

I have a '96 with 10,500 miles and I figure it's possible the cover has never been removed before.

Any tips?

jeff

Maybe You aren't tapping it gently hard enough...

Yeah I'd say your valve cover has not been removed. The 4k mile/12 month intervals ( checking and adjusting) are rarely followed on average.


Whack it just a little harder

I have found that hot air from a (no wonder) hot air gun greatly reduced the amount of effort on a stuck item.

On the other hand, IF this has been previously serviced, maybe they went happy with blue or black goo?

Heat it up and use the widest blade straight slot screwdriver you have to apply "offward" force in one location. Do this where the metal is the thickest.

If that fails, use a smaller blade to get a toe hold into the gasket. Graduate the blade size to allow prying and work your way around the cover. Try not to tear into the metal.

Like most things mechanical, the hard part is not the adjustment. Breaking loose the fastners and not destroying something in the process is mechanical technique. It can only be learned from experience.

Good Luck!

I have used a block of wood and a hammer. Try to catch it under an edge.

Mine was stuck too.  I used a small socket (8mm?) and a ratchet for leverage, and stuck the 8mm socket in one of those holes for the allen bolts.  Then I carefully lifted upwards on the handle, and it pried off the valve cover.

I used wood too, cut into a triangle and used as a chisel.  Went all around and it finally came loose.

starwalt said

"Heat it up and use the widest blade straight slot screwdriver you have to apply "offward" force in one location. Do this where the metal is the thickest.

If that fails, use a smaller blade to get a toe hold into the gasket. Graduate the blade size to allow prying and work your way around the cover. Try not to tear into the metal."

this is a really bad idea. screwdrivers are always made from harder metals than the aluminum used for the valve cover. if the seal surface gets scored, it will leak, for sure.

Whack it harder at the corners in an upward angle. Alternate hitting each corner with the rubber mallet.

Just don't pull a "Billy Madison ball-whacker guy".

Hope this helps.

Doesnt the valve cover have two tabs at opposite corners that you can pull upwards on?

Theres no metal to metal contact, or any kind of deep insertions between the valve cover, the head, or the gasket... so force doesnt neccesarilly need to be applied in a perfectly vertical way.

IIRC, it shouldnt be too hard to get a long flathead screwdriver, slot it under one of those tabs, use part of the frame as a fulcrum, and lever the cover off... maybe giving it (the handle of the driver) a few taps with a mallet.

Mechanical advantage is your friend.

JeffP took care of his stuck valve cover the same day he started this thread.  (See THIS POST).

But keep the ideas coming anyway.  Hey, maybe JeffP should contribute HIS solution....  

Kerry is right.  Posted this in the AM, took care of it in the afternoon.

I used a screw driver, but not exactly the way it was described above.  I stuck it in, under the gasket (ie between the gasket and the engine) and gently tapped it in with the rubber mallet.  I did this in about 10 places around the engine, and eventually the cover became loose enough that I could pull it off.  I didn't work the screwdriver much when it was in there for fear of damaging anything.  I'm gonna reassemble everything tonight.  Hopefully no leaks!

jeff

How does the gasket surface look on the head? Any marks or scores from the screwdriver?

I didn't examine it too carefully, but it looked fine at a glance.  I'm probably gonna reassemble it tonight, so I'll take a closer look and report back then.

jeff