I'd really appreciate it if someone could post the torque spec for the R56 valve cover. I searched the forum and didn't find it anywhere.

Thanks

Dave

Just snug them all down, valve cover bolts aren't critical for torque.

Thanks WMW. I can work with that.
Dave

Torque spec depends on the size of the fastener. For the R53 M6 sized bolts, the Bentley manual called out 9ft-lbs. Pretty much just snug as Way wrote.

Thanks OPC. The new valve cover is in and "snug". The plastic cover contains metal inserts which "bottom out" as soon as they snug up to the mating head surface - so the metal bolt contacts the metal insert contacts the metal cylinder head. After that, snug is good, say 9 ft-lbs.

No leaks so far, but it is too soon to tell if this was a fix for the 2qts of oil lost in 6500 miles. I took the old valve cover apart and can't ID a problem. What I do know is that the #1 spark plug hole had about 1" of oil in it. Also, the outer peripheral area was leaking in a few areas but (IMO), not nearly enough to account for 2 qts and not a drop on the garage floor. I keep looking at the coolant for signs of oil - not there.

I don't really want to make a career out of this repair, just wish it all added up, and I could help out others with similar symptoms. With 65k miles, the life on this Just-a-Cooper has been uneventful up to now. After removing the valve cover, I noticed that the rubber gasket was brittle, which is somewhat to be expected, although I'd prefer not to change gaskets every 50k miles or so. I'm remembering back to when we had the recall performed where they replaced the blown fuse controlling the cooling fan. I asked "you sure this doesn't cause other problems?" "Not to worry" was their reply. I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Hopefully the new gasket and valve cover (and fuse) will prevent a future leak.
Dave

So the Bentley manual says to apply a thin layer "anti-friction compound such as glycerine" to the cylinder head contact surfaces. Has anyone done this? Is it completely necessary? What exactly is anti-friction compound?

RE: Quote: "No leaks so far, but it is too soon to tell if this was a fix for the 2qts of oil lost in 6500 miles. I took the old valve cover apart and can't ID a problem. What I do know is that the #1 spark plug hole had about 1" of oil in it. Also, the outer peripheral area was leaking in a few areas but (IMO), not nearly enough to account for 2 qts and not a drop on the garage floor. I keep looking at the coolant for signs of oil - not there." end quote.

Using only 2 qts in 6500 miles is very little and normal. All internal combustion engines burn oil. It is going out the tailpipe. so, it's not the seeping valve cover.
Tightening that valve cover needs to be done incrementally, staggering starting from center, working up to 12.5 nM (9 ftLb) in 3 or 4 steps, especially since this cover is not metal.