Vannin' Home Forums Dodge Performance (Dodge) Mopar 360 valve cover

Picked up a dodge in Seattle. On my way home to Minnesota. Long story.. but cracked my valve cover. It’s small, but it’s leaking. I’m in Helena MT, got it towed to the closest shop, and hoping to get back on road ASAP.

It’s Sunday, so nothing is open. Got a room for the night, and I’m going to start up on it tomorrow. Hopefully with sone guidance/help from the shop.

I’ve been looking into it a bit, and it sounds like a lot of ppl use JB weld as a temp fix until it can be replaced. Anyone have experience with this?

Not sure if the material is weld-able. Or if a welder in area would be able to do so.

Thought maybe I could get sone feedback/help from you all.
I appreciate your time!

Since the oil sloshing around inside the cover isnt under much pressure, you can certainly use some J B Weld to fill the crack, inside and outside to be sure. it will dry, not cure in a couple of hours. I have a valve cover if you cant find one,,,but they are common small blocks ( 318 340 360).

what brand would you recommend? got a 318 in a 79 b200. dont believe my cheap edelbrock covers are gonna make it.

It used to be that the aftermarket had good quality with their aluminum castings, but Ive had a couple over the recent years (Edel, Holley) that have had bad castings, with cracked rails right out of the box! If you are not going for looks, then a used, factory steel set will work well,,,with new rubber gaskets, you wont be disappointed. If you gotta have aluminum or billet, deal with a major distributor so you can return if they leak.

+1 on JB weld will absolutely work in a pinch.

Back in 2009 a few friends and myself rode from VA to NC for the Smokeout chopper show. My friend Paul had just finished building his chopper and the mounting bungs on the bottom of his tank cracked spewing a couple gallons of gas all over his knees and hips.

We got a room for the night and showered up, he used some solo cups with the bottoms cut out to create a retaining ring of sorts, then poured the JB weld in and let it cure.

That tank held up fine all weekend, even for a few days when he got home. He then took it down and redid the whole tank. Point is it will work.

I'd clean the valve covers super well with some hot soapy water. Use some masking tape to build a sort of wall down both sides of the crack. Smudge the JB weld in and let it dry really well. Should be good to go.

For sure use JB weld to get back on the road. I cracked a valve cover riiiiiight before a 3 week road trip (literally 2 nights before) through banff and southern BC and back north, held up fine, about 4000km, not a single issue. I replaced them when i got home with OEM steel covers as vistacruiser suggested above, theyre strong as an ox!

Any thoughts on what would cause excessive pressure in my drivers side valve cover? Got the new cover on, but still seems to be spewing oil out around the rubber gasket for what I believe is my PCV.

I’m thinking that this excess pressure is what lead to my now cracked valve cover coming loose in the first place.

I wouldn't be too quick to guess high pressure, as that shouldn't be an issue. I bet the PCV is clogged and there is probably a little debris around the gasket, or a crack in the gasket causing it to leak there. The PCV gasket also might not be seating correctly in the aftermarket valve cover, if the gasket was meant for a stock steel valve cover, the slight difference in thickness between the two valve covers could cause issues.

Would anyone know if It would be possible to weld the cracked valve cover? Could that cause issue in any way? It seems to be aluminum.

I didn’t jb weld it.


Thanks for your input!