Felpro 50561 VC gasket from Advance Auto

Just an FYI.. Advance auto parts lists the wrong felpro valve cover gasket set part number for my 2009 N/A legacy. They say "VS 50561 R", but the federal mogul website says "VS 50780 R". Oddly enough, the federal mogul website also says "2458" cc displacement instead of 2457, just a typo I hope? Either way, the VS 50561 R set doesn't fit on a 2009 N/A legacy.

 

I partially blame myself, I usually double check the part number at the manufacturer web page and didn't this time around. On the box, it also only says that it fits years 1999-2005. But like i said earlier the AAP website said it would fit, and the felpro box says it fits the 2457cc SOHC EJ253, so I gave it a try anyways figuring maybe they just haven't updated the label on the box yet. Oh well, I'll be sure to double check the manufacturer web site from now on.

 

**It also looks like autozone.com, napaonline.com, and rockauto.com all list the VS 50561 R set for a 2009 N/A legacy as well. I'm still convinced this is the wrong gasket. You can see in the pictures that the top corners are different. I could bend the felpro gasket to work, but I don't want to do that and risk the gasket leaking.

I'm bored so I just figured I'd throw out some pictures I took during the passenger side part of the job and a few notes.

 

The local dealer quotes me about $530 or so to do the job (2 VC gaskets, all 4 tube seals). I figured I'll save some money and do it myself, with the kit from advance auto for $30. I figured worst case scenario it leaks, I lose part of a day doing the labor, $30, and I'll just have a subaru specialist or the dealer redo the job. I've done valve cover gaskets before, but on inline 4 hondas which is 100x easier, obviously. Well as I mentioned above, the felpro kit didn't exactly work out. So I went to the dealer, and got 2 valve cover gaskets and 4 plug tube seals, $20 for the VC gaskets and $6 for each spark plug tube seal, total $70. We don't have gaskets for the valve cover bolts (2009's that is).

 

I regret doing this myself, and in hindsight I would've gladly paid the dealer $530 to do the job, keeping in mind $70 of that is for parts.

 

For the passenger side, I had to remove the intake box and tubing, and decided to remove the bracket above the injectors that the spark plug wire guide hooks onto. I don't know if you have to remove that, but I think it helped.

 

Also, don't make the same mistake I did, which may seem obvious. Before you remove either valve cover, do your very best to clean off sand or other contaminates that are sitting on top of the gasket, or in that general area. When I first did the passenger side, I didn't do this and I'm embarrassed to say a little sand/dirt fell down into the valvetrain. I was able to wipe some of it up, and blow some of it out, but I know that there is still some left in there. Thankfully my car has a lot of miles on it, so if something happens because of this I won't beat myself up too much. To be honest, right now I'm halfway done with the driver side and I'm taking a break. Even now after cleaning the area above the driver side valve cover gasket, I still had a little bit of dirt fall in the valvetrain again. This time less fell in, but it's still not something I'm happy about. Honestly if you have time, I'd go as far as to wash your engine bay before doing this. Especially above the top middle bolt, which can be a hard area to clean, you can kind of see where I'm referring to in the 1st and 2nd pictures attached.

 

Unbolting the valve covers is very easy. By far, the hardest part is removing the valve covers, and putting the valve covers back on. You have very, very little room to remove the valve cover and it's very difficult to get the cover around the valvetrain. Expect 80% of your time spent on this job to be trying to figure out how to remove the valve cover, and how to put it back in while keeping the new gasket in place.

 

I've never removed my timing belt cover, accessory belts, or injectors, so I wasn't comfortable removing any of those to give myself more room. If you know how to do this, I think it would help. On the passenger side, I eventually managed to work the valve cover around the timing belt cover, and up out of the engine bay that way.

 

The driver side was a different story. I had to remove the battery, remove the oil filler neck, remove the bracket above the injectors, disconnect the harness to my rear injector, remove a bracket that holds wiring that goes to the battery, and then route the valve cover towards the back of the car and up next strut tower. I have no idea how I'm going to get the valve cover back on, we'll see. Oh yeah, the bottom rear driver side bolt kind of a pain to do, but honestly its a joke compared to trying to get the valve cover out of the car and back in. All you need is an open ended wrench and patience.

 

I didn't try to remove the valve covers from under the car, but I did try to gently push them down from above and they didn't seem like they were gonna go at all, so I figured I have to remove them through the top of the engine bay.

 

I read this how-to before attempting the job which was cool and helped out a little.

http://www.rs25.com/forums/f105/t51254-diy-valve-cover-spark-plug-gasket-install.html

 

 

It's a very straightforward job, but its been very time consuming for me because of how hard it was to remove the valve covers from the engine bay. I almost gave up on the driver side and tried to put the gasket on with the valve cover in the engine bay, but there was dirt in the valve cover so i had to take it out and clean it. I don't even want to admit how much time i've already spent doing this, but it's been a lot.

 

Anyways, if someone has done this before and has any tips feel free to add.

 

First picture is a side shot of the valvetrain with the valve cover off.

Second picture is a straight on shot of the valvetrain with the cover off, note the area above where the gasket goes and where sand and other dirt might settle, especially below/to the side of the middle bolt.

Third picture is the new oem gaskets, versus the older oem style gasket

Fourth picture shows the new gasket vs old gasket inside the valve cover

Fifth picture is just a shot of the valve cover gasket and spark plug tube seals.

Next time (if that happens) you should:

1. Unbolt both lower engine mounts

2. Unbolt pitching stopper (dogbone mount behind airbox)

3. Jack up the engine

 

I jacked the engine up to a point where the studs came out of the lower mounts (about 4 inches). This way i was able to take the cover off while facing it. Once it was done lower the engine back into the mounts. **Note** the two lower studs will probably NOT line back up so lower it to the point where the studs meet the lower engine cradle then rock the engine and lower it some the studs will self locate back into the mounts.

I just wanted to update this after doing the driver side.. I finished up before seeing otto's post, so I wasn't able to follow his advice.

 

I would not attempt to do the driver side without doing what otto said, or doing something else to get more clearance towards the back of the engine. I can't stress that enough.

 

The driver side was a nightmare. The biggest problem I faced is that there is no room to put the valve cover back on because it hits the crossmember, frame, and valvetrain when you try to put it back into place towards the back of the car. You have ample room towards the front of the car, but towards the rear bottom bolt that's difficult to remove, that's where you have no room to work. I have no idea how I ever got the valve cover out, and I have no idea how I got the valve cover back on. I tried to put the valve cover back on with the gasket in place, which wasn't happening, I would've damaged the gasket. So I removed the gasket, and tried to slip the valve cover into place that way. It was extremely difficult, but somehow I eventually worked the valve cover past the trouble spot, and was home free at that point. I then slipped the gasket over the valve cover, and put it into the groove, then bolted the valve cover into place.

 

I've attached some more random pictures, as well as an image that shows how to torque the bolts down.

Apexi I know it sucked to do this but at least you learned a few things and will be able to assist other unfortunate souls down the road

That's the way I see it and why I wanted to post my experience, even though it was a little embarrassing to do so at times. I really didn't think it would be as hard as it was, I've read that people said it was tight, I didn't expect it to be as bad as it was. I honestly almost gave up and thought about having my car towed to a shop while doing the driver side, except decided I'm not having my car towed with my valvetrain exposed.

GEE-OTTO, how did you jack up the engine with the exhaust covering the whole bottom? I will be doing this little adventure here in the next few months so I wanna be prepared haha

GEE-OTTO, how did you jack up the engine with the exhaust covering the whole bottom? I will be doing this little adventure here in the next few months so I wanna be prepared haha

 

Simple.

 

1. Unbolt the manifold from the mid-pipe/second cat-pipe.

2. Take off the intake chamber (the black plastic box on top of the engine) to expose the pitching stopper mount.

3. Unbolt that from the firewall

4. Use a piece of wood and jack the engine up using the oil pan

 

All three bolts are 14mm and aren't torqued very tight from the factory once you finish dont forget to reattach the pitching stopper mount under the air chamber.

 

Also be careful on the lower valve cover bolts they will strip with EASE and make as much room around the engine as possible (remove battery) and try not to remove the oil filler neck it was a PITA to reattach.

One other thing order the Valve cover set for the 2.5 RS I ordered the kit for my 2008 2.5i from the dealer the parts arrived with P/Ns for the 2001 2.5RS fit like a glove also confirmed by the dealer to be the exact same part!

 

Also by this point there is prob oil in and around your plugs if you dont remove it during the replacement you will still get oil on the plug neck, dont panic it will dry up over the miles (1000 or so) it also takes the grommets a few hundred miles to seat up against the cover properly so they make leak a tiny biti

Yeah I already have oil in them. I'm starting to get a stutter so I'm thinking it's that

 

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Yeah I already have oil in them. I'm starting to get a stutter so I'm thinking it's that

 

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Swap wires along with this job, I had two electrodes rip off upon trying to remove them. DO NOT buy the Bosch set they are wrong just like the FEL-PRO VC set.

I planned on it. They seemed fine when I did the plugs this last fall but better safe than sorry. I'll probably get OEM on both items. But first I gotta finish my suspension, front lip, rear lip, and tint overlays for my tails

 

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Your order seems to be skewed maintenance first, fun second.

Oh I've done plenty of maintenance. It's just starting to get warmed up enough to start working on my car and I have already been working on everything else. I gotta get the valve covers, new wires, and power steering flush is all maintenance wise

 

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Simple.

 

1. Unbolt the manifold from the mid-pipe/second cat-pipe.

2. Take off the intake chamber (the black plastic box on top of the engine) to expose the pitching stopper mount.

3. Unbolt that from the firewall

4. Use a piece of wood and jack the engine up using the oil pan

 

All three bolts are 14mm and aren't torqued very tight from the factory once you finish dont forget to reattach the pitching stopper mount under the air chamber.

 

Also be careful on the lower valve cover bolts they will strip with EASE and make as much room around the engine as possible (remove battery) and try not to remove the oil filler neck it was a PITA to reattach.

 

 

So you didn't even unbolt the engine mounts? I thought you had to remove those as well?

That was stated in post#3...that's the only way to get the motor of the subframe anyway.

 

I think he mentioned the manifold to mid pipe so you don't have to drop the ex manifold..those nuts are a pita if you have any amount of rust on them, sometimes the studs will come out of the heads and force you to heat them up to get them off w/out screwing the threads up.

The "all three bolts" I mentioned are the two lower engine mounts and the pitching stopper. I got ahead of myself