Hi guys, I messed up. Spent last 2 weekends carefully changing timing belt, waterpump, tensioner, etc on my '99 Stratus 2.4l DOHC daily driver, finished the job, everything ran beautifully, then I noticed a small oil leak at the RH rear corner of the valve cover, so I bought a gasket, removed the valve cover & replaced it. Problem is now I've got a MAJOR leak from the #3 plug hole, the plug gaskets were all fine, I tacked em with a film of permatex form-a-gasket2 before reassembly, so I looked a little further. Turns out the RH center valve cover bolt has a ring of aluminum in the threads, I must have lost focus and reverted to grunt torque while retightening that particular bolt, so now there is no tension pulling the valve cover metal in that area and compressing the spark plug seal. What should I do? Will a helicoil repair work here? If so, what size? Would tapping out the head receptacle thread be better? If so, what size up, and where can I source the larger bolt? Spent 2 weeks dropping kids to school in my 2-seater pickup, I've got to get this thing back on the road! Would really appreciate your expert advice.

 

Helicoil should work just fine. Find the original bolt size and pitch, and find a chart online. If you can do a timing belt job, this should be a piece of cake.

 

Yup, thanks, got over the nerves and set to it. Helicoil job was a piece of cake.