The valley end seal on my engine is pretty dried out and someone said it’s “falling” which is what caused it to interfere with the timing cover fitment (still not installed yet, but will soon now that it looks like it’ll be OK).

Does the valley end seal actually function as an oil seal? Can I replace it now just be removing the metal clamp (looks like just one bolt in the center is all that’s holding it other than some grey goop)? Is it necessary to replace it? If it involves removing the upper intake, that’s shouldn’t be a problem since I have to do that anyway to replace the ignition wires.

This is the part on AB - https://www.roverparts.com/engine/ga...seals/ERR7283/

 

Yes, it acts as an oil seal. Also yes, requires removing the intake. It is held on by that metal bar as well as the valley pan, all via that one bolt. That said, if it isn't leaking I wouldn't replace it. If there's interference just trim a bit off the edge with a razor blade. It is u-shaped and slides down over the china wall at the end of the valley, so you will not effect the integrity of the seal by just trimming it a bit.

 

Thanks, I cleaned up a lot before doing this, so I’m not sure if it’s leaking there or not. Hopefully contact with oil on the other side has kept the rubber from falling apart. I’ll have to get to replacing things like that in another phase when I can afford to do all that then. I trimmed some of the excess off that was preventing the cover from going on. You can see how close they are in the pictures.