Valve covers, fix or leave

Simple blobs should be fine. It’s more important you clean the old off fully, and give FIPG time to set per the instructions, before installing the cover.

 

Music to my ears then. Thank you sir!

 

Totally. Just monitor for leaks. If they pop up, it'll probably be within the next 1,000 miles of driving. You may need a mirror to look along the narrow edge nearest the firewall, where the half-moons are.

 

Good to know thanks, & definitely will do. That's a good idea also. I think I got enough on the half-moon's & smeared off extra, but I will check there along with the front corners that I was worried about with a mirror

 

Is there any harm with them leaking? Just the opportunity for debris to get into the oil and oil to leak out? Or is there a larger impact

 

I personally am really sensitive to the smell of burnt oil. Whether it's bad or not is probably a matter of opinion.

I can't imagine it's great having oil drip onto a hot exhaust manifold. Likewise, if something did catch fire and your engine was caked in oil-mud, that would not be ideal if you plan to put that fire out. Some items, like electrical-taped wire harnesses, oil can break down adhesives making tape unravel. You may miss other bad-news leaks if you can't tell something else is leaking because of all the caked oil. You'll also find yourself getting dirty as hell any time you touch stuff downstream.

Reality? I'm guessing as long as you keep an eye on oil levels you can hold off a bit. Just means more cleanup later.

 

It will ruin anything rubber such as the lower strut mount bushings which TMC no longer makes and result in strut/coilover replacement unless you like and can tolerate loud clunking while riding on the bump stops. It will also eat through your steering rack bellows (boots). All kinds of parts can be affected below and rearward. You'd be surprised how far back the oil will travel.

Best to stop the bleeding before it costs many more $$$, IMHO.