Howdy. Makin' this it's own thread because I have to know, if it's possible.

Stock 4.6L, stock valve covers, and the right side (the fill side) does this on the top holes for the bolts:







These have delaminated or something, and one broke off as I was attempting to extract the bolt/grommet, as you can see. Two of them have holes because of this, the first picture showing a big hole, the last two has a start of one.

The stuff in between the layers is a build up of some sort of black powder. It's NOT oil, grease, grime (per se), it's actually part of the valve cover.. or was... I don't know, to be honest.

Anybody got a clue? Is this some sort of overlay plastic? Or is the entire thing plastic, and I got a bad one out of the box back in '06 when Awesome was built?

Thanks in advance!

/I swear... I keep finding little oddities that, while making her unique for sure, are sort of tickin' me off...

 

They are cheap cast aluminum with no clear coat. That is oxidation, It can really eat them up. If you live where they salt the roads it can get really bad.

 

Huh. Yeah, I finally found some pages that corroborate your info. Thanks.

It's weird, though, that they split like that, as if there was a seam along the edge? Probably the two halves of the mold, I suspect...

I'm in Houston area, not much on the salt use down here. However, we're sorta close to the coast, and maybe there's enough salt in the air...?

Nah. Can't be.

/Guess I'll bite the bullet and get a new set. Le sigh...