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First order up a new gasket, it's about $20 or so and includes the gasket that goes around the outside and the one that goes around the spark plug valley. I'd also clean off the engine, that way when you're done you will know that the leak has been fixed.
First take of the spark plug valley cover with the four torx bolts on it.
Then break out your ratchet and go to town. The bolts should be 12mm. You'll want to undo all the bolts around both interior and exterior perimeter, there's a bunch of them.
Now pull the sucker off. It might take a bit of carefully prying with a screw driver to break the seal, just don’t damage the mating surfaces.
Remove both of the old gaskets. Carefully scrape the old gasket gunk off both the head and the valve cover while trying not to get any in the oil galleries. I
find a "green" 3M pad or similar scrubbing pad to be pretty effective at this. Get off as much gunk as possible.
Next install the new gaskets on the valve cover. A little bit of blue RTV will do a good job holding it in place, I also put a *small* amount around areas that might not seal well, like the little half moons, but you can definitely install it without any RTV.
Now bolt the thing back on using a cross-hatch type pattern to assure even torque distribution (like with lug nuts) and go around a few time to tighten up the bolts incrementally. Snug is good, but there's no need to over do things! If you have a torque wrench, the correct spec is 11 lbs/ft.
While you have the cover off you also have an excellent opportunity to inspect the timing chain. Personally, I'd also replace the upper guide as the part only
costs $15 or so and is extremely easy to replace while you have the VC off (it slips into place right above the timing chain on the valve cover).
I would suspect that the distributor does have an o-ring of some sort, though the Haynes manual makes no mention of it. You can check by undoing the clamp and partly withdrawing the distributor or just by calling a dealer or parts house who can see if its in their parts book.
Hope this helps,
Craig
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