hi,

so recently i changed my valve cover gasket. I read a few tutorials and just went at it. I loosened the bolts on the valve cover one by one and in no particular order. I took the valve cover off, changed the gasket and then tightened the bolts back on the valve cover in a star like pattern only hand tight. The engine was kinda hot when i took the valve cover off but bone cold when i put it back on.

after i did all this i discovered in the manual that there is a certain order you should tighten the valve cover bolts and to a certain torque. (It didn't say to do anything special when loosening the bolts though)

i obviously didn't do it in their specified order nor to their specified torque spec.

My question is would this do any damage to my car?

I know that in more complicated jobs like a head gasket change when you are loosening and tightening the cylinder head bolts you have to really follow the manual in order to not warp the head but what about loosening and tightening the valve cover bolts?

 

You should be fine. If you are extremely worried, I would be concerned about them being too tight and breaking under the heat. Otherwise, it will just leak if not tightened enough or incorrectly.