Selecting the Correct Valve Cover Gasket for Hyundai/Kia Theta Engines

Challenge

Getting the Right Valve Cover Gasket for the Repair

Used on many popular Hyundai and Kia cars and SUVs, the Theta engine has been used in vehicles such as the Kia Optima, Sorento and Sportage and the Hyundai Santa Fe, Sonata and Tucson. Available in 2.0L and 2.4L displacements, the Theta engine family uses seven different OEM valve cover gaskets; by doing this, the manufacturer has complicated the process of getting the correct replacement gasket. There can be up to three different gaskets used for one year/make/model application alone.

The required valve cover gasket can vary by where the engine was produced (U.S./South Korea), where the vehicle was produced (U.S./South Korea), and what market the vehicle was sold into (49 states/California/Canada). As a result, searching by year/make/model doesn’t always guarantee that you’ll get the right replacement gasket, nor will searching by VIN number or engine family. Even a physical comparison of the OEM valve cover gasket to the replacement gasket is difficult to do because the different gaskets vary only slightly in dimensions.

Solution

Use the OEM Part Number

Getting the right replacement valve cover gasket will require that you find the Hyundai or Kia OEM part number. Once you have the manufacturer part number for the valve cover gasket used in your vehicle, you’ll be assured that you’ll get the right replacement valve cover gasket. Fel-Pro® lists the equivalent OEM numbers as catalog comments for each of its gasket sets, which makes it easy for you to find the gasket used on your vehicle once you know the OEM part number.