Are the valve cover gaskets reusable?

[SHOitoff95]

I am going to have to take my valve covers off when I put my new ones on obviously, but are the valve cover gaskets reusable?

 

[luigisho]

Yes....but. You should have a good idea of how old they are and use that to determine whether it's worth all that work to have to return to it sometime soon.

 

[Mr Anonymous]

Yeah...but... Make sure you have the funds available and a local source for them in case they break apart when you're removing the covers.

 

[masho95]

If I was you I'd plan on picking up a new set even before you start the work. I've pulled the valve covers on 3 different SHO's ranging in miles from 130K, 125K, and 80K miles. All 3 had the valve cover gaskets tear in one way or another. Mostly in the spots where RTV was applied. I'm sure that in at least one case I could have just added a little more RTV and it would have been fine. But my in my opinion I would rather have it done right then have a major oil leak from them down the road. Plus if you have any oil leaks from the spark plug tube seals you can pick up the Fel-Pro set from Autozone and just replace both the valve cover seals and the spark plug tube seals at once and be done with it.

 

[SHOitoff95]

Well I just had the valver cover gaskets and spark plug well seals replaced just recently but I'll prolly get an extra set just in case.

 

[luigisho]

If they're relatively new you should be fine. A good 18-24 months I reconsider with all the heat exposure.

 

[sdpatt]

They are usually serviceable for about 120,000 miles or every other valve gapping job - if you do them by the book at 60,000 miles.

 

[billyshoe]

YES