valve cover gasket ????

[jimbobzsho]

Can the valve cover gasket be reused?

 

[AutoXSHO]

As with any gasket it's your call.

The valve cover gasket tends to stick to the valve covers or the heads, in my limited experience. I personally would not reuse it unless I could verify it was in very good condition.

FYI I do not RTV the gasket except where it makes the 90 degree corners to go over the cams. Seems to work well.

John V

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95 MTX with mods.

 

[sdpatt]

The valve cover gaskets are molded rubber seals and are designed to be reused. My originals lasted 180,000 miles before I had any leakage. The spark plug well seals, on the other hand, lasted less than 120,000 miles. Both of these seals are part of the Fel-Pro VS50378R seal set ($72 AutoZone).

The intake manifold to head gaskets are metal shim type seals and are also designed to be reused. If much of the black coating has chipped off, I would replace them.


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Scott

1991, 252K miles, glass hood, police grill, SVO shifter, Catz fogs,
K&N, 73mm MAF, Superchip, PP Y-pipe, Borla cat-back, 190 lph pump
Eibach/Tokico/polyurethane, SHO Shop front & rear strut braces,
16x7.5" Moda R1, 225/55ZR16 Bridgestone RE730, -1 deg camber x 4,
Class II hitch, Silver award at the SHOklahoma Car Show

 

[KyngofPop]

Scott would happen if some of the black coating was worn off of the intake gasket set? The reason i'm askin is because my gaskets are missing some of the black coating, but the car runs fine. I'm thinkin that this could create a small vacuum leak and cause Idle/ultimate performance problems but like I said my car idles and runs purrfectly. Since you're much more SHOducated

than I am (understatement) I'll await your informative response. TIA

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FreddyB
1988 Merkur Scorpio
1996 WS6 Trans Am 6-speed, Purple Passion Mystique(Lots-o-mods)
1991 Taurus SHO Plus Emerald Green

 

[jimbobzsho]

thank's guy's they look good still so i go with it.

 

[sdpatt]

The intake to head gaskets use spring pressure from the shim type gaskets to create a metal to metal seal. I imagine that since the gasket must seal against only a relatively small pressure differential (manifold vacuum to atmosphere), they would seal just fine even if the black finish is chipped in some places. However, I haven't taken that chance and have replaced them due to the chipped finish. The reason is because I think there would be tiny flow passages at the interface between the finish and the bare metal.

Scott

 

[KyngofPop]

Originally posted by sdpatt:
The intake to head gaskets use spring pressure from the shim type gaskets to create a metal to metal seal. I imagine that since the gasket must seal against only a relatively small pressure differential (manifold vacuum to atmosphere), they would seal just fine even if the black finish is chipped in some places. However, I haven't taken that chance and have replaced them due to the chipped finish. The reason is because I think there would be tiny flow passages at the interface between the finish and the bare metal.

Scott

That's what I figured, but wanted some input. Thanx Scott

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FreddyB
1988 Merkur Scorpio
1996 WS6 Trans Am 6-speed, Purple Passion Mystique(Lots-o-mods)
1991 Taurus SHO Plus Deep Jewel Green
1988 Olds Touring Sedan 3.8 w/FE3