Rocker cover oil leak with new gaskets

[jospanner]

Hi, Just replaced the rocker cover cork gaskets on my CU engine, now got an oil leak on the left side.

In the vehicle's distant past, someone (don't blame me) had previously sealed both sides up with both gasket and silicone. It was an unpleasant surprise, expecting to swap the gaskets around in 5 minutes. Spent some time scraping all the old silicone off using a gasket scraper and my hands. Apparently I missed a spot. I want to avoid putting silicone on these again because that's obviously not a thing you're meant to do, right?

My question is: what's a good way to get all the silicone off the head/cover and make this seal properly again? I was considering using progressively finer grit sandpaper, does that sound sensible?

[Davegrohl99]

Try get a scraper you can put a Stanley blade in the tip of. I would be hesitant about using sandpaper or any abrasive method to get it off. Tar and glue remover might help things loosen up.

Make sure you get Cork rocker cover seals and have both surfaces as clean as possible before installing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[R0B]

I believe the silicone cover gaskets are better than the cork ones. (According to Ed China anyway)

[TONYT25T25]

Watch those programmes with interest, all the mechanics mention various gasket repairs made with sealant or criticise it's use, then they replace with a new gasket and as an added feature use a sealant to bond them.

[300CE]

I have silicone gaskets but found there was slight leakage whereas there was nothing from the cork ones. I used a very liberal coating of hylomar and it’s been fine since.

[R0B]

Well, there you go what does Ed China know eh?

[Funkychops]

I used a bit of wire wool and very gently cleaned up the surface - mine was also covered in silicone sealant (pushrod seals likewise). Horrible mess and I dread to think how many small blobs of silicone have detached and worked their way into the engine over the years.

Refitted with a cork gasket with blob of all purpose grease to hold the seal in place, no sealant, and so far no leaks.

[Jim San]

I saw the info about Cork gaskets, they are not supposed to get so old they go brittle, they are a service item and replaced at least once a year.

It also said common cause of these gaskets leaking is it gets overtightened by people trying to stop aa leak, often cause they are reusing the gasket. it distorts the face of the cover
.

[Ant-t]

Agree with the above, just smere some general purpose grease to the gasket and it will help it seal. 

[TONYT25T25]

Once a year sounds a bit unnecessary, if not leaking leave alone unless you need to take the covers off for some other reason, I think i would go along with as mentioned above a bit of grease to keep them a bit less brittle maybe and prevent deterioration.

[Ralf85]

The thickness of the cork gaskets vary. I've had this problem in the past. My guess is that Brickwerks will have the correct ones. 

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Aaah, leaky rocker covers....

Here is a little video that may help:



Please use only Victor Reinz gaskets.

Make sure you have got your wongly springs holding the pushrod tubes in correctly (see previous video)

Make sure you put the rocker cover springs on the right way round....(sad )

Air-Cooled Bliss...

Cordialement,

[jospanner]

Hello,

Aaah, leaky rocker covers....

Here is a little video that may help:

Thanks for this! I did end up using the loctite sealant but I will try grease instead in the future. The videos are great by the way, thanks for making those!

[TONYT25T25]

Ditto, very useful information.