Rocker Cover Oil Leak and Spares Resources in France

[peteinnit]

Hi all,
Along with looking for more advice I also have something that might help others for a change  . I'm just back from a planned month in France which ended up being a week stuck in Calais! School boy error that I didn't have spare rocker gaskets, but when they eventually arrived I couldn't stop the leak to an imo acceptable level to drive a further coupla thousand miles, so I came home to investigate further. I tried both the 'new' silicone/neoprene gasket and the cork, but neither could stop the drips, even when putting silicone sealant on the rocker side as well. Looking at the head I noticed some scratches on the head (photos attached hopefully) and am wondering if these are enough to cause the leak. Both sides of the gasket are oiled up when I remove it, so seems to be getting past both sides. I've ordered a new rocker cover to try next, but could do with some opinions on the head. I've had the van for years and there's nothing recent been done to the head, so surprised the new gasket didn't do it.



Now for the spare parts info if you find yourself needing something on the mainland. You might already be aware of them, but thought it worth sharing. I found Mecatechnic (https://www.mecatechnic.com/fr-FR), they have English speaking option, but it only seems to operate in the morning. I ordered the gasket from here and despite calling to confirm I had ordered the right part there website wasn't clear), they sent me the wrong gasket.
Next I found Serial-Kombi (https://www.serial-kombi.com), whose website is much better. I couldn't get anyone on the phone, but their email response was pretty quick (hours, not days). Just beware of using Chronopost for delivery, I paid 15e's for next day and got it 4 days later, after receiving 3 false tracking notifications and being lied to multiple times by their  customer services about it's imminent arrival. Hence a week spent in Calais!

Cheers,
Peter

[peteinnit]

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Well it is all there and nice and clean...

Nice to see you using the magic string to pull the rocker covers..

So with new cork seals greased in place, the likely culprits for a leak are... distorted rocker box cover, or worn out ends on the retainer springs.

Air-Cooled Bliss...

Cordialement,

[peteinnit]

I was putting the cork in naked. The new rocker cover arrived today, so will put it on tomorrow and grease the cork first 

[Stesaw]

Yep a thin smearing of grease both sides on the gaskets works wonders.

[TONYT25T25]

Hope it all works, I have a small drip or leak when the engine settles after a run. The leak is on the nearside front bottom of the rocker cover. Replaced gasket, new rocker cover, used grease and even tried hylomar blue to no avail, I was going to try the
the neoprene/silicone ones but wonder if thatnwill work.

[Stesaw]

Make sure the bailing wire is tight, so you might have to remove it from the engine and give it a bit of a bend so when you put it back on it really holds.

Sure its not running down from a pushrod/seal?

[TONYT25T25]

Believe in my case the leak or drip is from the inside of rocker cover at the bottom. I noticed when the cover is removed about half a thimble of oil settles there. How is any oil that settles in this area is returned to the sump in any case?

[peteinnit]

A quick update on my leak.... got new rocker cover from JK, greased the cork as advised and fitted it. Didn't fit great, couldn't get the spring to sit properly in one of the grooves, but it was on tight, but leaked even worse. Looking at old and new together the new ones are not exactly the same proportions, hence why I couldn't get the spring to seat properly I think. the original one didn't leak as bad, so put it back on with the greased cork and got the nice resounding click as the spring seated properly and hey presto, no more leak  . The upshot, if I'd just put the grease on whilst in Calais, I'd be in the south of France now  . Won't be making that mistake again  . I'll be sending JK's cover back, it had a couple of dents in the edging as well, not great. Thanks as always for the tips.