Re: [T3] Pesky little valve cover

[Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 11 Dec 2002 at 9:33, David Hornback wrote:

> I have a pesky little valve cover leak on the #3 cylinder part of the
> head towards the front 

The first thing to do is to make sure that the sealing surface of the head is 
smooth. Feel it all around with your fingertip. Carefully scrape off any dirt 
or old gasket material. DON'T GOUGE the aluminum.

Then you may need to bend the bail a bit to get it to seal. They often get 
stretched when novices attempt to pry them upwards instead of DOWNWARDS. (BTDT) 
 
Driving an engine hard should have absolutely no effect on the rocker gasket, 
but if your engine does not have a proper breather installed for the crankcase, 
then I suppose it's possible to get a bit of pressure buildup in there. You 
really CAN'T build up much pressure, but there are a fair number of square 
inches under that cover, so you may not need much.

Breather problems are most common on FI engines with 2 plastic caps on the 
breather box that have been converted to carbs.

Finally you may just have cheap gaskets. The good ones look like cork bits 
suspended in black rubber. They are quite a bit thicker than the cheap beige 
ones. Keith also found some nice pure black ones made by Fel-Pro.

BTW, it's okay to use gasket cement between the gasket and the cover, but never 
use it between the gasket and the head. I prefer to just use 6 spots of cement 
between the gasket and the cover.

-- 
*******************************
Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, Wisconsin, USA
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