1 pc. VC gasket

[BobD]

Hi All,

Other than Mopar, who makes a "GOOD" valve cover gasket for a one piece style valve cover. I pulled the cover off my 89 GTC and the gasket won't stay in for anything. That one was hard to keep in place when it was new. I'd get a Mopar one, but the parts dept. of the local Chrysler dealership is closed. I need the car. Or, what makes them stick well if you do get a crappy gasket?
Thanks

[tryingbe]

Make sure the valve cover is free of old RTV and oil. I use a very thin layer of RTV for all my valve cover install, no leaks.

[puppet]

Mopar is the only way to go with this one Bob. The others (Victor) leak, seriously.

[turbot11]

I've used that god awful blue perma-leak Fel-Pro with ultra black RTV on every square inch of it. Over 3 motors and several times each having the VC off (new gasket each time) with the Turbo VC, I've had no leaks at all. Just make sure the mating surfaces are clean, dull, and dry.

[BobD]

Quote:

Make sure the valve cover is free of old RTV and oil. I use a very thin layer of RTV for all my valve cover install, no leaks.

Yeah, I did clean the thing with brake cleaner and did the rtv thing. I put it together and hopefully, the hidden part stayed in. I've had one pop out before. With all the oil all over, it took me forever to figure out where the leak was. Turn's out a 2 inch section in the back was pinched off after doing clutch/head gasket jobs. I didn't notice that till "after" I put new seals on the passenger side of the car and it was still leaking.

Phil, yep, I'm going to get the Mopar ones. Maybe a couple extras. I'm starting to think the older valve covers are the way to go. Either way, there's some kind of a hassle involved.

[BobD]

Quote:

I've used that god awful blue perma-leak Fel-Pro with ultra black RTV on every square inch of it.

That's the same POS blue one I used and did the UB RTV also.

[turbot11]

Yeah I've had too good a run with those things, I'm really hoping to not have to take the VC off for a while. I'm sure it'll bite me in the ass, lol

[BobD]

Quote:

Yeah I've had too good a run with those things, I'm really hoping to not have to take the VC off for a while. I'm sure it'll bite me in the ass, lol

I didn't have to take the valve cover off. Today coming home from work, (actually long lunch but never went back) my car stalled. I thought it was out of gas, but showed a little on the gauge and it quit fast. No codes. I started looking at the timing belt. I pulled the cover off and looked at the rotor and timing mark and came to the conclusion that the belt jumped. I got the car towed 10 miles home (from the guy that ran out of gas right next to me. LOL. Long story!) I thought since the belt jumped without doing anything stupid, I better look under the cover and make sure the followers didn't jump off the cam and cause the belt to jump. Seen that before. They were fine and while at home I looked at all the marks. Everything was dead on. WTF!.. I don't know what the heck I saw on the road, but the marks were right. So, pulled and fought with the cover FOR NOTHING!.. Grrrrrrrrr. Now the car doesn't run and I'm clueless. I think the pump may have gone. That's what happens when I fix one car, the other one breaks INSTANTLY.
I better not fix the GTC this week. I want to drive the Shelby this weekend and with my luck........

[mmtphoto]

I just went through all this and I did use a felpro gasket (blue) with mopar rtv and had no problems-like someone here said, really clean and scraping all the old rtv off is the way to go, also not getting crazy on torqueing the cover down (learned that the hard way first time, thanks to getting a one piece from the dealer when it should have had a 2 piece plus RTV-another story)-torque is only 12 lbs and needs to be done evenly, no leaks whatsoever.

[turbot11]

Isn't that always the case! Good reason for having 3 or 4 around, lol

[88shadowpjct]

i've used that blue one. had one leak, then the next 2 didnt. but now every time i pull the vc off, i get a new gasket just in case. the first one i used a little rtv on. these last 2 i didnt and they're doing fine.

[detobias]

huh ?

I got one from CarQuest (dont remember what brand - maybe Victor?) and didnt have any trouble with the install,

and I have had the VC off once (checking head bolt torque) and reinstalled with the used gasket again no problem...

its a cast TBI VC tho, if that matters.. ?

[turbot11]

The TBI VC is reported to seal MUCH better than our Turbo covers

[BobD]

I remember using a gasket that snapped in to the valve cover and held without any RTV. (turbo) But some of the after market ones seem twisted or the part that's supposed to snap in just didn't come out of the mold right. If a guy was to RTV everything, I'm sure most would work just fine. But I do remember not always doing that. I guess if I just think ahead and goop it up right after pulling it off, It'll hold up just fine when I re-install it.