308 Holden Rocker cover gaskets
Sean Dunlop
Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
I have alloy rocker covers.
Inspection of the cork gasket showed no trace of leakage?????????
Have tried new cork and reusable rubber/steel gasket - no change.
Oil is leaking onto plugs 6 and 8 only - very annoying.
Any where else it can come from???
--
Sean Dunlop
28 years old
Western Australian
1981 VH sedan (355 Stroker)
1980 Corolla Wagon
1995 GSXR1100W
byron
common problem
if someone has over-tightened the bolts. Use some blue silastic on the
gasket for a better
seal
Byron
(change .net to .com to reply)
Sean Dunlop <se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote in article
<yQvX2.6586$116....@news2.ozemail.com.au>...
gonoN...@bigpond.com.au
<se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
>
>Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
>
>I have alloy rocker covers.
>
>Inspection of the cork gasket showed no trace of leakage?????????
>
>Have tried new cork and reusable rubber/steel gasket - no change.
>
>Oil is leaking onto plugs 6 and 8 only - very annoying.
>
>Any where else it can come from???
Seriously remove the 2 plugs concerned clean the taper seat and the
taper on the plug then refit the plugs and tighten to specification if
they don't seal they will leak oil out!!
Regards Paul Johnston
John Harvey
<se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
>
>Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
Are you absolutely certain that your jointing surfaces mate.
Aftermarket covers are always going to be just a little sus; also, all
too frequently, cork gaskets come dried out and pre-shrunk and don't
bloody well fit. I like to lay them out on the kitchen sink drain
board and tip a kettle full of boiling water on them which expands and
softens them, and allows you to see exactly where they're touching
after they're bolted up. I always stick 'em to the covers (shellac
based gasket cement works perfectly OK when they're damp) and grease
to the heads, which was the old time mechanics method of enabling the
gaskets to be re-used - it also allows you to demount 'em and see
exactly what's going on.
John H
Dene Oehme
> I always stick 'em to the covers (shellac
>based gasket cement works perfectly OK when they're damp) and grease
>to the heads, which was the old time mechanics method of enabling the
>gaskets to be re-used - it also allows you to demount 'em and see
>exactly what's going on.
I too stick them to the cover but using silastic. I stick the gaskets
onto the covers and let them set with a few bricks sitting on top of
the cover on a smooth flat floor for a day. Then I don't grease the
other side but rather get the head face completely dry with shelite
and have the gasket totally dry as well. This prevents the gasket
from "squeezing out" at all. The dry cork gasket method was one I
picked up when doing automatics ( pan gaskets - but definately without
the silicon ) and it works very well on rocker covers too.
However, feel free to ignore this advice and do it some other way.
Regards
Dene Oehme
de...@camtech.net.au
http://www.adelaide.net.au/~dene/menu.htm
Pete!
"Sean Dunlop" <se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
>
>Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
>
>
>Inspection of the cork gasket showed no trace of leakage?????????
>
>Have tried new cork and reusable rubber/steel gasket - no change.
>
>Oil is leaking onto plugs 6 and 8 only - very annoying.
>
>Any where else it can come from???
Is the cover coming loose? Perhaps you might consider studs and nylocs.
Also, a neoprene gasket works well - used to fix the oil leaks in 4.1 Alloy
headed Fowlcans. They're reusable too.
P!
Arnie
>I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
>
>Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
>
>I have alloy rocker covers.
>
>Inspection of the cork gasket showed no trace of leakage?????????
>
>Have tried new cork and reusable rubber/steel gasket - no change.
>
>Oil is leaking onto plugs 6 and 8 only - very annoying.
>
>Any where else it can come from???
It's squeezing past the gasket - mating surfaces aren't mating!
I too was chasing rocker cover oil leaks on my XF, and finally fixed it by
using silastic on both sides of the gasket. I'd stick the gasket to the
rocker cover with the silastic and then put some silastic on the head before
putting it on. You could probably use just silastic without even a gasket -
it's only the rocker cover :)
Arnie
Sean Dunlop
I was fairly confident that the cork was sealed very tight and that no oil
was passing.
Can I use silicone or is that too risky?
--
Sean Dunlop
28 years old
Western Australian
1981 VH sedan (355 Stroker)
1980 Corolla Wagon
1995 GSXR1100W
John Harvey <johnh...@bigpond.com> wrote in message
news:379fabfe....@news.bigpond.com...
> On Tue, 4 May 1999 13:47:46 +0800, "Sean Dunlop"
> <se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>
> >I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
> >
> >Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
>
>
> Are you absolutely certain that your jointing surfaces mate.
> Aftermarket covers are always going to be just a little sus; also, all
> too frequently, cork gaskets come dried out and pre-shrunk and don't
> bloody well fit. I like to lay them out on the kitchen sink drain
> board and tip a kettle full of boiling water on them which expands and
> softens them, and allows you to see exactly where they're touching
> after they're bolted up. I always stick 'em to the covers (shellac
> based gasket cement works perfectly OK when they're damp) and grease
> to the heads, which was the old time mechanics method of enabling the
> gaskets to be re-used - it also allows you to demount 'em and see
> exactly what's going on.
>
> John H
Sean Dunlop
Will try this - had already thought of it but really wanted to hear you guys
say it too.
--
Sean Dunlop
28 years old
Western Australian
1981 VH sedan (355 Stroker)
1980 Corolla Wagon
1995 GSXR1100W
Dene Oehme <de...@camtech.net.au> wrote in message
news:372ebbcd...@news.camtech.net.au...
>
> > I always stick 'em to the covers (shellac
> >based gasket cement works perfectly OK when they're damp) and grease
> >to the heads, which was the old time mechanics method of enabling the
> >gaskets to be re-used - it also allows you to demount 'em and see
> >exactly what's going on.
>
Dene Oehme
>Once again my inexperience with V8's is likely culprit.
>
>Will try this - had already thought of it but really wanted to hear you guys
>say it too.
The other thing I do on any decent engine that I'm building, is to get
the faces on the head where the rocker cover garsket goes, machined
flat. This gives a good 8mm wide (approx) face for the gasket to seal
on.
Sean Dunlop
Warning should be included for any other listeners - I have been avoiding
silicone until endorsed by the masses (you guys anyway) - My main fear is
that excess silicone could end up in the oil system and plug an oil
passage - I will only use a smear.....
--
Sean Dunlop
28 years old
Western Australian
1981 VH sedan (355 Stroker)
1980 Corolla Wagon
1995 GSXR1100W
Arnie <a...@bigfoot.com> wrote in message
news:7gogh4$qeq$1...@arachne.labyrinth.net.au...
> Sean Dunlop wrote :
> >I am pulling my hair out chasing this leak.
> >
> >Is it common for rocker cover gaskets to leak?
> >
John Harvey
<se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>Can I use silicone or is that too risky?
Being the last of the purists I won't use silastic anywhere near an
engine's lubrication system other than in an emergency, having seen
what happens when little shreds find their way into oil galleries.
Obviously though the risk is minimal on the non pressurised side. The
other thing I dislike is having to scrape it off again (also the
source of the little shreds), whereas shellac based cement (eg
Permatex) wipes off with metho, or comes off easily with a rotary
brush.
Also if you need to expand a shrunken cork gasket with water then I
doubt that silastic would adhere to it. As a general principle I
never use silastic in conjunction with gaskets although I'm not
adverse to using it instead of, especially in gearboxes and diffs,
thermostat housings, etc. Plus I'd only suggest the grease trick in a
situation where you need to re-use a gasket (eg rocker covers and
Holley carbs - CRC works too) otherwise they should be fitted dry as
Dene suggests.
John H
Ian Fraser
John Harvey wrote in message <3736e11e....@news.bigpond.com>...
>On Wed, 5 May 1999 15:31:57 +0800, "Sean Dunlop"
><se...@commerce.wa.gov.au.dont.spam.me> wrote:
>
>>Can I use silicone or is that too risky?
>
Give Loctite 515 Master gasket a try this product will not cause any oil
system problems
Ian
>
>John H
Arnie
>Cheers again - this i will be trying.
>
>Warning should be included for any other listeners - I have been avoiding
>silicone until endorsed by the masses (you guys anyway) - My main fear is
>that excess silicone could end up in the oil system and plug an oil
>passage - I will only use a smear.....
When I say silastic (using it as a generic term like liquid paper) I'm
actually using Permatex gasket maker - the red one in this case, very high
temp rating but bad for EGO sensor (there's a blue one for those with EGO
sensor I think, but I've never used it).
Althogh silicone based, this stuff is a lot tougher than regular silicone, I
also used it to seal the air cleaner assembly to the carby and when I
removed it, the Permatex remained in one single piece and doesn't leave
little bits like regular silicone.
Arnie
Peter McMillan
>Plus I'd only suggest the grease trick in a
>situation where you need to re-use a gasket (eg rocker covers and
>Holley carbs - CRC works too)
Comes in handy on sumps on freshly rebuilt engines too, just in case
you need to pull it off to have a bo-peep at something.
Cheers,
Peter! -=DUH#14=- (Y1)
"What does this button do? Oops .... flames. RUN!!"
To email me, change .com in my address to .au
D Walford
Bloody expensive though.
Daryl
John Harvey
<wal...@alphalink.com.au> wrote:
>Got to agree on the Loctite. Best I've ever used.
>Bloody expensive though.
Isn't Permatex Auto Gasket (made by Loctite) exactly the same thing as
Loctite Master Gasket 518 for a lot less money - it's meant to be used
on flat surfaces in place of a gasket though. Nor to be confused with
Loctite 587 (blue) and Loctite 5699 (grey) which are silicones, ie
silastic.
The Permatex shellac based compounds are Form-A-Gasket, of which there
are several grades.
John H