Too much pressure?

[beteljuze]

The driver's side valve cover leaks on my 79 2L fuel injected engine. I changed the gasket 3x. Its cork. I checked to make sure the cover is straight. The VW symbol is upside down. The bail is fine and locks on as it should. This last time I used yellow glue on the cover and silicone on the head side. I let it dry for 5 days. I just let it run for 10 mins while I layed under watching. Sure enough, I could see the oil trying to seep thru the bottom edge of the cover.
I was going to try swapping the cover from the other side, but that side has never leaked, so I'm not going to touch it.
Could it be there is too much oil pressure on one side?? Is that possible?? Or do I just have a faulty cover?
Any opinions or advice is appreciated.

[curtis4085]

Could always try getting a new cover, I think busdepot sells new ones or Bustedbus.com for a used one. And you could measure your oil pressure to verify if your running high.
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[busdaddy]

Oil pressure has nothing to do with a valve cover leak, crankcase pressure does. But if that was high there would likely be more leaks than just one cover.

Remove the gasket entirely and hold the cover against the head, does it rock at all?
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[SGKent]

check the mating surface on the head to be sure no gouges are there.

I had one leak and it was a combination of old hardened new gaskets and a small warp to the cover. The only way I know to really test the cover would be to cut a piece of glass to fit the opening then lay it in there so you can see if there are any gaps. Otherwise put the cover on the head without a gasket and see if it rocks. I had one I thought was flat but it rocked so that means it wasn't flat - huh. Bus Depot sells new covers if it comes down to that. Sometimes people pry on a corner instead of in the slot made to pry and it warps them. Make sure the gaskets are not rock hard or the cover rusted thru.

[beteljuze]

The cover isn't rusted at all. And it was flat against the head with no gasket. What's also weird is, the gasket before this one(new), it leaked at the front corner. Now this time, with a new gasket and a bead of silicone all around, its leaking in the middle of the bottom of the cover. So that would rule out a gouge in the head or the cover. I had the cover laying perfectly flat on my kitchen counter. I just don't get it?

[Wildthings]

When you have taken the leaking gaskets off, did it appear that they were aligned correctly all around? Especially if you use silicone or grease on the gasket it can squish out of place while you install the bail. When slipping the bail up into place it is very important that the cover not be pushed upward or otherwise move.

[beteljuze]

You're right, that actually happened 4 gaskets ago. The gasket had shifted and leaked. So I thought ok, no prob. Since than, I have tried 3 new gaskets. Like I said, this last time I used a bead of silicone and was VERY careful putting it all on. After 10 mins at idle, I watched the oil bubble thru the silicone on the bottom of the valve cover. That's why I thought there was too much oil pressure. The pass. side of the engine is totally dry. It has to be that the cover is somehow warped?

[Tom Powell]

IMO
Silicone is not a good gasket sealer to use for valve cover gaskets. Pieces may clog oil passage or silicone damage sensors or catalytic systems. Use only cork gaskets. Composite gaskets expand and buckle. Hylomar is an excellent sealer, but possibly difficult to source. Sealers should be used only on the cover side of the gasket and the head side should be greased so it slides around a bit when installed and new. There are other gasket sealers that work well such as Permatex #3. Gaska-Cinch is ok if better products are not available. The Bentley says ... .

Aloha
tp

[beteljuze]

On the gasket before this one, I used yellow glue(monkey snot) to hold the gasket to the cover. I than used Hylomar between the gasket and the head. The oil leaked right thru that like there was no gasket at all.
The next time, I used yellow glue again to hold the gasket to the cover- let it dry. Than I applied a bead of Permatex Ultra Black Hi-Temp silicone gasket maker to the head side of the gasket. Gave it a minute to set-up, than installed the cover carefully. Than I let the car sit for 5 days to let the silicone cure. I went out today, ran 10 mins, bam-oil is seeping thru the bottom of the cover. At least this time it took a little longer. It's not dripping-yet! But the oil is seeping out.

[Westfabulous]

You could try a new gasket, and when you pull up the bale, put some downward pressure on the cover (toward the ground), so it doesn't slide up with the bale. There is a small amount of vertical play that can be eliminated by doing this. This seemed to stop a leak that I had once.
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[Desertbusman]

Try doing it like Tom said. It works. Get the head and the cover super clean. Use steel wool or a scrubber on the cover to make sure there is no old glue residue. And adhere the gasket to the cover. I had always used Permatex Aviation 3H but recently switched to Gaska-Cinch and like it so far. Don't adhere the gasket to the head. A good smear of grease on the gasket works the best and it prevents the gasket from sticking to the head. Then it's not damaged when you remove it for valve adjust or whatever. Plus you can easily and best position the cover to the head since it slips agound without sticking. Not sure what gasket types are available for T-4. I use the cork composite with no problems.

[wihr]

Your bail may not be exerting enough pressure. It may "snap" into place well enough but may need to be bent to put pressure on the gasket. This happened to me before.
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[ccpalmer]

For me it's always been hylomar or indian head gasket sealant on the gasket-to-valve cover and wheel bearing grease on the gasket-to-head. If that leaks I get a different OG cover and that solves it.

I only used indian head for a few years until I read here that NAPA can order hylomar. It's way better - much easier to clean off.

That's on both T1s and T4s.
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[Desertbusman]

I used to love the Indian Head. And it's shoe polish style applicator. That's one reason of liking Gaska-Cinch
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[ccpalmer]

[Randy in Maine]

Quick question....

Does this thing have fairly new AMC heads? I noticed that I had to grind my head casting a little bit (top left and bottom right) to get a good tight fit with the stock valve cover (and those were Len Hoffman built CS heads).

[airkooledchris]

I had this exact same situation with my 79 running AMC heads.

the PO had smashed those little indentations around the corners of the valve covers thinking they weren't stock (they are supposed to be there) - so I picked up a crappier looking set off of eBay (but still had their stock shape) and swapped one of those on instead.

as others mentioned, a little hylomar if you want between the gasket and the cover, but grease only between the gasket and the head.

then I finally got a tight enough seal on that side to stop it from dripping.

of course now it's just seeping from everywhere else, but that's another story.

[GeorgeO.]

I had a set of Aluminum valve covers that always leaked oil. I surmised that the PO took his engine to a car wash to clean the oil off his engine and ended up warping the valve covers. Threw them away and got me some cheap covers from a junk yard, cleaned them up, painted them, put new cork gaskets and no leaks.