I've recently adjusted the valves on my engine and when I took the rocker covers off there were rubber gaskets in place, they were pretty much shot, when I went to get replacement gaskets I was handed cork ones, I asked for rubber ones but I was advised cork ones are the only ones available, I'm now on my second set of cork ones and CANNOT get them to seal whatsoever. Any suggestions? I've used loctite gasket the last time around and this isn't working either, should they be fitted without any liquid gasket added? I can get neoprene ones from America for $24 plus $54 shipping but this seems rather expensive.
I always use a bit of blue gasket stuff (non setting type) between the cover and the cork. making sure everything else is nice and clean. they should seal. your covers arent bent are they?? and are your covers the standard steel things with the wire clip. Ive never seen rubber seals used on them to be honest.
Yes the covers are the standard ones, I'm pretty sure the covers aren't bent I'll double check later by placing them on a flat surface to make sure they are good, and yes they have the wire bale that pushes over them to secure the cover. It's driving me insane trying to get them to seal properly
Most people just use the cork gaskets and grease them both sides prior to installing and dont have any major issues. That said the ones I had a stoc of and used were about twice the depth of the Victor Reintz ones ive just got fom G+S. I used to use sealant but the trick would seem to be to make sure evrything is nice and clean. Get all the surface rust off your coverS and repaint them if they need it. If you dont have the time then smear em with grease. They will go on easier. Check the mating surface of the head, all ok? All this is tosh if you have ally covers and if so then ive no experience there!
You need original covers and bails , all that is needed is a light smear of engine oil both sides and they shouldn't leak
The rocker covers are the original ones and the bails are original also, the cylinder heads mating surface are in perfect condition, I am wondering now if the rocker covers are warped slightly maybe? I'll try the grease trick tomorrow and hopefully this works out.
Try fitting your rocker covers upside down i.e opposite to how you have them now. How difficult are the bails to pull down, you can bend them to add a little more pressure.
to be honest I put em on dry, I use a tiny amount of contact adhesive so they stick too the rocker cover, let it dry though, then put em on, trouble with sealer/ grease it makes the gasket sqwerm about. then when you put the clip over the gasket tends to squish out instead of being dry when it gets pinched between head and cover....I've just read that back.does it make sense.
It seems that if you look for the VW symbol on the inside of the cover and put this on upside down, it somehow works. There's a risk that sometimes the cover moves and the seal distorts as you pull the spring over, so try to hold in place
New bails deffinately, they should be quite hard to clip on to the point of hurting your fingers/ needing a lever.
I did notice the small vw symbol in the cover I'll try swapping rocker covers so they are upside down, thanks for the info and pointing this out, the bails are tight as hell to get on, I think this combined with putting a sealant on the cork gasket is making the cork gasket getting pinched and moving about.......and then leaking. As always thanks so much for the invaluable info hopefully I'll get it sorted tomorrow!
I did my valve clearances too last week as well as my pushrod seals. Managed to get a perfect zero leak seal. My advice: Clean all surfaces perfectly Small bit of Hylamar on covers to hold the gasket in place then a bit of engine oil on the other side Fit with the VW badge upside down with bail hanging down Pull bail up with fingers and hold rocker covers in place to stop slipage Use a screwdriver to get the bail up and into the grooves on the cover - if you can do it easily remove the bails and bend slightly to give me inward pressure on the seal. Test the seal by taking the van for a spin Get it right/take your time and you will get a good worry free seal
Also have a look at this regarding the bail position http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/type-4-rocker-cover-bail-up-or-down.29616/#post-493478
As ihu says, a light smear of clean engine oil gets the dry gasket primed for use. Of what you had on there was thicker than what you're putting on now you're in a hiding to nowhere and will need toake an adjustment to your bail. VW logo upside down, and they should be very tight
