valve cover gasket sealant

[redbeard1]

Hello all,

We are going to try and check our valves on our volvo penta 2003B. In prepping for this, we purchased a new gasket. Do I need to add a sealant to the gasket?

Our workshop manual (and several other posters on this site) mentions RTV, loctite, and permatex in the General Instruction Section as being good for gaskets. The manual,however, does not mention using any of these sealants when specifically discussing the valve cover gasket replacement. It just says to install a new gasket.

Thanks in advance.

[Captsteve53]

Most Volvo Rocker cover gaskets are made from a silicon rubber matrix and therefore do not require or advisable to use gasket sealant,

Cheers Steve

[a64pilot]

What does it look like? If it is obviously cork, then likely you will need to glue it to the inside of the valve cover, do not use sealant on the head side.
If it's cork, best way to remove the old one is a wire brush on a bench grinder if you have access to one, and just a lot of time scraping it out of you don't.

However, very rarely do I need to replace the gasket, almost always unless it sticks to the head it comes off unharmed. Most likely it will come off fine and on re-installation a thin coat of some kind of grease silicone etc will help make sure it doesn't stick to the head.
Do not try to remove it from the valve cover, they are very often glued in and cannot be removed without destroying it.

[Diesel Bill]

With cork gaskets I've had good luck gluing them to the valve cover with a thin bead of 3-M brand super weatherstripping adhesive. Also known as yellow snot. Align with screws through the cover screw holes and use clothespins to hold in place for 5-10 minutes till the glue sets up. As a64pilot said do not glue the head side. O.K. to use a little grease on the side that contacts the head. Don't over tighten the fasteners and do go back later to check snugness. So easy a caveman could do it.

[a64pilot]

Yes, the overtightning is very important, especially if it's a sheet metal cover. Just a little too tight and it deforms the cover right at the hole and it leaks, so what do you do? Tighten it a little more naturally trying to stop the leak and it gets worse of course.
Then you get to remove it and learn what the round end of a ball peen hammer is for and maybe find a flat steel surface with an edge like a steel table to tap the thing back flat. But it's a real PIA cleaning all that yellow snot off without a wire wheel.
Tighten the bolts with a nut driver so you don't over tighten them, then after the first heat cycle maybe snug them again to make sure none have loosened.

[redbeard1]

Thanks all,

I'm not sure of the material but I don't think it was cork. I think it was some kind of rubber so maybe what Steve said. The shop manual does not call for any sealant but I wanted to double-check, so thank you all.

Thanks for the tips on not over-tightening. I could not find any torque specs in the shop manual, so I will just mark the bolts before loosening and re-tighten to the previous mark.

[model 10]

Originally Posted by redbeard1

so I will just mark the bolts before loosening and re-tighten to the previous mark.

No, that is not what they said. Your new gasket is thicker than the old one right now. You would be really ovetightning if you did that thing with the marks. Just snug at first. Keep going back and forth between fasteners and you will see that it keeps tightning gradually. Once the gasket starts to squish, there is no point in going further. Check them again after it gets hot.

[redbeard1]

Thanks Guy,

That saved me lots of trouble.