mirousse

I'm about to re-install my valve covers with new gaskets. Should I use gasket sealant or not?

Mrmerlin

how did you prepare the covers? are they freshly grit blasted ?
Are the gasket grooves ragged from corroding metal and powder coating?

I use a bead of Hondabond 4 in the gasket groove on a freshly prepared cam cover,
thats been grit blasted and cleaned and PCd

also a small dab at the junction of each cam cap on the 4 corners of the head,
where the head and the cam caps meet, to seal this so oil wont migrate out.

Also consider adding the metal sealing washers to all of the bolt heads before you install the metal washers,
Roger has the sealing washers

dr bob

I did what Stan suggests, but used Hylomar instead of the HondaBond. I also added a film of hylomar to the bolt seals inside and out, and to the spark plug well seals. The corners where there are seams on the head got the WSM-recommended bit of RTV gasket maker. No sealant on the seal itself on the head side though; On removal, if there are any cleanup issues I want them to be on the removed cover and not where debris might get into the valve gear.

Use some small/thin cable ties to hold the seal in place as you install the cover. Route them through the bolt holes on the edges, pull them just snug, arranging the '*****' on top where they will be easy to to cut and pull out -from inside to outside-. Cut one, bolt and seal go in loosely, go to the next. Small inspection mirror helps you verify that the plug well seals are in place before you clamp everything tight.

FredR

....and I thought I was a cretin for doing what Dr Bob and Stan suggest!- it works but was a bit concered about clean up if/when removal is eventually necessary.

Regards

Fred

Mrmerlin

Hylomar is a great product.

The reason I suggest the Hondabond 4 is that most Honda dealers carry it,
and it has similar qualities to Hylomar,
the HB4 can be removed with acetone

Mongo

Merlin, do you wait a little bit for the hondabond to tack the gasket to the cover prior to install? I just remember the horrors of a gasket popping out on me during the torque down process since it was slippery.

mirousse

thanks for the advices...moving on now..

Michel

SeanR

I put them on dry and use the sealant (victor reinz) on the four corners like Porsche suggests.

dr bob

Both the Hylomar and the Hondabond stay soft/pliable, so are easy to clean off. I use it only on the cam cover groove, then put the seal in the groove and tie it with wire-ties as detailed above. So all clean-up is on the cam cover side if needed later, and the head stays clean less the RTV in the upper corners.

Normally, if the cam cover grooves are original and haven't been blasted or scraped/scratched/grooved/damaged/whatever as part of the refinishing prep process, you might only use the sealer in a few critical places like the lower edge and up the corners a smidge. But after seeing some engine bays that had just a little 'seepage' from the main cover seal, and the bolt and plug well seals, I went conservative and added the Hylomar to the groove and those other seals. Keep in mind that you need just the thinnest continuous coating possible; anything more just wastes the sealant, squeezes out and gives you something else to clean up.

Mrmerlin

Andy I put a thin bead in the cover groove then once thats done lay the gasket into it .
If you want to follow Dr Bobs advice about using some zip ties to hold the gasket in location thats also an option

dr bob

Both HondaBond and the Hylomar stay the same consistency, don't get tacky per se. Use the little zip-tie trick to keep the rubber seal in the groove, no risk of it getting squeezed out. Add the extra spacing washers on the upper bolts to put a little extra pressure on the cover, but go gentle on the cover bolt torque; they really are just 6mm threads on bolts with fat shoulders. So the factory 6-7 lbs/ft is plenty. Think 75 inch/lbs on that little 1/4"-drive torque, and stop pulling as soon as the wrench clicks. Just tight enough to bottom the lower bolt shoulder onthe boss in the head, enough so you're not afraid of it rattling out. Any more than that is wasted, and risks leaving the end of a bolt in the head sometime in the future.

Mongo

Ok will do. I apologize for asking this in somoene else's thread when it really should have been in my timing belt/water pump one since I'm doing the valve covers as well all at the same time.

Bill Ball

I've always struggled with keeping the gasket in place during installation. I've used tackiest gasket sealer I could find to try to "glue" the gasket into the groove. Some worked better than others. The gasket tends to pull out of the corners, regardless of gluing. Dr. Bob's tie wrap idea is probably the best answer with some extra care to verify that the plug hole donuts are still in place, as he also noted, after maneuvering the cover over all the obstructions. Even with that, my new gasket started leaking drops not long after installing it, and has continued to leak despite installing the extra washers, which were not on my car originally. Maybe I need to double up the washers. . Something like Hondabond or Hylomar, which are non-hardening and generally easy to remove and clean up, may not be bad idea for the sealing surface too, even though it's not part of the procedure and I haven't tried it.

Mrmerlin

yep after you install new cover gaskets and they start leaking in a few months,
you will try the HB4 or Hylomar

Hilton

+1

These days I use the 3-bond (Drei-bond) stuff from Porsche in the four corners - the first time I did it I used blue silicone RTV in the corners, which is fine, as long as you use the "Ultra" version which is neutral cure and doesn't produce acetic acid.

My general rule is to only use sealant/antiseize/lube where the factory says to do so If the WSM doesn't say to use anything, then it means it goes on dry.