Got some bolt on alluminium rocker covers from v force and put them on last nite.

all in all they seemed to be quite well made, everything matched up. but i cant seem to get them to seal, this morning when i came out to drive the car (i had driven the car the night before a few times but had checked the after the first short drive and thought they were ok) and noticed a puddle under each cover. so i pulled them off and cleaned everything up, put some new gasgets on them and put it all back together, got about 4ks on the highway before i smelt burning oil. so i pulled over and it was just the drivers side cover, off it came again, cleaned up all the mating surfaces and put it back on and drove into town. drivers side leaking again and passenger side weeping a little, took them off again and re fitted, they seem to be leaking less now but are still leaking.

my stock covers never leaked but i wanted bolt ons in case the stock bail clips get knocked off.

any suggestions

nick

Measure height of the post and fepth from the inner sealig face on the cover to the bottom of the seat and you'll know right away...and put the straight edge across the covers...

Hi Nick
many of the aluminium tappet covers whether held on with bails or bolts/nuts etc... aren't cast too well
and need a sealant like permatex non hardening sealant to stop them leaking... the spring bails do lose their tension over the years and are supposed to be replaced if they are too easy to take off...
at their correct tension they will never come off...

most aftermarket aluminium covers I have seen have many cast marks etc, which shouldn't be there when You are sealing against oil....

there are also aftermarket covers that need special seals too.... I've seen them on CIP1 or somewhere..

Do the covers you have , have the country they were made in on them...?? Taiwan PRC ??
I find most chinese made EMPI branded parts are rubbish..
they might look good in the packet... Most parts made in the USA are excellent quality...

best of luck

LEE

G'day mate. I had a similar problem with a set like those once.
I found that a nice bead of blue rtv on the sealing face of the rocker covers did the trick.
I also used new standard gaskets and smeared them with a little grease on the side that contacts the head.
If your rockers are shimmed it might also be the cause due to the height of the threaded hex pieces that come in the kit?
Hope this helps. If not I'm sure others with more experience will get this sorted for ya!

I'd go back to the originals. If you're worried about them coming off, weld a washer to the cover and ziptie the wire to the cover.

as type3lover said a decent bead of sealent on the rocker coverside and lightly oil the head side
i;ve always done it this way and it works well, no leaks
even plain old roofers silicon does the trick

ok i tried some permatex on the sealing faces, we shall see how that goes, other wise ill try some silicone sealer, they are made in taiwan lee.

yeah ive been considering it 11cab, but i want to at least try with these first.

If the permatex doesn't work (which it should) then try loctite 501 flange sealant inside the rubber gasket and out, i use this and can't go wrong!

cheers Dave!

I use the reuseable non cork gaskets and have them glued to the rocker covers with permatex no3..
I then coat the other surface of the gasket with thick chassis grease....
My bails are very strong..

Mine never leak....

if worse comes to worse...
You could try two gaskets???

LEE

Generally speaking it's OK to use a sealant on the rocker cover side of the gasket, but if you use a goo, sealant, silicone, mastic etc., on the engine side, it will cook on and will stick like the proverbial to a blanket.

You will have Hells' own job getting the covers off and then you will have to clean off the surface to be able to fit another gasket.

I use 'roof & gutter' silicone on both sides of my gaskets all the time (I am a builder). They take a little to get them off (once you have the knack though, it is easy), but the surface on the head is nearly always clean. If it isn't, it only takes a go with a scraper to clean it. I never have leaks from around the tappet covers, and on 2 occasions over the years, have discovered one of the bails unclipped, but the tappet cover didn't move or leak. I did have bolt on tappet covers at one stage, and often used to battle with small leaks around the bolts.

... all this work for a freakin' pair of crappo rocker covers...

When you could use standard VW bails.

Cheers Col

bolt on work well

Wow, what a thread over something like rocker covers!! I'd get bolt-ons for pretty but to me it's like adding 2 more spots for oil to leak from. I've never had the spring clips ever get knocked off (I have a funny feeling that I shouldn't have said that) but it's not to say it won't happen but with off road if you're bashing about wouldn't cast alloy covers get smashed or cracked just as easy as a clip getting knocked off without the benefit off just being able to clip them back on? Just a thought.

looks like some loctite blue silicon has done the trick, thanks for the tips guys.