How to Inspect a Valve Cover Gasket

Video Transcript

"Hi, I am Mark Blocker on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment we are going to cover removing the old gasket from the valve cover and inspecting the valve cover for damage. This particular valve cover gasket is a rubber seal that fits into a groove all the way around the outer edge of the valve cover. It is molded into two half circles and that is for the cam spots. To remove the valve cover gasket from the valve cover you just simply have to remove it from the groove. On a lot of the vehicles this gasket might be very dry rotted and if another technician has replaced it he could have put a sealant or adhesive underneath the gasket that can make it real difficult and hard to get out. So if it doesn't come out real freely and easily by pulling it out with your fingers, sometimes you have to use some alternative methods such as gasket scrapers or knives to slice up underneath it and get up underneath the groove and pry it out. It just depends on what type of gasket was put in, how long it has been in there and whether they used any adhesive in holding that gasket in. After removing the exterior ring from the valve cover gasket, this particular model uses four other seals and that is an interior seal. This prevents the oil from going down into those tubes where we removed the spark plug wires. If one of those was to leak it can fill up the tube in the area around the spark plug with engine oil and cause a short for the electrical system because of the plug wire being under oil, deterioration on the plug wires and it can also leak into the combustion chamber. To remove these seals, generally what you will find is a single o-ring. We see a big orange type seal that is laid in there. What that actually is, it's actually a silicone sealant where somebody has laid a big bead around there and then by applying the valve cover it squishes into position and creates the seal. So this is just a silicone rubber sealant that somebody has put in out of a tube and they come out relatively easily. So after removing the exterior gasket and the four inner rings, now we have the gaskets removed. What we need to do is thoroughly clean it so we can get a good seal with a new gasket. Also by cleaning then we have a good opportunity to visually inspect it. Look for cracks or possible damage that could be causing problems of leakage or prevent the gasket from sealing. Just basically looking it over and making sure the valve cover is serviceable. Please watch our next segment on "Proper Cleaning"."