RTV on Valve cover gasket?

I cant get a nice valve cover gasket, can only find the cheap cork one, should I use Hi temp RTV gasket maker? Thanks alot for the help fellas
RLTW

cork is one of the best materials made for a VC gasket IMHO.

should i put it on dry or RTV it? The cork cost 7.99 and the High performance costs 40 something.

rtv is not a gasket dressing.

I like to use Hylomar HPF on my gaskets. Makes them easier to remove when I need to later on.

Cork may be "cheap" (relatively speaking,) but there's nothing at all wrong with it - I prefer them.

The valve cover on inline sixes is a bit difficult to do right - get LocTite #518 "Gasket Eliminator," and use that as a gasket dressing. If you search here, I've given instructions on it a few times - and I know they work, because it's how I get rid of valve cover leaks...

On - and a few 1/4"-20x1-1/2" studs won't go amiss, either. Makes it easier to get things settled down and in place.

i work at napa and all day long people come in saying "that cork gasket you sold me sucks ass its leaking". cork is one of the best gasket materials mainly because it compresses and fills all the minor imperfections and uneven surfaces. the #1 cause of valve cover leaks is tightening the bolts too far. just get em snug and give em a 1/4 turn past that, if you overtighten them you split the gasket and get leaks every time.

Thanks guys- Always a big help- I cant believe I used to ever work on my heap before contacting the pros here iratefla RLTW

If you can't get the cork "right" and it starts leaking again, the rubber/steel HP gaskets works well. I accidentally left one of the bolts in (albeit loosely) on the passenger side of my valve cover when trying to remove it and ended up warping it (doh!). I didn't want to go spend big bucks on a new cover/gasket set ($190 from the stealership), so I chose not to use the cork I had ready in favor of the rubber/steel. The rubber/steel is supposed to be a "problem solver" that will allow you to over-tighten a bit without ruining the seal and requires no RTV or any other additional sealant. They're vailable from NAPA or Parts+, Felpro Part# VS50522T. I scraped and then cleaned the heck out of both of the mating surfaces and all of the bolts/studs with acetone and got 'er done. I was a little worried about the excess torque I put on the bolts, but it was the only way for me to be comfortable with the seal after the warp I had caused. I'm happy to say my serious leak is long since cured and the bolts are still hangin' tight.

If you remove you VC a lot the pricey one is reusable and can save money in the long run. Hell if you remove you VC all the time the cork one can't take a good set and is then reusable. Use RTV if you hope to never pull it again. Don't over tighten any of them. Any cover must be flat and clean to work at all. I sometimes use a "high tack" spray on the cover just to hold the gasket in place for install. Small dabs of hot glue will also hold one in place. But don't go nuts with the hot glue. Hot oil will eat up any extra glue. Not a problem unless you go WAY over board with the stuff.

Like mentioned, RTV is NOT gasket dressing. On several gaskets, especially trans pan gaskets, I've used RTV and it created massive leaks instead of help the gasket seal, like I intended.

The RTV can act like a lubricant, and as the gasket is crushed/compressed, it will let the gasket squeeze out from the flanges. I can see this easily happening with a flat valve cover gasket.

I use "high Tack" spray on gasket dressing, that seems to work best and helps seal.

Like almost everyone else here has stated, -cork can't be beat. The key to making a cork gasket work is installing it correctly.

On the 4.0L with the nice cast aluminum valve cover, there is simply no excuse to not get a cork gasket to seal.

A trick I've used for years is to "glue" the gasket to the bottomside of the valve cover with gaskecinch, indian head, high-tack, etc, then lay the valve cover down on a flat surface with some weight on it and allow the glue to set up for several hours. Then, simply grease the unglued side of the gasket and set the valve cover on the head. One other trick is to use spring washers (lockwashers) on top of the flatwashers. When tightening the bolts, only tighten until the spring washers are compressed flat, -do not be tempted to keep tightening them because they feel loose, -the bolts won't come loose and fall out, -trust me.

I agree with Rick on RTV being just a little bit slippery and allowing gaskets to "extrude" when you attempt to compress them, -not good. Some may argue that the grease idea would do the same, -but if the gasket is glued to the valve cover, it won't happen. The light film of grease allows you to remove the valve cover in the future without needing a new gasket (within reason of course).

The steel core neoprene gaskets do work well on the rigid cast aluminum valve covers (like on the 4.0L), but they don't work worth a darn on anything with a stamped steel valve cover, because they require waaay more compressive force to seal than a cork gasket does, -and distortion of the stamped steel valve cover is always the result, -ending up with a leak after spending righteous bucks for the premium gasket (been there done that).

Cork is the shizz.

My experience is that the cork gasket for the earlier 4.0s is thick and works fine. But it does not work well on the 1996+ engines with the stamped steel valve cover. The stamped cover does not have the proper recess for a flat gasket to seat and it slips out of place causing leaks. The correct gasket is at Napa yes its expensive but it works very well with the alignment holes. Also, Hylomar is great stuff but getting hard to find.