Originally Posted By: Quest
not following you but assuming that what you are talking about is the valve cover gasket, they are made of fuel/oil resistant man-made rubber called nitrile.
And unless there's specific call for RTV on uneven mating surface on the block, otherwise, never use RTV on nitrile valve cover gasket as a 1/2 arsh patch job.
If your leak to the spark plug tube hole is due to hardened V/C gasket over years of usage, then by all means, clean the holes, wipe down the V/C gasket mating surface and then install a set of fresh new V/C gasket set.
Anyone who recommends RTV on top of V/C gasket other than uneven block to cover mating surface (factory would have specified that), I'd stay away from that mech.
Q.
Yes, the gasket rep I talked to said for valve cover gaskets, you can use adhesive to attach them to the valve cover (I was using a cork gasket at the time on a 1974 Chevy C-10 inline six) but to just clean the head where it contacts the gasket. Of course, there are applications where you're required to use RTV on the corners along with the gasket. Sealing the small block Chevy intake manifold comes to mind.