What to hold silicone gaskets in place?

S

Soft Cars

Joined
Sep 14, 2022
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1,870
Watching this guy struggle with that valve cover gasket is painful. There must be something sticky to hold the silicone gasket against in place against the valve cover; what would you use?

Whenever I've worked with silicone gaskets that fit in a groove in the valve cover, the gasket fits tightly in the groove, but not on this Toyota.

Fast forward to 33 minutes.
 
I'm thinking I'd try some real sticky Dow-Corning 111. That stuff is a high viscosity silicone grease.

www.dupont.com

MOLYKOTE® 111 Compound

NLGI Grade 3-4, translucent white, used primarily as a general purpose o-ring and valve lubricant.
www.dupont.com www.dupont.com
 
I really like the Permatex High Tack spray.

A thin application or a few dabs of RTV works as well but you need to give it a little time to set up and become tacky/less greasy.
 
JRed, you'd have to get all the oil out of the valve cover first though, correct?
 
When I was working in aerospace, we used a lot of silicone o-rings and seals. Silicone lubes, etc. were forbidden to be used on silicone seals/o-rings. IIRC, the silicone lube reacts with the silicone seals making them break down and get gooey.

Just to be safe, I keep silicone sealants, etc. away from any silicone (or silicone appearing) gaskets.
 
The Critic said:
A higher quality gasket that actually fits. Not Fail-Pro.

The Genuine Toyota gasket will actually fit in the groove and STAY in the groove during assembly. Don’t ask me how I know this…
Click to expand...
Yes. Most good valve cover gaskets have protrusions or small tabs that mechanically hold the gasket in place until assembly. I’ve never seen a Toyota one that does not.
 
paulo57509 said:
When I was working in aerospace, we used a lot of silicone o-rings and seals. Silicone lubes, etc. were forbidden to be used on silicone seals/o-rings. IIRC, the silicone lube reacts with the silicone seals making them break down and get gooey.

Just to be safe, I keep silicone sealants, etc. away from any silicone (or silicone appearing) gaskets.
Click to expand...

Spark plug boots are made of silicone.

Silicone dielectric grease is used inside of spark plug boots and is a silicone lube.

Has anyone here EVER seen a silicone spark plug boot break down and get gooey? (When it was not caused by an oil leak from the valve cover, not sure that would even cause it..)

Me neither.
 
paulo57509 said:
When I was working in aerospace, we used a lot of silicone o-rings and seals. Silicone lubes, etc. were forbidden to be used on silicone seals/o-rings. IIRC, the silicone lube reacts with the silicone seals making them break down and get gooey.

Just to be safe, I keep silicone sealants, etc. away from any silicone (or silicone appearing) gaskets.
Click to expand...
FWIW.....

Silicone grease - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
"Silicone grease is commonly used for lubricating and preserving many types of rubber parts, such as O-rings, without swelling or softening the rubber, but is contraindicated for silicone rubber due to these factors."

 
3M 08001 weather strip adhesive is what I have been using to tack something in place for years. Our high school auto instructor taught it in class. (Just when you need to hold a gasket in place, not for a sealant or anything.) Just a spot in the corners usually does the trick.
 
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