RealGaskets leak, in need of advice and torque specs

[Guest]

I tried calling the folks at RealGaskets but they're out of the office for a while. I'm hoping to take a trip this weekend and would love to get this sorted. Thanks so much!

I recently bought a RealGasket for my GS850G as I was tired of cleaning off old gasket scraps and had heard really great things. I installed it as per the instructions, making sure the valve cover, engine, and gasket were clean and dry. I torqued things down a fair bit at first, but upon reading the instructions backed off to a much lighter torque spec. 20 miles or so later, I got a sizeable oil seep from one side of the engine, clearly from the valve cover gasket.

My questions:

-Is it enough to retorque things, or do I need to remove things and clean + dry all surfaces?

-If this is the case, any tips on how best to get the oil off of there and dry it out? I could use soap on the gasket/cover, but I'm stumped as far as the engine goes.

-Can anyone recall the torque specifications for the valve cover gasket on a GS850 or something similar? I seem to remember 15 inch-lb, which I think is what I initially did it to, but that seems awful loose...

[tkent02]

With Realgaskets it's something like finger tight plus a 1/4 turn. 15 inch pounds is way too tight. You probably smashed the gasket.

But this is from memory having read about it years ago before installing it on a 550. I only used a Realgasket the one time and had to take it off again right away as it was stripping the gears in the tachometer drive, which is in the head on a 550.

Take it apart and look, hopefully you didn't smash it too badly.

[Nessism]

If you over torque it the gasket will squeeze out noticeably. I'd install the gasket clean and free of oil and then tighten until you see the gasket start to push out and then stop.

[bwringer]

15 inch pounds is correct. This is also just about the amount of torque you can apply easily with two fingers; it's not much at all. That's just 1.25 foot-pounds -- the usual spec for 6mm bolts is around 5 or 6 foot pounds.

If you over-torqued it and cut the gasket, it's going to leak and needs to be replaced.

Honestly, I just use OEM valve cover gaskets nowadays. Coat with grease on both sides and you can re-use it many times.

Futzing around with the Realgasket took a lot of extra time, and I had a couple of incidents where it managed to squeeze out or a bolt managed to loosen.

And of course, you can't use a Realgasket on an engine where the tach drive is in the valve cover -- the thicker gasket goofs up the clearance needed for the tach drive gears to mesh properly, and the sealing surfaces are much thinner.

[azr]

I'll never use one again aftrer a chuck blew out while on a trip, likely from over torqueing, you can't do that with a paper gasket.

[tkent02]

I'll never use one again aftrer a chuck blew out while on a trip, likely from over torqueing, you can't do that with a paper gasket.

Yes you can, but it takes a Hell of a lot of torque.

[Steve]

I know they are "squishy", but there might be a limit to that squishiness. If you over-torqued it, it might have lost some of its sealing ability and no amount of extra care will help it.

For the cost of a Real Gasket, you can get three gaskets from Z1, which seem to work quite well, or an OEM gasket that you KNOW will work well.

.

[tas850g]

With Realgaskets it's something like finger tight plus a 1/4 turn. 15 inch pounds is way too tight. You probably smashed the gasket.

I have one on th 850 and been using it for 5-6 years now. I really like it and as mentioned the torque is really low. Tkent has it correct with the tightness.

[rudeman]

I have one on th 850 and been using it for 5-6 years now. I really like it and as mentioned the torque is really low. Tkent has it correct with the tightness.

Any issues with bolts backing out while using RealGaskets?

[bobgroger]

I have a realgasket on the 850, no leaks after 4000 miles. I used Loctite on the bolts.

[JJ]

I have a realgasket on the 850, no leaks after 4000 miles. I used Loctite on the bolts.

After 4K miles, you're overdue for a valve-clearance check/adjustment...