GS1100E silicone gaskets?

[ddeboer]

Can anyone comment on silicone valve cover gaskets I've heard about? Apparently the required torque to attach the valve cover is much less than with an OEM gasket.

Thankyou

[SqDancerLynn1]

They are fine if your tack drive is in the head and reusable. If it is in the cam cover it is a question mark because of the necessary gear tooth clearances of the tack drive

[koolaid_kid]

I tightened mine with care, but in the end they squirted out from the valve cover. For whatever reason, they just do not work well with the 16 valve covers.
Went aftermarket paper, had two fail on me, they just got brittle and broke. Went OEM, they work fine.

[posplayr]

They are fine if your tack drive is in the head and reusable. If it is in the cam cover it is a question mark because of the necessary gear tooth clearances of the tack drive

To be clear, if you change the the clearance between the drive gear on teh exhaust cam and the valve cover mounted tach drive gear you CAN strip teh cam and loose your tach drive all together. This required a cam swap to repair.

In other words dont use a REAL GASKET on any 16V 750E/1100E (except electronic tach version)

[bwringer]

The RealGaskets work great on 8 valve engines, but have had problems on the 16 valve engines.

The gasket surfaces on the 16V engines are much more narrow, and so I think this simply makes it easier for the gasket to squirt out of place.

And, of course, the tach drive clearance issues have been mentioned. There are some thin, poor-quality aftermarket gaskets out there that also can cause clearance issues, and tend to disintegrate quickly.

Use only OEM valve cover gaskets and you'll be fine. You can re-use an OEM gasket through several valve checks if you first give it a light coat of plain grease.

[gearhead13]

I just paid over $40 for an oem gasket for my 1100. What I do is stick it to the head with ultra black, so everytime I have to pull the valve cover it just stays on the head. I just use a very light smear on a clean dry head and the gasket sticks to the head and doesnt tear apart when I pull my valve cover.

[Mysuzyq]

I have used a silicone Real Gasket for about 4-5 years now, no issues. I don't recommend it however, because they require a lot of care when installing & folks have had bad results re. the tach drive etc. Any oily surfaces, coupled with over tightening will have the gasket slip out of place, and cause problems. I clean all surfaces with solvent and make sure the gasket goes back on dry....easily the most time-consuming part of a valve clearance check.
Next valve check/adjust, I'll probably go back to OEM and give Gearhead's trick a try.....I certainly got my $$ worth out of the silicone gasket though!