Reuse of valve cover gasket?

[andmoon]

I see a lot of threads on gasket removal.

Is it a definite NO NO to reuse the valve cover gasket?

My cover came off clean and I left the gasket attached to the head.

Do I do the gasket removal dance or is reuse a possibility?

83 850g...new to me and going thru all maint. before I run the poop out of her.

[tkent02]

If it came off clean in one piece reuse it, if it leaks then replace. It probably won't, at least not for a while.

[rphillips]

Yep! what he said

[willie]

I've been having good luck this past year with cleaning the mating surfaces with carb cleaner before applying a very thin coat of high temp silicone sealer. Hasn't leaked or weeped a bit. Of course, I'm only doing this when I've been able to remove the cover without breaking the gasket.
Good luck.
Willie

[Agemax]

personally i would replace it. any gasket that is vulnerable to oil leaks should be replaced. it would save a lot of time and inconveniance having to take the cover off again in a few days if it does start leaking.
just my opinion

[twr1776]

If it came off clean I would re-use it. On my 1000 the gasket was also stuck to the cylinder side and I just put some hi-temp grease on the gasket surface and put the cover back on. It now has about 4 k on it with no leaks. The two valve motors do not run very high oil pressure so you should be OK. I have the Realgaskets on my other bikes and they work very well. No more scraping.

[Calvin Blackmore]

My gasket is 20 plus yrs old
reuse it if does not leak

[lurch12_2000]

I see a lot of threads on gasket removal.

Is it a definite NO NO to reuse the valve cover gasket?

My cover came off clean and I left the gasket attached to the head.

Do I do the gasket removal dance or is reuse a possibility?

83 850g...new to me and going thru all maint. before I run the poop out of her.

I suppose if it stayed in one piece and there aren't any noticable "soft" or squishy spots then you could reuse. But on my recent valve adjustment on a '81 850 I got the OEM gasket for $8.80 at the dealer. Mine came off in pieces so I had no choice, but if it's that cheap why bother with your old gasket and risk leaking oil for the next 4-5k miles.