I am just posting my experience jaydog - in the hopes that it may help this discussion.jaydog5678 wrote:The many years I've been working with cars, I've heard it all...muffler bearings, blinker fluid and now valve covers that are pressurized and magic gaskets that expand when hot and oilyariesdude wrote:Yes it will look clean because the valve cover is pressurized and oil if leaking usually kinda sprays out towards the bottom. I had similar problem in my DOHC - i replaced the gasket (while the original looked great - but i learned later that it had expanded and lost the ability to seal when the engine was hot). It leaked again in 2 or 3 days. I replaced it again and this time i used a lot of RTV as indicated by the manual - it didnt leak after that. You have to replace the PCV valve too if you have one.... I've always wondered about the spraying oil from my valve cover gasket. It's almost like theres a hose that shoots oil under that cover.
If you dont believe that the crank case could be pressurized by clogged PCV valve leading to oil seeping out -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCV_valve
Here's my BP with an almost good vcg
![Image](http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/9356/im000003ur9.jpg)
Here's my patched up B6
![Image](http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/2494/im000006rj2.jpg)
You can imagine how it looked before i patched it up.
And by the way i compared the old gasket and new gasket on top of each other - the old gasket was physically wider and longer when it was hot. If i had just resorted to visual inspection without actual comparison - i would have thought the old gasket was in very good condition. I wish i had taken pictures of that comparison (hot & cold).