Gasket Manufacturers experience

E28 technical advice asked and given! Troubleshooting, modifications and more.
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heinek077
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Joined: Mar 19, 2012 8:54 AM
Location: Southern CA

Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by heinek077 »

’83, 533i, I’m looking for a NLA BMW valve cover gasket. Some alternates I found are the Victor Reinz, Corteco, and Elring Klinger (description is hard waffle finish without silicone bead).
Does anyone have any experience with any of these gasket manufacturers for the valve cover gasket or any gaskets overall?
Mike W.
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Re: Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by Mike W. »

I've used a variety of makes over the years, surely Victor and Elring, and they've always been fine. For one clamping. Others seem to have had better luck, but my experience is it's a one time use gasket. Try to reuse it and it leaks. YMMV. I like the looks of the silicone bead, but I'm not sure it actually works better even though it seems like it should.
garageboy
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Re: Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by garageboy »

Am I the only one terribly concerned to read that an E28 factory valve cover gasket went NLA? :help:
Shawn D.
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Re: Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by Shawn D. »

garageboy wrote: Jan 18, 2022 1:04 AM Am I the only one terribly concerned to read that an E28 factory valve cover gasket went NLA? :help:
Not just E28: E12, E23, E24, E32, and E34 with M30s.
Mike W.
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Re: Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by Mike W. »

It kind of looks like the early one, the non motronic one might still be available from BMW, so E's 3's, 9's, 12's and 23/24 thru 81 would be unaffected. Even the motronic one doesn't say end, but doesn't list a price either, which is not a good sign. Regardless, it's hard to tell if BMW even actually made the gaskets and all I've used have seemed the same regardless of Mfr so I don't see it as a big deal.
RobertRO
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Re: Gasket Manufacturers experience

Post by RobertRO »

Starting with about 2005, I have been using only Elring gaskets and seals on all my M30 engines. To sum it up, that's two total engine rebuilds, four head gasket replacements (with all related gaskets), countless valve cover gaskets. I never had any problem with Elring.
Regarding the valve cover gaskets, I regularly reuse them (as long as their surface is fine) and I never had any leakage issue. It is very important to properly clean the contact surfaces of the cylinder head, valve cover and gasket (when reused), and to correctly torque the valve cover nuts.
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