Rocker cover gasket

J

Joez4

Member
 West Midlands
With the x8r vanos kit I bought an elring gasket was provided, this gasket protrudes a lot further from the cover than my old gasket and I'm not sure it will compress enough to seal, can anyone confirm it will?

On autodoc the part number for the gasket I have says it doesn't fit, x8r says it should.

For now I've reused my old gasket that was replaced by previous owner but this gasket doesn't fit great and no sealant was used in the half moons so I'm keen to get the correct gasket installed correctly.
 
You mean the bit that inserts into the groove is too long? Then no it won’t fit. Had the same issue on a 4-pot a while back. Sounds like maybe they sent the wrong gasket
 
Right then, I bought two Elring gaskets a couple of weeks back.
I know they are correct as I fitted one on another members car last week.
Here's the labelling and also the depth of the bit that fits in the slot.
Check yours against this.
IMG_4931.jpg
IMG_4932.jpg
 
One of the few gripes I've had with Autodoc was the wrong rocker cover gasket being sent. To be fair it was the gasket that I ordered but the website said it was the correct one for my car when it wasn't. Should have been more thorough in my research :slaphead:
 
As you can see my part number is different, and subsequently you have the part number that auto doc and others say is correct for my car.

I'll go and measure mine later and report back but the variation in part numbers seems convincing enough
 

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Joez4 said:
As you can see my part number is different, and subsequently you have the part number that auto doc and others say is correct for my car.

I'll go and measure mine later and report back but the variation in part numbers seems convincing enough
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Well feel free to use my photos. Very unusual for X8R to be wrong
 
Just measured my gasket and its the same measurements as the gasket you have Martin so I'm stumped unless it's thickness is the issue, when I offered the gasket up I couldn't push it in anymore and it still didn't sit anywhere near flush with the cover so much so that I wasn't even convinced that fully tightening the cover would seal it.
 
Joez4 said:
Just measured my gasket and its the same measurements as the gasket you have Martin so I'm stumped unless it's thickness is the issue, when I offered the gasket up I couldn't push it in anymore and it still didn't sit anywhere near flush with the cover so much so that I wasn't even convinced that fully tightening the cover would seal it.
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Well that’s odd? Have you got all the old gasket out? Must be those thicker strips stopping it?
 
There is no gasket residue at all that I can see, I think the strips must be thicker.

I will source a different gasket and compare
 
Joez4 said:
There is no gasket residue at all that I can see, I think the strips must be thicker.

I will source a different gasket and compare
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I got genuine Elring from Ebay
 
My new correct part number gasket has turned up from ebay and it looks pretty much the same apart from the inner spark plug bore gaskets and the label is different.

Have they changed the labels recently on elring products? Also there is no logo on the gasket itself anymore and the quality doesn't appear to be as good, Wondering if it's even genuine, have bought from this seller in the past without issues tho.
 

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Tried my new gasket that is supposed to be the correct part number and it still doesn't fit,

Also noticed a broken piece of my valve cover probably when previous owner had the gasket replaced, wondering now if i should get a new valve cover instead and be done with all this gasket fitting nonsense as i really want to see if the vanos rebuild was actually worth it.

Thoughts anyone?
 

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'Tis odd indeed. Never seen one not fit properly.
Can you find a replacement top cover at a decent price?

If not, ask on here as usual.
I have one coming off a 2.5i soon which should be the same I believe (gasket certainly is), but as yet it is still fitted so can't check condition for you.
Let me know if you're stuck.

Have you actually tried torquing it down to see if it compresses enough?
 
I can get a brand new vaico cover off auto doc for £150 half price Black Friday deal, used covers aren't much cheaper and I'm reluctant to pay alot for a used part that could fail at any point.

Do you think where mine is damaged will leak?
It has a rubber seal where the bolt goes in but I'm not sure it will seal.

No I haven't tried tightening it down, the original gasket doesn't seat properly on my cover so I think that might have not fitted but got forced to fit perhaps, I'm leaning towards new valve cover
 
Joez4 said:
I can get a brand new vaico cover off auto doc for £150 half price Black Friday deal, used covers aren't much cheaper and I'm reluctant to pay alot for a used part that could fail at any point.

Do you think where mine is damaged will leak?
It has a rubber seal where the bolt goes in but I'm not sure it will seal.

No I haven't tried tightening it down, the original gasket doesn't seat properly on my cover so I think that might have not fitted but got forced to fit perhaps, I'm leaning towards new valve cover
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I think in your shoes I’d probably bite the bullet and get new tbh
 
So my Vaico rocker cover has turned up but it's not Vaico it's Stark branded, not happy with Autodoc as they didn't even tell me they substituted it.

Anyone familiar with this brand? Not read anything great about them and the cover looks abit cheap
 
Joez4 said:
So my Vaico rocker cover has turned up but it's not Vaico it's Stark branded, not happy with Autodoc as they didn't even tell me they substituted it.

Anyone familiar with this brand? Not read anything great about them and the cover looks abit cheap
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I believe Stark are an Autodoc own brand… I experience something similar once with one of my orders, something changed to Stark after I’d placed the order. They also didn’t tell me, but I managed to catch it before they shipped and asked them to cancel it.

They replied with something along the lines of “sorry just substituted it as we don’t have the one you ordered in stock” - but really not brilliant of them to silently switch it to their own Stark branded components when you’ve bought something from a decent brand.

Definitely the biggest downside of buying from Autodoc, but thankfully has only happened to me once, and now I make it a habit to check my order again before they ship.
 
I contacted them and they said I can return the items and they will send the original ordered items.

They told me that stark are a reputable brand made in Germany and to the same spec as the vaico cover I ordered with a 3 year warranty, but I have read bad things about them been a cheap brand online. Will see what the vaico cover looks like when it turns up.

On a positive they have put a note on my account saying they will not substitute any parts of future orders without my consent.
 
Joez4 said:
So my Vaico rocker cover has turned up but it's not Vaico it's Stark branded, not happy with Autodoc as they didn't even tell me they substituted it.

Anyone familiar with this brand? Not read anything great about them and the cover looks abit cheap
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I used Stark on my N52 130i..
No problems at all, it works.
But make sure to use proper BMW OEM gaskets..
 
Now I'm concerned! I've just changed my Rocker Cover gasket, and it too didn't seem to fit very well, lots of material sticking out and like you, it wouldn't sit flush. I got it from BMW, so it should be the right one!

I tightened everything down and it all looked fine, but now I'm worried that it's the wrong one. I'll keep an eye out for leaks!
 
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