I took my 80 olds 455 car for a 90 mile jaunt back to my hometown to spend a day with friends yesterday and developed a nasty valve cover leak .By the time i rolled into town car was smoking and oil running down the header .Turns out there was a rip in the gasket on the bottom i dont use sealer on the rubber gaskets and i suspect if i did this may not have been an issue.Of course all the parts stores in that neck of the woods had n o valve cover gaskets in stock.one call to a local garage owner that i knew 30 years ago says" come down i got something for you". he hands me a caulking gun with pematex ultra grey in it and explains the proper way to use it.he told me he'll be closed soon so just hang the gun on the doorknob when im finished with it no charge and good luck.it all worked out great drove the car back 90 miles south about 2 hours after fixing it. For one ,the permatex ultra grey is great stuff and for two theres is nothing like small town neighbor helping neighbor.

 

Great story, There are still lots of good helpful people around... I found that I always had to replace valve cover gaskets too soon. I found you can buy a Tough Core gasket that has a steel layer in between 2 outer layers. I have the number written down but not with me. It is the regular # for a Olds with a "TC" following it- maybe the Felcro brand? Anyway I used those along with some of the old school tacky gasket goop that comes in a jar with a dauber (I can't think of any names this morning) and I bought some of those chrome valve cover "spreaders" that are actually marketed for small block chebbies and no leaks so far after 2-3 years. Back when I worked as a mechanic in the 80's VC gaskets were a very common problem. I must say the newer vehicles are much better with the long O ring type seals that go in a channel.....

 

Its important to hear "human" stories like that these days.

I had a similar problem with my '76 350. Developed a leak that traveled down to the header and starter. The starter is heavily wrapped with header insulation to prevent heat saturation and was soaked. This really thru us off trying to find the leak source. We replaced the valve cover gaskets and thought we had it beat. Within 50 miles it started again. Pretty disconcerting when you see smoke billowing out from under the car while sitting at a red light.

We discovered that the leak was flowing from the lower rear bolt area of the driver side valve cover. So, we pulled the cover, laid down some high heat resistant silicone and lightly coated the bolt threads, as well. Put about 300 miles on it since...leak free, again.

 

One of the few problems my daily driver has had is it hase a VC leak now after 253k. I have the gasket, and will do it this winter, I think.