BMW R1200R R1150R/T F800 K1200R R1100R/T R1250R RnineT Message Board

Except for the initial 600 mile service done by the dealer, I have done all my valve adjustments. Three all together, 6K, 12K, & 18K. It never even occured to me to change either gastkets. The inner(the round doughnut that goes around the spark plug hole, and the outer(the one that goes around the perimeter of the valve cover).
Anyway, after my 18K valve adjustment, my left side started to leak oil. The parts guy told me that it must be the inner gasket(which it was) and upon replacement, the leak stopped. According to the parts guy, their service dep't replaces the inner gasket every valve adjustment as they are leak prone. The outer one is not leak prone but they state they replace it at 12K just out of principal.
It never even occured to me that these gaskets need to be replaced as BMW does not state an interval for it.

How often do you guys change these inner gaskets?

And do you guys replace the outer one too?

8th valve adjustment was done in December, no leaks so far!
I will change both (all) gaskets when I see a leak.

I found that the inner gasket may start leaking because it gets pinched when re-installing the valve cover. Happened to me twice in 250K miles of oilheads. So I keep a set of spare gaskets at home. After the valve adjusting I start the engine. If no leaks, fine. If it leaks, it gets new gaskets.

At my next vlave adjustment at 24K, I will change the doughnut on the right side as that is the original. I think I will change it every other valve adjustments from now on. I'm not sure what I am goint to do about the outer gasket....

I think my dealer replaces them both on every service tbh.....


When I start doing the work myself I'll most likely only change them when/if they leak.

I change the inner gasket every time ( I read somewhere you should ), but have never changed the outter gasket and I'm obsessive about adjusting the valves. The inner ones are relatively cheap and I keep a bag of them around all the time. One advantage of having bikes with the same engine.

Dealer technicians always put in new gaskets because if after assembly it is leaking, they have to spend unpaid time to fix it right.

The inner gasket can be rotated but it's best to keep spares on hand.

My biggest problems for leaks have been the cam covers and the sight glass.

While I have never changed out the gaskets, I've only done a couple valve adjustments on my bike, and curiously, I rotated the inner gasket 90 degrees so the impression wouldn't line up in the same place (as recommended by my Clymer's manual ), but then I watched the BMW maintenance video where he said to be sure to put it back the same way so you wouldn't be making a new impression in the seal , and so didn't rotate it the next time. Neither gasket has leaked so far , and I think I'll use them one more time and change them on the fourth valve adjustment.
I originally considered changing them then because I would have run out of room on the inner gasket face after it was covered with impressions from having rotated it 90 degrees four times, but now I think I'll just change them anyway because they're cheap, I have them, and I hate oil on my deck!

BTW...what is the consensus on rotating reused inner valve cover gaskets? Do you or don't you?

NHighCotton wrote:
My biggest problems for leaks have been the cam covers and the sight glass.

I originally thought it was the cam cover so I replaced that gasket first....but that wasn't the culprit.

We have had six oilheads and over 260,000 miles we have never changed the outer gaskets. I pinched the inner ones twice and replaced them. My present bike has 65,000 miles and has never had any of them changed.

Oilhead wrote:

NHighCotton wrote:
My biggest problems for leaks have been the cam covers and the sight glass.

I originally thought it was the cam cover so I replaced that gasket first....but that wasn't the culprit.

Well, I've been in suspense long enough...just where was the source of your leak?

NHighCotton wrote:
Well, I've been in suspense long enough...just where was the source of your leak?

The inner valve cover gasket. See the first post of this thread. That is why I started this thread.

The way the oil leaked down the cylinder head, it actually looked like it was coming out of the the cam chain cover.

BTW, quite a bit of oil leaks out of that inner valve cover gasket(donut). It makes quite a mess. I am definitely going to replace it on an every other valve adjustment basis.