Reuse valve cover gasket?

[Piston720]

"Real Gasket"

I replaced the valve cover gasket a couple of years ago, with the "REAL GASKET", on my 850 and have not had any issues.
This winter I will be doing the 1100G with the same brand.
Silicone based and can be used many times over, minimal torque required compared to OEM gasket.
They are about $25.

[1_v8_merc]

On my '80 GS1100L the valve cover had a chronic leak in front of the cam chain. Apparently from '82 up they put two more bolts in that area to correct it; but just a new gasket on mine, OEM Suzuki or otherwise, wouldn't stop it.
At the start of this season, I hung the old gasket on the wall (used grease when I installed it, so it's still in one piece.), cleaned the surfaces with mineral spirits and used RTV black and no gasket. I rode about 1500 miles this season without a leak from there; but I did find I'm leaking elswhere - probably the o-rings on the head bolts I reused last two times I had the head off.
It's amazing what a big mess a little drip could make; but still, much smaller than the mess I dealt with last year. Nonetheless - I'll have to leave the white pants at home until I get around to fixing the other leak.

Yup, my 82 650 had a similar problem.

I went to the suzuki dealer to order valve gaskets(mikuni)
I took em home, it fit EXCEPT for the front Middle.

There was an Extra hole in this "new" gasket, and 2 other holes were slightly off-base.

The guy at the dealer told me that was the correct gasket, I told "no, it's not" We went back and forth.....

Eventually he looked in the computers and found a Second valve gasket for my bike, but was discontinued.....

So he wrote down the Part # for the Discontinued gasket.

Then he went into the computer and looked up an 81 GS 650 instead of my 82 650.

He noticed the Standard valve gasket Part # MATCHED the discontinued # we found on the 82.

Turns out, suzuki actually had many 81 Cylinder Heads left over after production, so they just bolted the rest onto the 82's.
Which is why "some" 82's require 81 valve gaskets.

-----------

I actually just "kept" the wrong gasket, did a little trim-work on it, and used a little RTV, and it ended up fitting on.

1 year later, no leaks at all.
(although I DID RTV the hell out of the outside cracks, lol.)

[Guest]

I reuse then all the time.