blown cam cover gasket,!!

hi all,
decided to change the cam cover rubber gasket, as there was a small leak from both of the "half moons" on the rh side, i had also done the same thing a few weeks ago , but using the same gasket, i had purchased some permatex high tac adhesive for that job , but when applying it , it started to come out in lumps, any how i continued to use it and spread it out with my finger, as i didnt have any other gasket stuff, anyway , completed job and all seemed fine on tickover after warming up,
took out for a ride, thats when it started weeping , but not too bad, so i suspected the permatex was off (from ebay)
so , back to this week, i changed the gasket for a new one (from a complete gasket set ive had for a few years)
i used Blue Hylomar, gasket sealant on both sides of the rubber gasket and refitted cover and torqued to speck.
went out for a ride ,and hammered it on the local by-passes and on motorway for about 20 miles , pulled off motorway ,and looked down and both my legs were covered in oil and oil was running down engine, both my jeans and boots were soaking, and a small pool under bike,
managed to limp home 10 miles , keeping my eye on oil pressure gauge about 30 psi
inspected bike after getting changed and gasket has failed in several different places, oil leaking all around the cover. WHY,
done this job several times now ,as ive 3 bikes and 2 spare engines, never has such a leak happened before.
could the rubber gasket be faulty (it seemed ok and flexible when fitting)
could it be the blue hylomar, though ive used this several times on other gaskets but not on cam cover.
the permatex is not easy to get hold of here .
what other gasket sealants do you use
really pissed off with that at the moment
so i'm gonna park that one for now, and do a few maintenance jobs on another bike and run that one, till i
am less pissed off
sorry for long post,
any help would be great
thanks

 

The bolts holding down the cam cover, are the seals in good condition providing enough clamping force? Is it the XJ 600 Pre Diversion?

 

yes -pre diversion
the bolt seals were not new ,but were flexible and soft, i also cut some slots in some stainless "penny" washers and slotted them under the bolt heads , between the bolt head and the rubber metal cap to provide an extra mm of down force

 

These guys are on the money, I was having trouble with leaking and it was stripped bolt holes which got HeliCoils all around. What I did was drilled down to the bottom, cleaned the chips and tapped to the bottom. From there I stacked two coils, one bottomed and the next just lightly touching the thread of the first breaking the tangs with a good flat end punch. This gave me the full length of the bolts and I backed that up with new bolt seals.
That end of the cam seal plugs is a pain but from what you described it sounds like the cover is warped, I don't recommend using any sealer on the gasket face to the head and being very conservative using the sealer in the cover groove as this can cause uneven loading, I've had a few shoes oiled up from this.
I posted my HeliCoils in the What Have You Done forum last week.

 

I agree with @Brhatweed, no goop between the gasket and the head.
I put a little on the half moons and just a little on the cover so the gasket comes off with the cover for the next valve check.

 

I don't have sealant between the cover and the head. No leaks. I put a little on the groove in the cover to keep it on for maintenance.

 

so exactly what "Goop" do you use, i used "Blue Hylomar" this time, Permatex in the past but thats getting hard to get hold of here, reluctant to send for it, as last one was "off"

 

all bolt holes have good threads, but i will check the depth of the holes , to make sure the bolts are not " bottoming on any dross

 

I used this Loctite Sl 5980.

 

I use the red Permatex High tack and what I ended up doing was degreasing the cover in solvent then giving it a hot bath in Dawn dishwashing soap to get the remaining oily film off. From there it was a very light film of the red Permatex all the way around the groove only to hold the gasket in place then just a dab in the half moons and tightened starting with the center bolts and moving my way out in a cross fashion. Not even a hint of seep at the moment.