Any solution to prevent premature failure/leakage of valve cover gasket??

[Brit01]

Had my aveo 2011 1.6 G3 for about 4 years now.

One big pain with it is the notorious valve cover gasket.
I follow all the steps carefully while replacing it. Super clean surfaces, correct torque and sequence etc.
Tried various amounts of silcone gasket around the half moons.

But as always after about 7-8 months of heavy use it begins seeping a film of oil down the front, always starts off in the right corner, then slowly spreads.

I change it every year!! Seems to go quite hard after less than a year which I assume causes the leak..

Tried original gaskets, aftermarket ones also. All the same.

Is it just a serviceable item that needs replacing every flippin year??

Thanks

[sjcleckley1]

about the only thing I can think of is to glue or seal it completely to valve cover in the grove and to head sealing area id use the Permatex the Right Stuff grey but will be a real paint o clean if you ever have to do it again but soaking it in solvent a while helps

I had a 2008 had to do it every year the 2009-2011 have to have a good seal as it's a vacuum leak also it has a low pressure regulator/vacuum to regulate crankcase low pressure and that is the PVC valve also so

[sjcleckley1]

well after a year it started leaking again just plain ridiculous and waited too long to replace it about 2 months later I did and it had oil in the spark plug holes to top of the middle ones 2-3 to top of the spark plugs literally they were under oil and it did a number on the coil plug seals and they need replaces so this time I glued/sealed the gasket to cover and top of head and will see how long it last this time

[northguest47]

I'm on my second Aveo, both 1st gen Etec-II models, and the same issue with the gaskets. They leak into the plug area too especially and that is a pain.. like you said better to just do it every year like a preventative. Only think my mechanic said is that the cover itself is the problem - the valve cover warps a bit and so you can't get the same great seal. Still if someone figures out how to 3D print a new valve cover maybe we can solve the issue. I'm thinking of ordering a new one as a test. If I do that I'll post back.