I think I bought some bad Valve Cover Gaskets - help!

[Jim Ed]

I think I bought some bad Valve Cover Gaskets - help!
I got them from rockauto.com .
They are made in Germany.
A pair of them came in a package labeled CarQuest.
The label inside the package is stating to yellow.
It says MAHLE ORIGINAL/VICTOR REINZ cork-rubber VS30003 .
http://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/volk ... sket,10710

http://www.rockauto.com/en/moreinfo.php ... 51&jsn=421

The gaskets look OK though.
I was thinking, put them on the shelf or give them away and get some Elring valve cover gaskets.
Any help is appreciated!

[Marc]

What makes you think they're "bad" other than apparent age? Unless they're so old that they're crumbling or have shrunken too much to fit the valvecovers, they'll probably still work as well as some of the stuff on the market these days.
"Dried-up" cork can be rehydrated; an easy method is to lay flat in the microwave with a cup ½ full of water and zap until the water's mostly gone...

[Jim Ed]

They look OK. I haven't removed them from the package and twisted them to see if they crumble.

What made me cautious was the slightly yellowing of the package where it should be white.
When I used to use a CB filter/pump I bought a Fram oil filter that had the price marked way down. The box was sort of yellow where it should have been white.
The filter was so old that it fell apart and blocked the oil flow which caused a vacuum and imploded the Fram oil filter. This caused a big puddle of oil on the driveway.
That happened to my other Type 1 engine. I refilled the oil and installed another oil filter and it ran for over another 2 years.
But in this case it is not an oil filter.
I will try re-hydrating with water as you described just in case.
Thanks!

[Marc]

...I will try re-hydrating with water as you described just in case...

Only if necessary - and stay in the room, if it starts to smell of melting rubber STOP.

[Leatherneck]

Rock auto sells for lack of correct word "older" parts or blemish parts, still good but not as good as they maybe once were.

[Piledriver]

Spend another $3 for Fel-pros or Elrings from your local FLAPS and toss the suspicious ones---take it as a learning experience. Not worth worrying about.

[Marc]

My local Autozone gets $6/pr for Felpro and $11/pr for Mahle. Seems worth the time to me, each to his own I guess...

[fall-apart-dave]

Strap 'em on and see what they do.