You honestly would have a tough time abusing a valve cover gasket. It'* only purpose and use is sitting there keeping oil from leaking.

Where'* the .."I cleaned it up" pics?

I don't think the L27 LIM gaskets are even prone to failing. While it'* not a bad idea to change them, yours may be just fine. My block was pretty dirty and oily-looking. So I changed my VC gaskets and LIM gaskets (at 134,000) and they looked new (especially LIMs). More than likely that'* just years of dirt and crud on yours.

Cleaner engines run cooler and it'* easier to determine if you have leaks.

I haven't cleaned it up yet. My hose sprayer sprays on me more then out of the given hole, and my aunt and uncle are at work so I can't go use their power washer.

And as for the rain and getting wet, I have had a bad cough for a month, just found out today that it'* light pneumonia, so if I'm gonna get wet, it'* gonna have to be sunny and warm.

get some Castrol Superclean and you can forget about a dirty engine

that stuff works amazing

presoak the cold engine with a rinse, and then generously apply Superclean with a spray bottle (i prefer buying the gallon jugs and putting it in my own spray container). let everything soak for a few minutes and then get out the brushes. tooth brushes, toilet scrubers, etc. after you think you got everywhere, hose it off. you will instantly see where you didnt hit it again and again until you have an engine bay equivelant of SSEimatt93 or bonnie94ssei

Isn't coming off too badly so far, with just simple green and a good thumb-over-hole hose spraying. I'd take pictures but it'* pouring right now.

Okay, here'* the pics of the most recent work... This is just spraying simple green generously, 1 hour soak, then a good hose off.

good, but you have lots more work to do

valve cover, PS pump, strut towers

The strut towers are going to be the toughest... I took a rag and did a little elbow grease work and found the towers really hard to get the grease off, however the rough texture of the cast iron (if any, I'm unsure) or aluminum parts might be challenging to get to a ZiLLA clean .