Re-use valve cover gasket?

[bsell]

I replaced my leaking valve cover gasket the other weekend and now I have a tapping noise that sounds suspiciously like a soft hydraulic tappet. The noise was not there before the gasket change and the only thing I did was touch the plastic cover over the intake cam to see if it was attached snugly. It 'popped' when I touched it but it didn't 'move'. Is it possible for a lobe on the intake cam to touch this thing that looks like a windage tray for the intake cam?

The top end looked good (not pristine) for a 13 year-old car, just the normal goldish-brown coloring on the metal surfaces that don't contact anything. The exhaust cam looked like it matched the car's indicated 120,000km (with the first 100K spent in Tokyo traffic).

I know I have to do something about my 'vocal' vanos system but this tapping thing worries me as it is new. So can I keep the same valve cover gasket and dive back in there to see what might be going on?

Brian

[JMI]

Unless there is visible damage (cut, tear, etc) I would use it over.