Re-using valve cover gaskets?

[ryanprins13]

I bought a new to me festiva in december, no lifter tick. Drove it a bit and changed the valve cover gasket in may- installed a felpro one with new grommets. The head looked a bit varnished up so i used some seafoam and atf to try and clean that up. Shortly after that it developed lifter (hla) tick. I changed the oil right away which always solved it for me before with my old festiva, but it didnt help. It doesnt tick at startup like normal then go away, but does it when warm. It will start, stop, start when cruising down the highway at a steady rpm, gets worse if i rev it up or take a corner hard and sounds pretty bad. Super loud at idle. Will go away and come back when idling too.
So im going to take the valve cover off and remove the hla's to clean them. Something probably got disloged by the seafoam or atf and stuck in there (oil changed 3 times since).
My question is can i reuse the felpro valve cover gasket or will it leak? Its got 4 months and maybe 8 or 9 thousand miles on it.
I have a new super cheap one that was like $1 on rockauto and ordered new grommets for another buck but im wondering if thats actually better than reusing the felpro gasket or not

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[william]

I've reused them in the past with a year or so on them with no problems with the dohc engine, I just reaply the dab of gasket maker by the cams. If the gasket is still ply able it should be ok to reuse.

[ryanprins13]

Thanks!

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[WmWatt]

Don't know about that brand but I only replaced the gasket once and then just bolted the valve cover back on the couple if times I've had it off to checked the valve lash since (mechanical rocker arms). No leaks.