Gasket Sealant - yes or no?

[First opel 1981]

Using a Felpro gasket set. In the past I used Vera and used copper spray gasket sealer on just about all the paper seals. The head gasket required it but I used it for the rest with no ill effects.

What is the general consensus on gasket sealer for paper, cork and rubber gaskets when doing a rebuild?

Thanks.

[newman27]

Check out this cool graphic on the Permatex site to choose the right product by application. I used their Right Stuff on my water pump gasket and it has held up great - no leaks at all.

HTH

Matt

[deaner]

Use Permatex Aviation Gasket sealer.
http://www.permatex.com/products/Aut..._Sealant_a.htm

[timemachine]

When a sealant comes into play it means a gasket was not enough for a given repair, and sealants are sure to fail eventually in any case.

Except for those cases where it is called for and specified by the replacement manufacturer, I never use gasket sealant. Others may disagree but my view is that gaskets came well before sealants and were engineered as such. They regularly last for lifetimes. It's important to use a quality replacement product like Felpro, but THOROUGH cleaning, flat surfaces and proper torqueing are much more important IMHO.

Nothing against Permatex, I love their adhesives, but a properly installed water pump gasket with no sealant is sure to outlast the pump. Using a sealer I'd actually be less confident because there would be a thin layer of something waiting to deteriorate.

Jim

[Gordy]

My last rebuild I was able to finally build a leak proof 1.9 engine through the advice of my Bro-In-Law who is a mechanic.
I, like most people, thought more was better when it came to using gasket sealer (esp. Blue ATV sealer). In fact more is worse. The gasket needs to be able to absorb and swell and thus create a seal. If you have sealer gobbed on both sides of the gasket the paper or cork never gets penetrated by the fluid and ATV Blue is so "slippery" that the water or oil will easily leak out because it prevents the gasket from doing it's job. Thus your freshly rebuilt Opel engine that drives you nuts because it leaks oil!
His advice was to use the black Perma-Tex sealer sparingly only on the side of the gasket that goes against the NON-block side of the engine. The block should be true and clean enough that the gasket will seal just fine, and the little bit of tacky Perma Tex (black sealer) apllied to the non-block side will seal imperfections in the aluminum timing cover, waterpump, valve cover etc.
It worked for me and it's the first time I haven't had some annoying little leak or drip.
I used Right Stuff on the pan and did not use the cork at all (still use the rubber arcs front and rear), and again, dry as a bone

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by Gordy I, like most people, thought more was better when it came to using gasket sealer (esp. Blue ATV sealer). In fact more is worse.

Probably one of the smartest things I've seen stated in awhile! I use gasket sealer sparingly. Sometimes I use it more as an adhesive to help hold the gasket in place more than as a sealant. Newman27 mentioned the permatex site. I don't believe you can go wrong with that recommendation. IIRC they also describe how much (or little) should be used. A thin bead standing proud NOT smeared so that if there are any imperfections in the surface it will have a better chance of filling them than if it is smeared into a thin coating on the gasket itself. I believe Gordy also mentioned the importance of a clean sealing surface. Pay attention to the details and you will likely solve any sealing problems.

[markandson]

The black Permatex sealer mentioned is Permatex Hi-Tack, which is what I used almost exclusively to assemble my 2.2. I agree with the use sparingly folks. My engine is tight so far, granted it has only been run for maybe 24 hours. Just as a note, I applied it to both sides of the gaskets. On the head gasket it was only used around the front cover sealing area, no other sealant was used on the head gasket. No sealant was used on the oil pump gasket in order to insure that the cover stayed perfectly flat and parallel with the pump gears.

[oldopelguy]

On cork and paper gaskets I always use the permatex copper adhesive that comes in the spray cans on one side only, usually the side away from the block. On composite gaskets and head gaskets I never use anything (except on the Opel head gasket, which gets a quick tiny bead around the front.) Works well for me.

[wrench459]

Originally Posted by First opel 1981 What is the general consensus on gasket sealer for paper, cork and rubber gaskets when doing a rebuild?

A tad off subject.. lets play a game.
Lets try and seal all possible oil leak areas.
I'll start it off with..
A small amount of rtv on the keyway of the crank pulley.

[First opel 1981]

Originally Posted by wrench459 A tad off subject.. lets play a game. Lets try and seal all possible oil leak areas. I'll start it off with.. A small amount of rtv on the keyway of the crank pulley.

Hmmm, interesting. Makes sense!

[hrcollinsjr]

Originally Posted by wrench459 A tad off subject.. lets play a game. Lets try and seal all possible oil leak areas. I'll start it off with.. A small amount of rtv on the keyway of the crank pulley.

You've always done this and never had a leak there, right? I've never done this and never noticed a leak there that a new crank seal didn't fix.

Harold