Inlet Manifold Gasket
Discussion
shoehorn said:
Never put sealant on manifold gaskets,if anything a smear of grease.
Suggest you check for your particular engine, if there are coolant passages that go from the head into the inlet manifold some vehicle manufacturers specify the use of sealant around water ports - Rover V8 springs to mind for one & they specify Hylomarpaintman said:
Suggest you check for your particular engine, if there are coolant passages that go from the head into the inlet manifold some vehicle manufacturers specify the use of sealant around water ports - Rover V8 springs to mind for one & they specify Hylomar
Most vehicle manufacturers have been using rubber rings on inlet manifolds for the inlet ports and the water ports and have been for some time now,if you are having to use sealant and a gasket then the mating surfaces are not clean or your gasket is no good,simple.If its a paper type gasket it should be replaced every time,it takes minutes with a pen and scissors(or small hammer)and a suitable piece of card to make one if you don`t want to or cant get one.
I have a RV8 and have repaired many over the years,the sealant goes at the ends of the rubber valley seals at either end where it meets the little nick where the block and heads joint,not and never on the port face.
And I have never felt the need to put sealant on a soft coated tin gasket on the water ports,defeats the object of the soft coating.
Also I would never use hylomar on anything.
shoehorn said:
If its a paper type gasket it should be replaced every time,it takes minutes with a pen and scissors(or small hammer)and a suitable piece of card to make one if you don`t want to or cant get one.
I have a RV8 and have repaired many over the years,the sealant goes at the ends of the rubber valley seals at either end where it meets the little nick where the block and heads joint,not and never on the port face.
And I have never felt the need to put sealant on a soft coated tin gasket on the water ports,defeats the object of the soft coating.
I couldn't have said it better myself. Paper gaskets get replaced, you won't want to reuse them anyway. Most other gaskets can be reused, and only need to be sealed near sharp edges (where a gasket goes around a sharp bend and crevices.I have a RV8 and have repaired many over the years,the sealant goes at the ends of the rubber valley seals at either end where it meets the little nick where the block and heads joint,not and never on the port face.
And I have never felt the need to put sealant on a soft coated tin gasket on the water ports,defeats the object of the soft coating.
CrutyRammers said:
Yeah I was hoping for something a bit, y'know, more specific.
I haven't used the stuff for years, when I did I was 17 and like most young lads thought it was too good to be true, I tried a variety of jobs mainly on an A-Series.Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a £3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
I've since grown to hate the stuff having tried the bodgit approach when I was a lad and realised it didn't work I do jobs properly now, every time I see any sign of gasket goop on an engine straight away you know the previous owner has cut corners, it just doesn't work, it's not necessary if mating faces are clean and parts undamaged and a new gasket is used, it's totally unnecessary, at best it's a waste of money, at worst it can cause damage. If parts are damaged it usually doesn't work either because it's crap at it's job, the time and money is better spent repairing the surface or replacing damaged components and doing the job right first time, because if you don't you will be doing it a couple of weeks later anyway.
For me it belongs with the emergency fanbelts that you cut to size and stick together with a metal spigot, the metal balls you put in the petrol tank to replicate leaded fuel, the vortex generators for carbs and fuel lines, redex, oil treatments, special magical spark plugs and any one of another thousand products designed to part a fool from his money promising an easy cheap solution to a problem that's solvable easily and cheaply anyway but offering a solution that usually ends up expensive and not working.
^^^ And there you have it.
The most common mistake with any sealant no matter what make it is. Slather it all over & use excessive amounts & it will likely cause you problems. Especially rtv or silicone as that squeezed out inside the joint can break away & you have a piece of plastic string floating around the engine.
Generally, trying to re-use old gaskets is a mistake & a false economy. Unless you particularly enjoy taking the same engine to bits again. The exception would be as a temporary repair if a new one is not immediately available - or solid copper headgaskets as used on old British bikes (incl my own)which can be annealed & reused. I've lost count of the number of paper gaskets I've made from either proper gasket paper or in my younger days from cereal boxes
I had a feeling your answer was going to be Wellseal - very good it is too.
The most common mistake with any sealant no matter what make it is. Slather it all over & use excessive amounts & it will likely cause you problems. Especially rtv or silicone as that squeezed out inside the joint can break away & you have a piece of plastic string floating around the engine.
Generally, trying to re-use old gaskets is a mistake & a false economy. Unless you particularly enjoy taking the same engine to bits again. The exception would be as a temporary repair if a new one is not immediately available - or solid copper headgaskets as used on old British bikes (incl my own)which can be annealed & reused. I've lost count of the number of paper gaskets I've made from either proper gasket paper or in my younger days from cereal boxes
I had a feeling your answer was going to be Wellseal - very good it is too.
wildoliver said:
I haven't used the stuff for years, when I did I was 17 and like most young lads thought it was too good to be true, I tried a variety of jobs mainly on an A-Series.
Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a £3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
Yeah, but that's all examples of using it wrong though. You're not supposed to put it on head gaskets, nor is the blue stuff (from memory) supposed to be a sealant on its own (red for that I think, quite different stuff).Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a £3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
Only ask as I've used it in the past on home made (cereal packet) gaskets with no problems. Though I've used RTV silicone in place of a couple of hard-to-find gaskets more recently as it just seems easier to use.
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