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Head gasket use sealant or not

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M

mechwanabe

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Hello BCF folks:
It appears there are two schools of thought about head gasket sealant.. Spoke with one person at Moss and said "no sealant", spoke with other person on another day and said "yes", they suggest to use Hylomar (Acetone base), a very small bead etc..
Any suggestions?
 
Hello BCF folks:
It appears there are two schools of thought about head gasket sealant.. Spoke with one person at Moss and said "no sealant", spoke with other person on another day and said "yes", they suggest to use Hylomar (Acetone base), a very small bead etc..
Any suggestion

Yep leave the sealant on the shelf and get a good torque wrench
 
I'm a Permatex Spray Copper user myself. May not be needed but I have been using it for 15 years and never had a head gasket leak & it seems like cheap insurance.
 
I've used the Permatex Spray Copper and I don't have the typical water weepage on my 100. Don't know if it really helped but I don't think it hurts. You gotta have a good torque wrench too.

Marv J
 
+1 on the spray. On a really well designed and machined engine of course it isn't necessary but it is good for insurance against those annoying coolant weeps. For my dyno testing I'm working through a wad of 30 year old head gaskets that the PO gave me and only the ones I spray don't leak. They are the steel-shim type.

Don't need to go nuts on it though, otherwise the radiator water is coppery-colourd for the first six months. Just a quick fizz on the gasket and wash the block and head with thinners/brake cleaner etc.

There are some articles online about the persistent 4 cyl coolant leak and how to resolve it using silicone sealant. I'd probably go with that if I had a 4 cyl.

Andy.
 
Hylomar and Wellseal are WW2 Rolls-Royce originated and so rather dated.

I agree that Head Gaskets don't need sealant unless the manufacturer states otherwise or there is a known issue, but would recommend junking old fashioned gasket goo and using Loctite Grey part number 5699. It works miracles and is easily broken on strip down.

Ash
 
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