new water pump--use liquid gasket?

[batever]

Hi,

This is a little late as I already installed my new water pump, but I'm wondering what kind of liquid gasket people have used on their water pump installations, if any. I've never gotten a good explanation of this. Do you put it on the mating surfaces just outside the rubber sealing gasket, but not on the inside? Do you put any on the gasket itself? Do you use none at all?

I installed mine with no liquid gasket, just torqued it onto the cleaned mating surface on the engine.
I will be going back in over the next couple days to adjust the timing belt by one tooth, so I can redo the water pump if necessary.

options:
a) none--just clean the mating surfaces and mount the thing with the new gasket
(this is how I did it but I'm wondering if it's going to seal right.)

b) blue permatex
c) red permatex
d) hondabond

I am guessing that if I go back in I'll need a new rubber gasket because the old one will be deformed from the first installation. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

Thanks.

[CB7lx91]

"The Right Stuff"

When I helped excoupe92 on his we put this on the rubber gasket of the water pump, cleaned the mating surface and bolted her on. The owner of the garage we used and every other respectable tech swears by that stuff.

So far so good

[batever]

"The Right Stuff"

When I helped excoupe92 on his we put this on the rubber gasket of the water pump, cleaned the mating surface and bolted her on.

thanks for your reply.

Ok, what I'm getting is that you used something called "The Right Stuff?" And just put it on the gasket itself? did you just spread a thin layer on or how much?

[bcjammerx]

NEVER EVER EVER EVER just mate two metal surfaces...EVER EVER!!!

Use Room Temperature Vulcanizing sealant (rtv) for water pumps you can use the stuff they normally use on transmissions, don't use the stuff for sealing oil pans etc...you COULD but it'll be like a solid a glue not a gasket...and it's too much for the job.

If you didn't use ANY sealer/gasket (they do make pre-made gaskets) then TAKE IT BACK APART and do it right. or else you'll leak coolant...coolant on a tbelt is bad bad

don't reuse old gaskets...EVER EVER EVER

[cp[mike]]

using the dry new gasket should technically be fine as-is. i always use RTV just to play it safe, you could have used some grey hondabond on it.

[bcjammerx]

NEW gasket is the key word

[totaldoughnut]

Get some permatex aviation sealant. Use that with a new gasket and it WONT leak. The aviation sealant is really good stuff for cooling system applications. Its clean off easy during teardown and wont dry into little strands like silicone does. With silicone if you apply to much it squeezes out and cures on the edge of the gasket. Eventually they break off and end up in the most undesirable places, especially in lube systems. Aviation sealant ftw.

[batever]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.

It is a new water pump with a new gasket in it, so after reading all the posts I think I'm gonna try it as it is, fill the coolant system up with coolant, let it sit overnight, then when I go back in to reset the timing belt I'll see if there's any leaking. I torqued the bolts on the pump meticulously in several stages.

In the future I'll use some liquid gasket compound such as the aviation stuff by permatex or The Right Stuff. I did notice that the regular blue RTV sheds silicone so that I could definitely see that if you aren't careful to apply the right amount (not too much) clots of it could end up in the coolant galleries in the engine, so if I end up using that I'll be careful.

In the future I'll put a little bead on the gasket and spread it as evenly as I can, making sure there's not too much and that it's more to the outside of the pump than the inside before installing.

The Honda manual was confusing in how they described the installation, it just has a diagram of the corner of the water pump that has that little bit of rubber gasket already on it, with an arrow to it, and it says "put liquid gasket dressing on mating surfaces". It wasn't really clear that you put it all over the whole mating surface, and the "mating surface" wasn't defined. As I think about it now, the mating surface could be considered not only to be the metal flange, but the actual gasket groove and gasket itself. So putting a bead on the gasket makes sense.

Thanks again for all your input.

[bcjammerx]

it may not leak as is...it will leak once pressurized


also...ignore the part it tells you about tightening the belt...do it by hand...those springs are for shit

[wed3k]

if you go overboard, the dried silicone will clog the radiator. ive seen it show up in filters and the such.

[d112crzy]

Hondabond is the bomb.

Or if you're on the cheap, use black RTV.

[wed3k]

Hondabond is the bomb.

Or if you're on the cheap, use black RTV.

bombdiggity at 7 bucks a tube. i wonder if mine has dried up yet or not? i hardly use it because it cost so much!

[cp[mike]]

the grey permatex you can get at any parts place is nearly identical to hondabond, and its cheaper

[The G-Man]

the grey permatex you can get at any parts place is nearly identical to hondabond, and its cheaper

I have way too many tubes of that shit.

[wed3k]

I have way too many tubes of that shit.

7 tubes at 11.50 off ebay but it's for work since i owe them supplies and in return, i get to store the project car there