bisimoto heat shielding gasket problems

[DunKrS]

I installed my bisimoto heat shielding intake gasket a few days ago with my h23/a6 manifold. But it gushed all of the coolant I poured in out from the gasket where the coolant port in the head and intake are. I read all over before installing so I wouldn't run into any surprises like this and not one mention of leaks. I read a post by one of the guys from bisimoto on this forum say to use some rtv around the port. I removed the manifold, used some rtv, and put it back on. It still weeps a little. Has anyone else had this issue? I'm familiar with scraping gaskets and getting surfaces clean and both the intake and head were spotless, flat, and dry. Talk about frusteating. Any experience with this?

[DunKrS]

Nobody eh? I'm at a loss. I don't wanna remove my bisi gasket but coolant leaks are a no no. =/

[Raf99]

I can't relate as I don't have one, but I'm willing to try and help. From reading prior posts/threads on this unit everyone has good things to say but they did note the following:

- make sure to use RTV around the coolant passage holes
- some report the bolts backing off, is this happening to you?
- one user reported he used longer threads as well

I'm thinking with this gasket and RTV you shouldn't see any issues at all. What were your torquing the bolts to?

[sonikaccord]

I have had mine on for almost a year. I haven't notice anything like that. Maybe I should go check my bolts again...

[Tishock]

The only time I ever had one of these gaskets leak was when I really over heated the engine so much that the gasket melted (see pic below). I've also installed them with and without RTV. Both times there were no leaks, but I feel safer using RTV.

As for the nuts, after installing the gasket and torquing it down to spec. You should warm up the engine, allow it to cool down and torque the nuts down again. Or you can use a heat gun to warm up the gasket. The gasket will soften and flatten out a little as it heats up which could cause leaks. Then recheck it after a few hundred miles to be safe. Lastly make sure not to torque the nuts down too much as to cause the gasket to bulge out. I've taken off IM with thermal gaskets and was able to remove the nuts by hand because the nuts weren't re-torqued after the engine was warmed up.

[Granite CB7]

^good info. When I installed my bisimoto IM gasket, I only torqued the bolts once and I did use RTV around the coolant port. Afew months later while doing an oil change I noticed a drop of coolant below the port. I re-torqued the nuts and it was never an issue again. What Tishock said makes sense, I was glad that I got lucky and didn't have to RTV the gasket again!

That is very strange that the coolant pours out immediately, that is a huge gap or crack somewhere.

[DunKrS]

Thanks for the replies! You guys are all super helpful! I will recheck the torque very soon because when I first put it together I was worried about overtightening but there are bolts you can't get a torque wrench to back there so I kinda winged it. it didn't leak at first once I applied the rtv but I have not rechecked the torque. Lately I haven't been doing much driving but I'll pull it in the shop and check it and see if that fixes the leak. it's barely a drop every couple minutes, but any coolant loss is a bad thing in my opinion.