Fwd: <VV> re:engine gaskets

[Tony Underwood]

At 02:00 hours 12/07/2004 -0500, HallGrenn@aol.com wrote:
>I'll second the advice to use silicone gasket sealant sparingly.  A little 
>bit can block an oil passage real quick--and nothing will dissolve it.
Only a 
>teardown (after the bearing has burned up) will get it out.  I went back to 
>Permatex Formagasket after some silicone problems on a water pumper.  A
little 
>bit goes a long, long way.
>



I'm a bit put off about using RTV silicones for anything in an engine for
any reason.    Engine oil will quickly seep under and around the RTV and
loosen the bond to the metal even though the silicone still sticks to the
gasket.     The result is a leak between the RTV-soaked gasket and the
metal, because the RTV will *not* remain stuck to the metal surface if oil
comes in contact with it.   What's more, it usually won't stay stuck to
much of *any* sort of metal anywhere there's any petroleum based liquid to
wet it and any flashed/squished RTV that gets squeezed from between any
gasket and the surface it was to seal will "weep" off and end up where it
doesn't belong.   

There are silicone based gasket sealants which are designed to work in
petroleum environments, but standard "Silicone Seal" RTV ain't one of them.
   ...just my experience...   


tony..