I’m preparing to change my water pump. In the past - when working on 80’s/90’s cars, I always clean the mating surfaces then apply a thin coat of Permatex RightStuff to both mating surfaces and both sides of the gasket. Is this still a good practice? Will it hurt anything?

 

The service manual specifically states:

- do NOT use sealing compounds as they can dislodge and ruin your engine.
- Just use a NEW, proper gasket.

 

I just replaced my water pump on my 2006- 2500 and the paper gasket got all kapakai and after I put it all back together and started it the thing was still leaking so I look and the gasket was a mess!! I went to auto store and got new ones and they were made of metal with rubber around the port edges. I gor it all back together and all is good. I did use the gasket goo on both sides of the gasket. Just a small amount.

 

Gotcha, thank you.

 

The the manual for what year motor are you talking about a 2006 4.8 . Water pump I took off only had a silicone out of a tube gasket on it. If silicone ruins a motor 😳

 

I have a 2013 6.0l. I always used a very thin coating of liquid gasket (Permatex RightStuff) on water pump mating surfaces and gaskets in the past but these were much older cars (80’s). I never used enough that any of it could dislodge as it was only a thin coat. If I’m not supposed to use it I won’t, I was just double checking.

 

Well well I guess the product that's made for that now destroys the motor 🤔 motors just aren't what they used to be I tell you what ⚰️

 

2005 service manual.

Procedures evolve as we find better ways of doing things. Do you still change your oil every 3,000 mi?

Differential covers now use reusable rubber gaskets instead of silicone, which I'm thrilled about, because removing the old stuff was such a pain in the dick and it always seeped anyway.

 

I love the product improvements, a lot of things are getting better. I’m happy to not spend 45 minutes scraping off old gasket with a razor blade.

 

No they aren't. Manufacturing techniques have improved to allow tighter tolerances and greater efficiencies. Older cars required much more maintenance, so good riddance.

We learn from past mistakes, and it can take time to find sources of problems we used to have. So maybe bits of silicone floating around your engine was harming your old car, but you just didn't realize it until now.