Would any of you old Silverado hands mind helping out a newbie with a coupe of questions. I have a 2003 Chevy Silverado 4.3 Liter with 95,000 miles on it. I am on my second water pump replacement, this seems excessive to me, am I wrong? The first time the water pump died I had a auto shop do the work, this go around I am doing it myself. I am about to bolt on my new Bosch water pump and noticed on the box it says to use gasket sealer with the gaskets. What would be the best sealant to use in this situation? Any other advise is welcome!

Thanks.

 

Welcome to the forum. In general I used to use a dab of blue RTV silicone just to hold the gasket in place but I've seen others use it excessively (with the stuff oozing out, you effectively end up with two gasket layers). Be sure to coat the mounting bolt threads with Permatex thread sealant or something. Otherwise, coolant may weep out around the bolts.

 

Thanks! I ended up doing the excessive thing : )

 

You're quite welcome and thanks for the update.