VCCA Home Forums TECHNICAL - 1945 AND EARLIER 1929-1932 DIFFERENT SEALANTS

WITH SO MANY GUYS ON THE VCCA CHAT SITE. A QUESTION I HAVE IS, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE GOOD SEALANTS THAT IS USED ON, SAY PUTTING ON THE OIL PAN GASKETS AND VALVE COVER GASKETS TO SEAL THEM SO THE OIL IS STOPPED FROM LEAKING? ALSO THE GASKET ON THE REAR END AND OTHER GASKETS ON THE CAR. :) :) :) :)

Chevy - what I do to all my cork gaskets is to get high temp silcone gasket maker and put a THIN layer on one side of the cork gasket and let it dry overnight. Then I flip the gasket over and put another THIN layer of silicone on the other side and let it dry overnight. Then I install the gasket. Haven't had one leak yet on any of my cars. VW diesels are notorious for cork gasket leaking after a while - this method eliminates the problem entirely - and prevents another problem.
When people put silicone on the cork and apply the gasket wet - the silicone squishes up on the inside of the valve cover or oil pan and then hardens. The hardened pieces then slowly break off and get caught in the oil sump screen on newer cars and float around in the splash system engines like ours. Then they sometimes get into the lifters or other places and prevent proper lubrication. This, of course, happens over time, so problems are not immediately seen. I had one VW Diesel that had a wierd oil pressure problem - good oil pressure at idle and LESS oil pressure at revs. The reverse of what is expected for a bad oil pump. Problem was too much wet silicone was put on a leaking cork gasket and it squished up on the inside of the valve cover and enough pieces broke off to plug 70% of the oil sump screen which allowed enough oil to pass through for good pressure at idle , but prevented enough oil from getting through at higher RPM to provide enough oil to keep the pressure up.
By applying the silicone and letting it cure first - this possible problem is completely eliminated.
Hope this helps

thanks moedip for the advice, what you do sounds great and I will try it when I put the pan back on. :) :) :) :)

Don, RTV Black is a wonderfull thing. It seals, it makes up gaps, and it looks good. Any auto parts store will have. :p :p :p

I put a thin layer of the black rtv on the rear end inspection cover , behind the cork gasket, mounted it not snug, then the next day I snugged it up, it looks Ok and don't leak (yet, knock on wood)even though there was some nicks where a ring gear came apart some time ago and banged up the inspection cover on the inside.