Trans and Engine pan gaskets

I have pulled studs and scraped gaskets off once. Never again! There are two ways to do a removeable gasket down on the bottom of the engine. Neither one is guaranteed to not leak or give you a reuseable gasket. But they come close. First you need a thick gasket. 0.020" is a minimum. Paper thin gaskets must have a sealant. The gaskets I get from GT Car Parts in Phoenix are fine.

The first way is to just use wheel bearing grease. Get a gob in your hand and rub it into both sides of the gasket. When everything is clean, washers and nuts are right there, a helper is available, put the gasket on the studs. The grease will hold it for a minute. Put on the cover and put washers and nuts on the 4 corners. Finger tight with a nut driver. Add the rest of the washers and nuts, same tightness. Go around the cover with a torque wrench staggering the tightening the way you would do on a head. Come back in a couple of hours and torque again. Might have to tighten in a couple of years but pretty good.

Other technique is to use red high temp silicone. Again, set up to work quickly. You will only have a couple of minutes to get the cover on. Run a small bead of silicone along the outside half of both sides of the gasket. Smooth out the bead with your fingers leaving a thin coating on both sides, very thin towards the inside. Put the gasket on the engine, put on the cover and add washers and nuts as above. You will only have a minute or so before the silicone starts to skin over. Torque once and leave it alone. Won't leak and can be removed with a razor blade.

I have the grease on my transmission cover and silicone on the engine oil cover. A few drips but acceptable. And the transmission cover has been off a couple of times with the same gasket. Maybe 10,000 miles now. Will do!
John

 

Sorry John, I can't support either method. I have customers that go wild over a "few drips".

Grease on a gasket is strictly "old school" and is a virtually guaranteed leak.

This is likewise my experience with red silicone. Not suitable for oil pan gaskets, it breaks down on exposure to hot oil. I just replaced two leaking gaskets on a Diablo engine that someone installed with red silicone.

I have 2 favorite methods that if you are careful (and a bit lucky) can be leak free.

Both require the surfaces to be 100% clean of any oil and residual sealant (can be tricky under the car). I use Carb Cleaner, small wire brushes, razor blades, ScotchBrite pads, more Carb Cleaner.

The first method is to put a thin coat of HondaBond on both sides of a paper gasket (or one side of the gasket that faces the block and on the pan surface that faces the uncoated gasket surface). New nylock nuts and Stat-O-Seal washers are good insurance against oil wicking down the threads. I always try to allow this combination to dry completely before adding any oil or putting the car in service, several days if possible.

The second method is to omit the gasket and use an anerobic sealant like Loctite 518 metal to metal. Some places require the gasket's thickness so this won't work. This stuff is amazing, it dries where you want it to be dry and wipes or rinses off the exposed surfaces.

Both methods require effort to disassemble but to me that's not a problem. I don't plan to be taking it apart again soon (unless it's still leaking).

 

Agree totally.

Silicone in a submerged application is a sure leak. 518 also works quite well on gasketed or gasketless applications.

If we do the job right I will be retired before removal is an issue and even when it is 518 is not that hard to remove.

 

Points taken guys. Pros would probably not use my techniques. I am a do it yourselfer and I assume that utah4re is too. I put my disclaimer up front and talked about my own personal experience. I have used everything from Permatex to Mercedes green anaerobic sealant in past engine work. Both of those will seal but are a pain to remove. The green is great around the heads where you want no leaks. The pans are another story. I have found GE Red Silicone to be more reliable than grease but not much. Block was sealed to pan with gasket and red from 1986 to 2004 and was still fine. Done before I bought the car. I put 130,000 miles on things before rebuild so it saw plenty of hot oil.
I am from the old school. If an old Ferrari is not leaking, it is out of oil. I can live with that. Sorry.
John

 

I know... 15 years later and products may have changed... But when referring to Hondabond you are obviously referring to Hondabond 4 (that Semi drying stuff) and NOT Hondabond HT (silicone based), right?

https://www.hondashop.com.au/product/motorcycle-oils-and-chemicals/hondabond-4/

 

Is it really nearly 14 years since the much loved John departed this world!
Jeez......

 

Actually, I was referring to Hondabond HT. It works well as a gasket dressing, even in an oil environment. I haven't used Hondabond 4, but from the description it sounds like Hylomar. I would only use that on things like water pump gaskets.

 

Thanks, Tim! I thought that silicone based sealants in an oil and/or gasoline environment can expand and shrink and therefore can create leaks.
As Brian ( @Rifledriver ) refers in some threads to Hondabond 4 it seems that both sealants HT / 4 work for a valve cover and gear/oil pan environment?!

Best regards
Michel