I’m not normally much of a mechanic but decided to replace my own water pump. I read lots of opinions on wether or not to use gasket sealer and wether to use it on one or both sides and about all the name brands, best to use ones, etc.. I went with whatever autozone or advance gave me that they had hanging up at the counter. Blue RTV sealant.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
I flushed the system before removing the old one. I cleaned all the old gasket off the engine and got it nice and shiny and smooth. I decided to put the sealant on just the water pump side. It probably took me over an hour from the time I started applying it until the time I started putting bolts in the pump. Not because it takes that long, but because kids and wife are constant distractions while trying to work. It says it dries in an hour and cures in 24 hours. I hand tightened the bolts around sunset last night. Shortly after sunrise this morning, I took a ratchet and grabbed the base of the ratchet (so I wouldn’t put too much torque on them) and made sure they were all at least hand tight. I bought a torque wrench yesterday, I will try to calibrate it, or at least test it with some weights today. Back to the sealant, I put it on as thin as I could figure out how to but it doesn’t come out thin. I tried to clean up all extra and I think I did okay. It’s mostly between the two fins of the gasket. You know how the pump side has 2 fins or ribs or ??? I have no idea what it’d be called. Anyways, that’s where I put the sealant. I tried squeezing the gasket in my hand to squeeze out all excess sealant and wiped off the excess.
My questions:
1) Should I remove the water pump before torquing down to make sure none oozed out? I’d hate for any to come out but it’s a lot of work to get this far just to take it back off.
2) if it dried (1 hour) before installing, is that a problem?
3) do I need to wait 24 hours before torquing or overnight is enough?
4) Any and all other advice or tips are appreciated.
The picture of the blue sealant on the gasket is before I completely finished cleaning it up. I thought I had a picture of it all cleaned up but I guess I don’t. The other picture is just to show that no blue sealant cane out when I oressed the gasket into place.
Thanks.
Here’s what I’ve done so far:
I flushed the system before removing the old one. I cleaned all the old gasket off the engine and got it nice and shiny and smooth. I decided to put the sealant on just the water pump side. It probably took me over an hour from the time I started applying it until the time I started putting bolts in the pump. Not because it takes that long, but because kids and wife are constant distractions while trying to work. It says it dries in an hour and cures in 24 hours. I hand tightened the bolts around sunset last night. Shortly after sunrise this morning, I took a ratchet and grabbed the base of the ratchet (so I wouldn’t put too much torque on them) and made sure they were all at least hand tight. I bought a torque wrench yesterday, I will try to calibrate it, or at least test it with some weights today. Back to the sealant, I put it on as thin as I could figure out how to but it doesn’t come out thin. I tried to clean up all extra and I think I did okay. It’s mostly between the two fins of the gasket. You know how the pump side has 2 fins or ribs or ??? I have no idea what it’d be called. Anyways, that’s where I put the sealant. I tried squeezing the gasket in my hand to squeeze out all excess sealant and wiped off the excess.
My questions:
1) Should I remove the water pump before torquing down to make sure none oozed out? I’d hate for any to come out but it’s a lot of work to get this far just to take it back off.
2) if it dried (1 hour) before installing, is that a problem?
3) do I need to wait 24 hours before torquing or overnight is enough?
4) Any and all other advice or tips are appreciated.
The picture of the blue sealant on the gasket is before I completely finished cleaning it up. I thought I had a picture of it all cleaned up but I guess I don’t. The other picture is just to show that no blue sealant cane out when I oressed the gasket into place.
Thanks.
