Water pump gasket

[jamie4ltr]

Changing my water pump today. The haynes book says to put RTV on both sides of the gasket. I bought a FEL-PRO gasket that has a line of red RTV on one side already. My question is: should I put RTV on the other side, both sides or not at all? I checked FEL-PRO's website but of course there is no listing for my part#!

 

[exbass94]

I've had the best luck using Permatex #2 "Form-a-Gasket." Spread an extremely thin layer (just a coating) on both sides of the gasket. Install water pump immediately and torque the bolts down. Permatex says to then let it set up for about 4 hours before refilling the coolant.

 

[jamie4ltr]

I've heard lots of people talk about that Permatex stuff on here. I don't have any. I was curious about the gasket I bought, if it was designed to be used with any RTV or not!

 

[nitrofan1]

Since it's a "paper" gasket put the permatex on the pump side. Make sure the block side it clean of dirt & debris. I did this about 10 years ago on the Splash and it's never leaked.

You can use it on both sides but if you keep the truck and down the road you have to do another water pump it makes it a lot easier to remove the pump from the block without permatex on that side of the gasket.