Cylinder Head to coolant pipe gasket material

[Walter]

I needed to fix a blown gasket on my Nissan Altima. In the process I needed to remove a coolant pipe from the head. There was a gray rubbery material that was the original gasket material. Can I use Permatex Ultra Blue RTV silicone gasket maker for the new gasket, or do I need something for higher temperatures? Also, when I removed the intake manifold there was a hollow rail that connected ports in each intake to each other. There was some type of paper gasket between this rail and the intake manifold. I have been unable to order a specific gasket for this connection. Can I make a gasket from a rubber-fiber sheet of gasket material I purchased from NAPA. I was not shure about the applicability of these two gasket materials for the purposes described.

Thanks for any guidance.

Topic

[619DioFan]

for the coolant pipe use the permatex waterpump / thermostat housing sealant. it is designed to stand up to the coolant. for the other you can make your own gasket out of high quality gasket material.

[Walter]

Thanks so much for the advice!

[Trent “Teddy” Martin]

The best sealant I’ve found which you can use on everything except headgaskets (you shouldn’t use any sealant on head gaskets) and fuel systems is Permatex The Right Stuff. It’s great and you can use on coolant, oil, auto trans fluid and gearbox/diff oil. My favourite to use on just oil and coolant though is Toyota Black. It may be expensive but once you seal something with it you wont have to worry about leaks for a looooooong time haha and as for the gasket between the intake and the lines get a VRS kit instead of just a head gasket you’ll get everything you’ll ever need. 😀

[EricTheCarGuy]

Personally, not a fan of ‘goop’. But if you have to do it, you have to do it. But I’ll say ‘I told you so’ if you have to go back in there to get it apart again. Anytime you use sealant like that and have to remove the part, you need to go back in and completely clean everything and start from scratch. If you’re OK with that, go for it. With the proper gasket, you just reuse it, or replace it and you’re done.

[Trent “Teddy” Martin]

A lot of newer Toyotas and Nissans use there own branded sealants and are usually pretty easy to remove. 🙂

[Bill]

I would try to get the correct gaskets but if you can’t find them then “Right Stuff” is the best alternative. If it is applied correctly it will never leak.

[Author]

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