Water Pump Gasket Sealer - Need Recommendation

[SCFFR]

With less than 15 minutes on my engine, I noticed a small puddle of coolant on the garage floor under the front of the engine. After crawling under the car, I could see some green coolant forming drops at the bottom of the water pump. Needless to say, I was very irritated and disappointed since I had taken so much care when I had installed the pump months ago. With the separate plate and two gaskets, I knew the Ford water pump had a tendency to leak more than others.

I called my friend at NAPA and ordered two new gaskets and spent last evening removing the pump and cleaning the old gasket and sealer off the timing cover and pump. I had originally used black RTV but after a little forum research, I read that in some cases, the silicone might skim over during the time you are putting the plate on and installing the pump and might not seal properly. Makes sense since I know that it doesn't take long for the very top surface of exposed RTV to start to set.

Obviously, I only want to install this new Ford water pump one more time. Any suggestions as to how to prevent another leak? Any recommendation on sealer other than RTV? I did read where someone had used Permatex anaerobic sealer and had good results since it only starts to set up when it is not exposed to air.

Would appreciate any information/tips/feedback.

Thanks,

Ron

[xatudor]

Ron,
I've used the permatex before with good results. The last 2 motor rebuilds I did recently I used a Loctite product 515 it comes in a red soft tube (like a toothpaste tube but bigger) I think its called Gasket eliminator and had no problems even when putting the timing cover and water pump on at the same time (351 Cleveland), clean up is easy as the majority of it will wipe off with a clean rag. It doesn't set until assembled. The only place i didn't use it was the exhaust gaskets. Just a word of warning though if the surfaces are not clean it may still leak, I usually scrap everything then wipe clean with either acetone or CRC Electra-Clean.
Hope that helps

[Gumball]

Permatex black gooey "form-a-gasket" stuff here. Seems to have worked well. I also, as a matter of course, always put a couple of crushed GM seal-tabs into the system when running in a new motor.

[SCFFR]

Thanks guys.

I found the Permatex anaerobic sealer this morning so bought a tube of it. Turns out that is the least of my problems. I can't find the correct gaskets for the Ford M-8501-G351 water pump (standard rotation) I'm using. I had gone to the NAPA website and looked at the gaskets for a pre 96 5.8L engine (Econoline van or Explorer) which my friend ordered for me but when we matched them to the ones that came with the pump, they weren't exactly the same. We looked at all of the gaskets they had listed for 5.8L engines and none looked right.

Will post another thread to see if someone has some part numbers I can reference.

Ron

[SCFFR]

I had posted a thread this morning looking for recommendations on gasket sealer since I had discovered a leak in my water pump after about 15 minutes of running my new engine. Had my friend at NAPA order what I thought was the right gaskets for a pre 1994 Ford 5.8L engine (mine is a 351W based 410) and using the Ford M-8501-G351 water pump (standard rotation). Neither of the gaskets fit. The plate to pump had the holes in the right location but the channels were wrong and the holes in the pump to cover gaskets were way off. We looked at all of the water pump gaskets for 351W engines but none looked right.

Just wondering if anyone else is using the water pump and have replaced the gaskets? Would appreciate some part numbers if you have them.

Thanks,

Ron

Sorry - this was supposed to be a new post. Not sure how I posted it here.

[frankeeski]

Follow this link and check out post #12. I go into some detail on the proper way to install the gaskets on the water pump and common mistakes guy often make. Check it out.
http://thefactoryfiveforum.com/showthread.php?5856-New-Bullet!&highlight=frankeeski+bullet

[68GT500MAN]

Are you sure it was the gaskets leaking and not coolant coming from the weep hole due to a bad seal?
Just my 2 cents worth,
Doug

[SCFFR]

Doug,

I'm sure that is a possibility but are you talking about the hole in the pump housing under the shaft or the weep hole in the bottom of the timing cover? I guess since the water pump was brand new, I assumed I didn't do a perfect job of applying sealant or the paper gaskets that came with the pump were defective. However, I guess I will find out when I install it again. The leak was coming from the bottom of the pump where the weep hole is located in the timing cover which would mean the pump plate was not properly sealed to the timing cover.

As it turns out, the type of sealant is less of an issue now. After my friend who works at NAPA couldn't find the right gaskets, I went to the Ford Racing website looking for gaskets but didn't see any listed. I did find a phone number for the Ford Racing tech line so called (twice). The first tech guy told me the standard rotation pump listed in the catalog is the same as the one on the 1983-1985 Crown Victoria and just get those gaskets. I looked at the gaskets online and the plate to pump gasket certainly didn't look like the one that came with the pump. I called back and got another tech. I asked him if he had a number for the two gaskets that came with the pump. I heard some pages flip in a book and he gave me one number. When I asked for the other he said he didn't have anything else.
Regardless, I had my friend at NAPA order the two gaskets for the Crown Vic and will see what they look like in person. Plan B is to install the pump with no gaskets and just use something like Permatex Right Stuff. Turning out to be a real pain.

Frank - thanks for the link. As it turns out, this is exactly how I had installed the water pump the first time so I was really surprised and disappointed to see it leaking. The gaskets were definitely stuck very well to the plate, pump and timing cover.

Ron