Inlet Manifold Gasket
Discussion
Hylomar does indeed have it's uses and is not crap. Although it should never be used
as a substitute for a good gasket, or for laziness with regard to cleaning the face surfaces.
On older cars quite a few of the water/air joints involve aluminium/alloy castings. If these are pitted
on the face surface then Hylomar is just the job.
Assuming the surfaces are sound and the gasket is good, then I'm with shoehorn on a just a thin
smear of grease for the inlet manifold.
as a substitute for a good gasket, or for laziness with regard to cleaning the face surfaces.
On older cars quite a few of the water/air joints involve aluminium/alloy castings. If these are pitted
on the face surface then Hylomar is just the job.
Assuming the surfaces are sound and the gasket is good, then I'm with shoehorn on a just a thin
smear of grease for the inlet manifold.
wildoliver said:
I haven't used the stuff for years, when I did I was 17 and like most young lads thought it was too good to be true, I tried a variety of jobs mainly on an A-Series.
Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a £3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
I've since grown to hate the stuff having tried the bodgit approach when I was a lad and realised it didn't work I do jobs properly now, every time I see any sign of gasket goop on an engine straight away you know the previous owner has cut corners, it just doesn't work, it's not necessary if mating faces are clean and parts undamaged and a new gasket is used, it's totally unnecessary, at best it's a waste of money, at worst it can cause damage. If parts are damaged it usually doesn't work either because it's crap at it's job, the time and money is better spent repairing the surface or replacing damaged components and doing the job right first time, because if you don't you will be doing it a couple of weeks later anyway.
For me it belongs with the emergency fanbelts that you cut to size and stick together with a metal spigot, the metal balls you put in the petrol tank to replicate leaded fuel, the vortex generators for carbs and fuel lines, redex, oil treatments, special magical spark plugs and any one of another thousand products designed to part a fool from his money promising an easy cheap solution to a problem that's solvable easily and cheaply anyway but offering a solution that usually ends up expensive and not working.
That shows a complete misuse of the stuff and improper aproach to the problems quoted it is obvious you really havent got the faintest idea of how and when to use it if its good enough for people like Rolls-Royce it's good enough for me the caveat being proper use for the job !!Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a £3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
I've since grown to hate the stuff having tried the bodgit approach when I was a lad and realised it didn't work I do jobs properly now, every time I see any sign of gasket goop on an engine straight away you know the previous owner has cut corners, it just doesn't work, it's not necessary if mating faces are clean and parts undamaged and a new gasket is used, it's totally unnecessary, at best it's a waste of money, at worst it can cause damage. If parts are damaged it usually doesn't work either because it's crap at it's job, the time and money is better spent repairing the surface or replacing damaged components and doing the job right first time, because if you don't you will be doing it a couple of weeks later anyway.
For me it belongs with the emergency fanbelts that you cut to size and stick together with a metal spigot, the metal balls you put in the petrol tank to replicate leaded fuel, the vortex generators for carbs and fuel lines, redex, oil treatments, special magical spark plugs and any one of another thousand products designed to part a fool from his money promising an easy cheap solution to a problem that's solvable easily and cheaply anyway but offering a solution that usually ends up expensive and not working.
Used correctly Hylomar is an excellent sealant, I have used it for the last 30+ years. It is not intended as a gasket replacement, but when used sparingly as a gasket supplement to aid adhesion of the gasket and to help with uneven or pitted surfaces.
I also use it as a liner sealant on the base of liners, it is a workmanlike sealant, but retains a degree of flexibility
Dave
I also use it as a liner sealant on the base of liners, it is a workmanlike sealant, but retains a degree of flexibility
Dave
one eyed mick said:
wildoliver said:
I haven't used the stuff for years, when I did I was 17 and like most young lads thought it was too good to be true, I tried a variety of jobs mainly on an A-Series.
Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a 3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
I've since grown to hate the stuff having tried the bodgit approach when I was a lad and realised it didn't work I do jobs properly now, every time I see any sign of gasket goop on an engine straight away you know the previous owner has cut corners, it just doesn't work, it's not necessary if mating faces are clean and parts undamaged and a new gasket is used, it's totally unnecessary, at best it's a waste of money, at worst it can cause damage. If parts are damaged it usually doesn't work either because it's crap at it's job, the time and money is better spent repairing the surface or replacing damaged components and doing the job right first time, because if you don't you will be doing it a couple of weeks later anyway.
For me it belongs with the emergency fanbelts that you cut to size and stick together with a metal spigot, the metal balls you put in the petrol tank to replicate leaded fuel, the vortex generators for carbs and fuel lines, redex, oil treatments, special magical spark plugs and any one of another thousand products designed to part a fool from his money promising an easy cheap solution to a problem that's solvable easily and cheaply anyway but offering a solution that usually ends up expensive and not working.
That shows a complete misuse of the stuff and improper aproach to the problems quoted it is obvious you really havent got the faintest idea of how and when to use it if its good enough for people like Rolls-Royce it's good enough for me the caveat being proper use for the job !!Rocker box gasket - Too tight to buy a new one (50p) so naturally a 3 tube of hylomar was the way forward, the problem was the old gasket had been over compressed so was now a rock hard oil impregnated brittle ring, apply hylomar liberally, refit. Leaks all over. Buy new gasket. Spend best part of an hour pulling rocker gear and push rods out to get rid of the excess hylomar now floating around the engine. Hateful stuff.
Front timing cover - constantly leaked, new gaskets achieved little, eventually sick of pulling the front of engine off tried Hylomar. Still leaked.
A friend used it on a headgasket. Result one dead engine when the excess blobs of hylomar blocked the crank oil ways.
I've since grown to hate the stuff having tried the bodgit approach when I was a lad and realised it didn't work I do jobs properly now, every time I see any sign of gasket goop on an engine straight away you know the previous owner has cut corners, it just doesn't work, it's not necessary if mating faces are clean and parts undamaged and a new gasket is used, it's totally unnecessary, at best it's a waste of money, at worst it can cause damage. If parts are damaged it usually doesn't work either because it's crap at it's job, the time and money is better spent repairing the surface or replacing damaged components and doing the job right first time, because if you don't you will be doing it a couple of weeks later anyway.
For me it belongs with the emergency fanbelts that you cut to size and stick together with a metal spigot, the metal balls you put in the petrol tank to replicate leaded fuel, the vortex generators for carbs and fuel lines, redex, oil treatments, special magical spark plugs and any one of another thousand products designed to part a fool from his money promising an easy cheap solution to a problem that's solvable easily and cheaply anyway but offering a solution that usually ends up expensive and not working.
I was 17. Yes I misused the stuff, as 99% of buyers do, it's sold as a gasket sealant it's used as a bodging tool, from memory it even used to say on the blue packet it could be used "in place" of a gasket due to the rubbery nature of the stuff, but 17Yrs old was sadly a long time ago.
My point about the product was that most of the time it's totally unnecessary, especially in the OPs case on a manifold gasket, gasket sealant should only ever be used where the manufacturer states it's needed (as written above). Otherwise your using it to mask a problem. And I'm pretty sure that Rolls Royce don't go slathering Hylomar over every single gasket in the car, I'm not saying they don't use it on cars at all but the Rolls Royce connection is mainly aero engine wise and it was developed for sealing screw threads apparently.
wildoliver said:
Before continuing the character assassination can I recommend you read the first line of the post again.
I was 17. Yes I misused the stuff, as 99% of buyers do, it's sold as a gasket sealant it's used as a bodging tool, from memory it even used to say on the blue packet it could be used "in place" of a gasket due to the rubbery nature of the stuff
Blue Hylomar is not 'rubbery' like RTV sealants. It has a sticky, gel-like consistency that never fully sets and is excellent when used as intended.I was 17. Yes I misused the stuff, as 99% of buyers do, it's sold as a gasket sealant it's used as a bodging tool, from memory it even used to say on the blue packet it could be used "in place" of a gasket due to the rubbery nature of the stuff
If I managed to cut myself using a knife when I was 17, would it be sensible for me to regard knives as bodgers tools and to avoid using them?
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