Engine gaskets Vs Silicon
Discussion
Have removed my 4.5 engine for various reasons but one being engine oil leaks from various places.
Has anyone ever made up there own gaskets instead of using silicon. That stuff seems to get everywhere and its horrible.
It would not be too hard to at least make up a sump, timimg chain cover and cam cover gaskets from some high spec gasket material, or is this just a bad idea?
Has anyone ever made up there own gaskets instead of using silicon. That stuff seems to get everywhere and its horrible.
It would not be too hard to at least make up a sump, timimg chain cover and cam cover gaskets from some high spec gasket material, or is this just a bad idea?
The way I see it, silicon is far better at being flexible and adapting to the slight differences in thickness that are needed to form an effective gasket/seal.
Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
jammy_basturd said:
The way I see it, silicon is far better at being flexible and adapting to the slight differences in thickness that are needed to form an effective gasket/seal.
Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
so why does virtually every major car manufacturer use gaskets and not silicon?Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
I think TVR just wouldn't fork out the money to do it properley
Good point. The only reason I can think of is that the quality of the castings TVR used aren't amazing. By accepting a slightly less accurate casting quality they lowered the price of the casting, but the trade off was the need to use a silicon gasket. Pure guess work though!
Edited by jammy_basturd on Friday 22 October 21:32
Past experience with other engines suggests that silicone works a hell of a lot better than most gaskets. Cork gaskets always leak, paper gaskets tear and have to be scraped off, rubber gaskets are good initially but compress over time. Hylomar blue or good old rtv work best. But don't put any more than a thin smear on, or the next time you see it it'll be blocking the oilways in your cams...
The Tuscan race engines leaked oil like sieves. The problem is the front cover is sealed with silicone, but this then gets disturbed when you install the engine mounts through the front cover. It wasn't unusual to see tampons stuck to the underside of the engines. Would have been fine were it not for the need to take the bolts out of the cover...
a1rak said:
jammy_basturd said:
The way I see it, silicon is far better at being flexible and adapting to the slight differences in thickness that are needed to form an effective gasket/seal.
Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
so why does virtually every major car manufacturer use gaskets and not silicon?Composite/paper gaskets are just as hard, if not harder, to clean off the mating surfaces, plus with silicon you can just wipe off any excess leaving a nice clean join.
I think TVR just wouldn't fork out the money to do it properley
IMO
1. Race teams use it because its fast easy to apply and only needs to last a short period of time. Gaskets are not ideal if you are going to be regularly stripping an engine down.
2. If Silicon was more effecient in the long term then car manufacturers would very quickly and easily find a method of automatically applying silicon. They can build a car with robots so they could certainly apply a bead of silicon.
3. Most TVR AJP seem to leak oil after a period of time from somewhere. Not much of a advert for siiicon either. All my modern run arounds dont leak oil
Still think like lots of little things on these cars TVR just couldn't be arsed to finish the job properly.
(still love the cars though).
1. Race teams use it because its fast easy to apply and only needs to last a short period of time. Gaskets are not ideal if you are going to be regularly stripping an engine down.
2. If Silicon was more effecient in the long term then car manufacturers would very quickly and easily find a method of automatically applying silicon. They can build a car with robots so they could certainly apply a bead of silicon.
3. Most TVR AJP seem to leak oil after a period of time from somewhere. Not much of a advert for siiicon either. All my modern run arounds dont leak oil
Still think like lots of little things on these cars TVR just couldn't be arsed to finish the job properly.
(still love the cars though).
Gaskets are used in the motor trade so that any old person can change components. Also, sometimes the gasket will have specific job to do, insulate inlet manifolds, allow for distortion in exhaust gaskets etc.
Sealant applications can work just as well but as stated you have to be VERY precise with where and how much you apply. Also, silicon based sealants, when not cured properly before running can induce horrific levels of aeration in oil circuits and can kill catalysts.
There's nothing 'wrong' with using sealants for joints and it saves developing costly gaskets and analysing the clamp loads to ensure adequate sealing.
Sealant applications can work just as well but as stated you have to be VERY precise with where and how much you apply. Also, silicon based sealants, when not cured properly before running can induce horrific levels of aeration in oil circuits and can kill catalysts.
There's nothing 'wrong' with using sealants for joints and it saves developing costly gaskets and analysing the clamp loads to ensure adequate sealing.
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