ThermaTec (Thermal Intake Manifold Gasket) up to the job?

[Deisel Weisel]

Looking for a manifold gasket for a Ford Puma 1.7 and being quoted about £60 for oe, but then I found these ThermaTec versions on eBay at half the price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/301866831778

I’m not interested in the thermal properties they claim, more the fact that they're half the price of oe, but are they up to the job?

[E-bmw]

It's made of PTFE according to the blurb.

PTFE - Poly Tetra Flouro Ethylene - Teflon.

So it should be well up to the task being asked of it.

[Deisel Weisel]

Thanks for the heads up.

[Deisel Weisel]

Anyone else with experience of these?

[Mr2Mike]

Yes, they are complete crap but quite popular with a certain demographic of Honda owners who believe they are actually getting the gains that the snake oil pedlars selling them are promoting.

PTFE is a soft material, and because these are invariably a cheap and nasty design stamped out of a sheet of PTFE they have no in built metal spacers to permit the manifold nuts/bolts to be properly torqued without the gasket material 'flowing' around the edges. The result is that after a number of heat cycles the gasket spreads out and the manifold nuts become loose.

Use a conventional gasket, preferably OEM but you shouldn't have problems with a quality aftermarket gasket manufacturer.

[Deisel Weisel]

I'll stay clear then and use a conventional gasket. Thanks Mike.