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Intake manifold gasket seal


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I am replacing seals on the intake manifold of my 1992 Loyale with 187000 miles.

 

The surface around the water passage is covered with some stuff that is hard to remove.  What is it?  Is it possible that they leveled the surface at the factory?

 

Do you guys coat the new seal with something?  RTV maybe?

 

 

Sam

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I would use a felpro intake gasket before the OEM lead covered gaskets.  The lead melts to the cylinder head and must be cleaned off.

I’d rather deal with lead than have to deal with the affects of using a cheapo intake mani gasket. From my experience, the aftermarket ones are made of some card board like material and are just plain trash. But I have never had an issue using oem ones.

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GD, when I read that, I thought it sounded off the wall. Couldn't put my finger on it though..... I use an aluminum device to contain melted solder, which is mostly lead, and it operates at 600 to 700 degrees F. Lead does not interact with aluminum even at those temperatures. No way it's going to do anything at the 190 that an ea82 runs at.

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get the mating surfaces smooth and clean

clean the threads of the intake manifold bolts and holes if they're corroded terribly (common). 

use OEM intake manifold gaskets with no additional sealant.  install them dry.

 

clean the threads of the intake manifold bolts and holes if they're corroded terribly (common). 

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Thank you guys!  I have a Fel-Pro gasket so I am willing to try it.  If/when it fails I will let you know.

 

So, nobody knows what kind of stuff is built up around the water passage?  It looks grey to me (keep in mind that I am colorblind!).

 

Regards,

Sam

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On the ones I've done, there hasn't been build up, except for stuck gasket stuff, just discoloration. Sanding with a backer makes the surfaces flat which is important. Pitting would be bad also.

 

The sanding marks should show evenly when the surfaces are flat.

 

I check coolant levels before the first drive each day, and those Fel pro intake gaskets still costed me another head gasket job.

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Thank you guys!  I have a Fel-Pro gasket so I am willing to try it.  If/when it fails I will let you know.

 

So, nobody knows what kind of stuff is built up around the water passage?  It looks grey to me (keep in mind that I am colorblind!).

 

Regards,

Sam

 

probably some fix in a bottle crap someone threw in at some point.

 

Just use sandpaper and a block to clean it up and put hte new ones on.

 

Seriouslty though....get the OE style.  The triangular Fel-pro ones will fail sooner than you think.

Edited by Gloyale
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I would use a felpro intake gasket before the OEM lead covered gaskets.  The lead melts to the cylinder head and must be cleaned off.

 

Yeah, sounds like you've been exposed to a bit too much lead already.

 

Step away from the keyboard, Mal'right........Your advice is bad, M'kay.

Edited by Gloyale
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I made copper intake gaskets ive reused them time and time again and never had one leak i also use copper gasket dressing before i install them the copper makes much better gaskets then paper or what ever they use ive also had good luck with homemade cardboard infused with silicone gaskets on the intake lasted over a year on my intake before i made copper ones they never leaked

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I Think its more about the prep and how the gaskets are installed ive never had any issues with any gasket ive used on the intake i make my own and there far from perfect but seem to work as good as factory so far anyway

Edited by ferp420
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Time is money. I can't make a gasket out of anything for $12. That's a little over 7 minutes of my time. You'll learn this as you get older. Your time may be worthless now, but at some point you will want to get something done without it taking forever. The dealer gaskets are excellent and fairly priced. There just isn't a reason to deviate from them at this time. 

 

GD

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ferp - what thickness copper do you use for your reusable intake gaskets. I wanna try this !

 

I use a sealant around the water passage to prevent seep across to air intake and NEVER had a problem with this addition to Subaru maintenance. I also swear by OEM as the disatsers I have bought and removed non OEM gaskets that do not stand up after time, like they wanna dissolve :(

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ferp - what thickness copper do you use for your reusable intake gaskets. I wanna try this ! :(

let’s see if we can do this free - cut a thin piece of cardboard as a form and then strip some wiring laying around the garage and wrap the cardboard for a free copper gasket?!
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let’s see if we can do this free - cut a thin piece of cardboard as a form and then strip some wiring laying around the garage and wrap the cardboard for a free copper gasket?!

Excellent. Though JB-Weld putty would probably work best. Don't forget to coat it in copper spray. Coat the world in copper sprayz!!!

 

GD

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