Putting my rebuild water pump back on car, do I put anything on the gasket before mounting or does it just go on dry? Can I use a little "goo" of some sort to hold it in place when mounting it and pump?

 

If you have ever seen someone assemble an engine it's either a gasket, or sealant. Not both.
If you are worried about the gasket sliding you can use a spray tack to hold it in place, but don't use RTV on a gasket surface as it's not needed.

 

x2........

 

X3

 

 

thanks all

 

A procedure I've used successfully for years on most engine components is to use gasket spray to glue the gasket to the part. Then apply the proper RTV to the gasket to block/head interfaces. This servers a couple of purposes. One, it holds the gasket on to the part preventing "walk". Two it makes future removal a breeze as the parts disassemble cleanly requiring almost zero clean up of the block/heads surfaces. If you not reinstalling the same part it reduces the gasket cleanup drastically. Toss the old part repeat for the new. Always allow the spray glue to tack up, same for the RTV, most of the time. Both surfaces must be brake cleaner clean to work properly. Use the RTV sparingly. No leaks 99.98% of the time.

 

A thin smear of multi purpose grease will help keep thin paper gaskets in place, I have done this for many years.
As has been said, rtv silicone is for use instead of gaskets, it will work with a gasket but is unnecessary.
A gasket is simply a medium used between two mating surfaces to prevent leakage from the join. A simple smear of rtv or a very thin gasket might be all you need for a water pump, a purpose made complex construction item for the tough job of sealing a cylinder head to a block face.
If you use rtv use the minimum required for the job, and take care to avoid it oozing into the cooling or lubrication systems.

Roger.

 

Did the same on my water pump for exactly this reason, although I did both sides. The previous owner did this on the block side and as mentioned the block clean-up was very easy.


Have only driven it once since replacing it, so time will tell how I did.

 

I have been asking around and there is also a school of thought of using no other sealant if you have the paper gasket. This **** is confusing. ha ha

 

There really is no right or wrong, just a personal reference. Actually there is a wrong way, it s the one that does not work.

 

Dad always used that stuff .... and then cursed like a sailor when the time came to remove it.

 

Just a learned technique an old time engine builder showed me 30-40 years ago when some of the newer products emerged on the market to replace the old school stuff... I've perfected my assembly techniques from there over the years and have had great success with the method I stated above. Many times I have had to go back into an engine or some other assembly I assembled using this technique and by using the method described it reduced clean up and stress. Many times I am able to reuse the part with the glued gasket. Such as a rocker cover. You can pull a rocker cover off many times if its glued to the cover and not the head. This is handy with a solid lifter engine. I also rarely have had a leaks with this method. I try to avoid grease on cooling systems as petroleum products contaminate the system and can cause problems in various types of cooling systems.
If you do things enough times you learn what works. Its how we evolve.