[tengineer]

Hello,
I just replaced the HG in my 1986 pickup. When I filled the coolant, it began leaking out around the bottom bolt on the passenger side of the rear plate of the head. This is the plate the covers the head coolant gallery and ducts the exhaust from the exhaust to the intake.

After looking closer, I found I did not clean the old gasket off the plate. It was very thin and looked like I had cleaned it. Unfortunately, there was a void that provided a path from the coolant area to the bolt hole that leaked. The replacement gasket from my FelPro kit is a graphite gasket and it is a very little deformed from being installed once. I did not use gasket sealer the first time because it was a graphite gasket.

My questions are:
1. Can I reuse the old gasket?
2. Should I use gasket sealer with the removed gasket? And if so, what kind of gasket sealer works best with graphite?

I have Permatex Ultra Copper RTV that looks like the best choice for temperature. I also have a can of Permatex copper paint on sealer that might be too old to use.

Thanks for any response.
Ted
PS. I replied to a similar thread but I don't think anyone is watching it anymore.

 

[bluebelle]

I would say as long as the surfaces are clean and perfectly dry, your copper high-temp rtv sealer would work just fine, and you could re-use the graphite gasket without a problem. Hope this helps.

 

[84prerunner]

the best sealer i have found for situations like this is not a silicone. it comes it a little metal bottle, its called copper coat. i would try to find some and use that with the old gasket.
side note: this stuff works by far the best out of anything on exhaust manifolds/headers.