Coolant, water pump

[Arro]

Ok so I'm gonna be replacing the water pump on the KA. It came with what looks like a paper-ish gasket. I haven't done a water pump in a long time... should I be throwing some gasket sealer on the gasket or just slapping it on as-is? If gasket sealer, what color?

Also... coolant. What are your opinions? What about something like water wetter? Just looking for some feedback.

And yes, I can pull engines but I can't remember how to fucking prep a water pump gasket. 18 damn units of hell in school, 37 years of life, and not enough beers to make it move by gently lol.

[Colonel Gustard]

Grey RTV is what i use, and i prefer water wetter. My VG ran cooler with water wetter compared to antifreeze. i never trust just the paper gaskets, i always apply at least a thin coat of RTV on both sides of the gasket and have never had a leak

[Jeremy]

Blue rtv is what I use and I agree with Gustard about the water wetter and the thin layer on both sides of the paper gasket, no leaks that i didnt cause myself in the install.

[sideways_s12]

I love water wetter I use it out here and you know the temps out here never once had an overheating issue while usuing it and the temp guage never reached the halfway mark...

[rednucleus]

I always thin coat both sides and use either the blue or the one labeled for water pumps

[Arro]

Water wetter it is then. You just use that with distilled water, right?

[seishuku]

I always laugh a little when someone asks "what color RTV should I use?"

Do KA pumps have a groove in them for sealant, or is it just a flat surface? I can't say I really paid that close attention to it when I had a KA around.

I just used 100% pure silicone, mainly because I was out of RTV.

[Jay]

Water wetter and distilled water. I ALWAYS run 60/40 water coolant for it's anti ionization qualities. But it's a KA, so who cares.

You can use just the paper gasket, or put a small film on each side of the paper gasket, or just use RTV. Each person will swear by one of them and against another. I use a thin film on the gasket to seal up small pores which can create pathways for coolant to leak, easier to put on, still strong, etc.

And Matt, no it does not. Smooth surface.

[Arro]

I bought Permatex's "water pump" RTV because supposedly it has additives to resist the coolant chems and superior water seal, but I know that copper and black would have been fine, too.... but the real reason I bought that was because it was the only one they had in a SMALL tube. I didn't need to pay 8 bux for a tube twice that size when I was going to use only a few dabs of it.

I'm gonna run a thin glaze on either side of the gasket today, gonna go change it in a few. Waiting for it to cool down a bit, it was in the 90's today lol
Post Merge: 09:43:07 PM / 20-Apr-12
Wow. Took literally 45 minutes. That was including me taking a quick phonecall lol. This is why I like a 4-cylinder in an S12. PLENTY of room, no removing the timing cover or other bullshit like more modern FWD engines. Was stupid easy as expected.

[sideways_s12]

Nice and yes distilled water will work