Intake Manifold Gasket

I'm in the process of replacing my intake manifold gasket on my 1998

4.3 S-10 Blazer, mine was leaking, which by the looks of it is a pretty common problem with these motors. I bought the gaskets yesterday from NAPA, I beleive they are a Victor brand or something like that. Has anyone used these type of gaskets before? They have a type of silicone or something like that built right into the gasket material. Should I still put a thin bead of RTV down before? The guy at NAPA recommened the copper spray type sealant which I kind of steered away from.

Any thoughts you guys have would be gretly apprciated. Thanks

Reply to
dberre
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The Victor gaskets are at least as good as the OEM GM ones, Fel-Pro has a new series of gaskets out now that is supposed to address the weak points of this particular engineering screw up, so they probably would have been a better choice over Victor.

Do not put any sealer around any of the ports or on the gaskets themselves, just run a bead across the ends of the block (front and back) and run it up the cylinder head about 1/4 inch, place the gaskets in place and then put a dab of silicone sealer at the bottom corner to cover any gaps where the heads/gaskets/block meet. if the gaskets didn't come with a tube of RTV for the ends of the block (they did for a while), I'd recommend a brand called "The Right Stuff," NAPA should have it on the shelf.

Their recommendation for using Copper spray gasket shellac is absurd, those gaskets need to move as the engine heats and cools, gluing them down will cause them to fail in very short order.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

Thanks very much for the reply. I did hear from someone or someplace that Fel-Pro made a better gasket then the OEM. I am tempted to bring these Victor gaskest back and try the Fel-Pro brand. Just for my peace of mind anyway, this is not a job I would want to do again.

Years ago I had a Plymouth Minvan with the Mitsubishi engine which was prone to blowing head gaskets. The mechanic I had do the job used that copper spray junk, needless to say the head gasket did indeed blow again. The mechanic I hired to do the job the second time thought the same as you, that he never should have used that spray. So that's the whole line of thinking I was going through, it did not sound right.

Thanks much, have great day!

Reply to
dberre

Hedder gaskets expand and contract..... as i was very use to replacing mine until i shelled out the big bucks for "Percy's" dead soft Aluminum gaskets. Explain how a intake gasket "moves" for me please....? never mind........

Reply to
Mad Dog

That's nice, however, the OP is working on the other side of the cylinder head.

Um... ...okay.

The cylinder head expands and contracts at a different rate than the intake manifold, there is a 'shearing' action at play. Chevy V engines have been doing this for a very long time, the plastic backbone gaskets used on the OPs vehicle (and many other GM engines) are very prone towards the gasket tearing apart after a number of heating/cooling cycles, although it is much more popular/fashionable to blame the type of coolant that GM uses.

Of course, that's why you posted, innit?

Reply to
aarcuda69062

You have good instincts.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

Best gaskets you can find won't hold up to neglected, never changed anti-freeze.

Reply to
Kirby "Does it Hurt?" Black

You can change the anti-freeze on GM 3.1, 3.4, 3.8 4.3, 5.0 and

5.7 engines once a month, but they will still tear up the intake manifold gaskets.
Reply to
aarcuda69062

Really? My 2002 3.4 hasn't had the antifreeze changed and it's not losing coolant (plus the coolant is still nice and clean). I did follow GM's recommendation and change the radiator cap, though.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% There are two classes of pedestrians in these days of reckless motor traffic - the quick and the dead. ~ Lord Dewar 1933 ~

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Reply to
Rich B

It will experience an intake manifold gasket failure eventually. They all do.

Ian

Reply to
shiden_kai

I just remembered, there are two versions of intake gaskets used by GM;

1) The ones that will leak. 2) The ones that are going to leak.

I'd advise you to not budget for this ahead of time, that way, you'll be caught totally off guard.

Reply to
aarcuda69062

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