I've never quite understood when a guy should use gasket sealer and when not to...

 

I've just located a leak in one of the gaskets on the intake manifold (which would answer my last post as to why my car is idling poorly.) I put the paper gaskets on dry last time, but I was thinking I would slather some of that copper sealer on them to be sure this time.

 

Should these gaskets work by themselves? i.e. did I torque this wrong or something? Or should I be in the habit of using sealer all the time?

Sealer is generally not needed on any gaskets. However there are times when due to surface inperfections, old gasket material not fully scraped off, or error on the mechanics part that a sealer would help. Sometimes a sealer is not whats needed but more along the lines of a hightack cement. The hightack holds the gasket in place while the mechanic is moving the part around or testfitting the part to be reinstalled.

 

The intake is not the best place to use RTV type sealants due to the air/fuel mixture flowing through the intake. The fuel will disolve the RTV and your intake gasket will fail again.

 

Try using the hightack to hold on your new gasket in place while your getting everything lined up. Be sure to clean all the old gasket material off.

 

Bill

All I've ever heard is that intake manifold gaskets should be done dry. Are you using subaru factory gaskets? If you feel like trying anything, I have used the spray-on copper stuff with pretty good results on some other gaskets. Definitely no RTV though.

as far as which gaskets to use fel-pro is c**p but i haven't had any trouble when using victor-rienze gaskets from car quest

I somtimes use permatex aviation sealant. it comes in a little white bottle with a brush in the cap. or for gluing a gasket in place I use gaskacinch(sp) it works great to hold the gasket in place. I also recomend puting anti sieze on the intake bolts as they seem prone to rusting in place and snaping.