Sealing The Pump And Thermostat Housing To The Pinto

[peter_m7uk]

Hi All,

 

The engine start on my Lightweight is approaching, but I've had a bit of a setback. Filled the coolant system yesterday and everything looked fine. After a few minutes, I looked down and saw green liquid coming from under the car I have tiny leaks at the bottom of both the thermostat housing and the coolant pump! Looking on the bright side, the intake manifold and the core plugs look fine, but this is a bit of a downer. I tried tightening up the retaining bolts, which helped but didn't stop the problem...

 

My plan is to remove the offending fittings, stick some wet and dry on a sanding block and attempt to rub the mounting surface as flat as I can get it. Then I'm going to get some new gaskets, stick a bit of sealant on them and crank the bolts up hard.

 

Anyone got any tips that would help? Is it possible to get high quality gaskets which will seal better than the bits of card which are normally supplied? Which sealant would people recommend? And would it do any harm to get higher rated bolts (10.9) and really torque them up?

 

Cheers,

Pete

[Redspec]

Make sure the bolts are not to long? or the holes have not got crud in them causing the bolts to bottom out, if the bolts and faces are ok then you should not have a problem.

Do not over tighten the bolts or fit bolts to another spec to allow this, as you will only cause more problems.

I await to be shot down in flames

 

Steve

[Guest Noddy006]

Hi

I agree with Steve, I wouldn't put 'stronger bolts than standard' as this could damage mounting flanges etc. Probably best bet is to put a straight edge over the offending items and flatten them if needed, then new gasket and sealer (not sure what is best) and torque up accordingly. HTH Ian H.

[agent_zed]

ive used blue non-setting gasket compound around a thermo switch i put into the end of the thermo housing. It hasn't leaked in 2 years and wasn't the tightest of fits so must be pretty good to has stopped any possible leaks. hth

[Guest mower man]

Hi I've banged on about this before but here goes again CLEANLINESS is no1 in importance!!!!!! stronger bolts won't help if the mating faces are not CLEAN AND FLAT!!!! clean every thing ,new gaskets a smeer !!of jointing paste tighten each bolt evenly ,take your time and the job should be ok !! sorry to rant but I know these things from 40+years on the spanners and still get it wrong some times HTH mower man

[Guest MarkB]

Agree with mowerman, clean the surfaces till they gleam, i did, i didn't use any sealent, only the card gaskets and i have no leaks except my sump where i used an air ratchet to tighten a nut.... fool that i am!

[peter_m7uk]

Thanks for the tips, guys. I'll let you know how I get on

 

Pete

[Longboarder]

Worthwhile cleaning the casting inside and out and searching for cracks. The gasket face tends not to be quite flat and when they are tightened it stresses the flanges and fatigue cracks appear where the flange meets the body of the casting. If all well then a sheet of wet-n-dry on a very flat surface and gently true up the face. Standard gasket with a smear of goo. Lightly tighten to correct torque and use locktite on the bolts. Overtightening can distort the flanges and worsen the seal. The bolts mustn't bottom out in the block.

 

Nigel