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My favorite is...ultra gray permatex. Like Alex says, can be reused...but just make sure you get everything ultra clean and use a bit/fair more permatex around eack port. Which, is something I do with any new gasket...if there is one thing I've learned (after being a mechanic for forty years)...is to never, ever trust a gasket material.
I would check the compression, if it's fine drive it home filling the coolant every x number if miles. Fix the valley when ur home. I had the same issue, fixed the valley was still leaking, realized it was the O ring for the coolant out from the front of the engine.
okay, pressure test from 15 to 0 takes about 8 mins and I have dripping. Tried to take a picture (think this thing is camera shy...) of the area in question.
can't tell where it's coming from, so I guess first step is open up to the valley pan and pressurize again... gonna have to go at least that far if it's head gasket
upper intake off... and I've got coolant at the back of the valley pan! Probably a combination of not enough RTV at the end gasket (didn't see anything about putting it under the end gasket before fitting) and probably not enough at the gap and above... gonna pressurize now and hope I see coolant flowing Yup... nice little puddle... never been so happy to see a puddle of coolant in my entire life! This whole thing is a lot easier to do the second time
Last edited by thatbaldguy; Nov 27, 2017 at 04:56 PM.
Another thing it coulda been is that I didn't see anybody talk about waiting for the RTV to cure... Used Permatex Ultra Black and after reading the packaging (imagine that...) I see that it says to wait 24 hours before putting water behind it... I just closed it all up and had it running again within 2 hours the first time... How hard and fast (pardon the pun) is the 24 hour requirement... I gotta get back to the beach... I'm freezing up here!
Torqued down the lower intake (per RAVE manual specs) and gonna let it sit before I pressurize the system (figure I'll do that before I put it all back together again... just in case. Looks like I'll go ahead and change the oil in the down time. That's the ONLY thing I planned to do while I was here... best laid plans and all that.
Last edited by thatbaldguy; Nov 28, 2017 at 12:24 PM.
ultra black is all I use on all my automotive work, Its the closest thing to The Right Stuff for half the cost. I've never had an issue with it leaking before "24hr" cure time. It's good stuff. Never hurts to let something completely set up either.....
ultra black is all I use on all my automotive work, Its the closest thing to The Right Stuff for half the cost. I've never had an issue with it leaking before "24hr" cure time. It's good stuff. Never hurts to let something completely set up either.....
so it's a definite maybe sure as hell don't wanna do this a third time... my blood has thinned since moving south and I'm running out of cigars!
Also curious if I need to have the coolant system full before pressure testing... I shoulda invested in coolant companies before I started this whole adventure
Put engine cleaning foam on that area in the picture and
pressure wash it at the coin car wash.
You could just try to torque the intake manifold bolts back to spec.
Put Barr's leaks into it too. If Barr's leaks STOPS the leak - then probably NOT the
head gaskets.
If Leak persists with Barr's leaks then probably head gasket.
Changing the valley gasket is only 1/3 of the work of the head gasket.
You could do that first.
I did it in a parking lot outside.
So with your nice tidy garage have a go at it.
Yup... nice little puddle... never been so happy to see a puddle of coolant in my entire life! This whole thing is a lot easier to do the second time 
