Water pump is killing me

[Ron]

It should not leak once you fill the system with water. Water will cause the gasket to swell and stop leaking.

I disagree. According to Permatex's 10 Most Common Gasketing Mistakes:
"10. Using a gasket maker as a dressing on a conventional gasket.
This might be the most common gasketing error of all. Many mechanics will use an RTV gasket maker to hold a conventional or cut gasket in place during assembly..."

The gasket manufacturer RAM says, "...paper is a cellulose fibre base impregnated with a plasticized chemical treatment: to resist oil, petrol air, water, alcohol, grease and most solvents."

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$.02

It's the mating surfaces, torque, use/usage of RTV.
I suspect you will be purchasing some Hylomar (HYLOTYTE RED 100) if Dana doesn't have some on hand.

[Parzival]

This last time a used Indian Head Gasket Shellac on the gasket. Its made by permatex

[Parzival]

I went to DMC-81 AKA Dana's house yesterday, we took the pump back apart, and cleaned it again. ran a tap through all the threads, and cleaned the bolts to insure they thread smoothly so that we could get accurate torque readings. We checked the mating surfaces were flat and smooth. Cleaned the surface, and applied gasket shellac to the surfaces with a small paint brush. We did this the same way he had when he did his and when he managed to get his system to hold pressure at 15PSI over night. We were probably way more thorough then anyone has ever been when installing a water pump.
I will pressure check it tomorrow, and post the results.
More importantly, after doing this for the third time trying to get it right, I was pretty frustrated, but doing it with a friend made it much more bearable and ended up being a really good time, one of the best times working on the car so far, and that stands wether it leaks again or not!
Thanks again Dana!

[Ron]

No luck??

[Parzival]

No luck??

it leaked again with coolant in it. We are baffled. getting another pump and backer from DMC, will take a week, but after 3 times, what else can we do?

[David T]

Make sure you are using the correct bolts in the correct spots. If you put too long a bolt in the wrong place it will feel like it is tightening up but it is really just bottoming out. Make sure the gaskets are not slipping out of position and the surfaces are clean, flat, and no scratches or burrs and you removed all traces of the old gaskets and sealer.

[DMC-81]

Make sure you are using the correct bolts in the correct spots. If you put too long a bolt in the wrong place it will feel like it is tightening up but it is really just bottoming out. Make sure the gaskets are not slipping out of position and the surfaces are clean, flat, and no scratches or burrs and you removed all traces of the old gaskets and sealer.

Yeah, we covered all that and more.

[Parzival]

Make sure you are using the correct bolts in the correct spots. If you put too long a bolt in the wrong place it will feel like it is tightening up but it is really just bottoming out. Make sure the gaskets are not slipping out of position and the surfaces are clean, flat, and no scratches or burrs and you removed all traces of the old gaskets and sealer.

trust me, we did it all, we cleaned it again. Perfect flat surface, we placed both halves together with no gasket to see how well the 2 halves met. Our last assembly was text book.
The pump was also leaking from the plug in the back. There is just no way I'm going to keep trying the same thing for a 4th time and expect a different result. Logically, If I try the same thing again, its gonna do the same thing again.
So i ordered a new pump and backing from DMCFL they are going to assemble it, and i'm just gonna go pick it up and put it in.
I'm not gonna lie, failing at a simple job like a water pump is not something that helps your confidence any. I just can't seem to see anything else I can do. I could have put the car back together and It would have been drivable because the leaks were so minimal, So minimal in fact that I doubt it would have really been much of an issue. The whole reason I was replacing it was because the original was... well... original, but it wasn't leaking. I'm not putting it back toghether anything less then 100%

[Ron]

[Parzival]

Tell me about it!
On a brighter note, Dana and I had a delightful time lol.