Waterpump backing plate. Should I use gasket seal?

[stinkydogfilms]

Hi again,
another silly question.
The AutoZone waterpump came with a gasket affixed between the water pump and the backing plate.

Should I take it apart and apply gasket seal on both sides of the backing plate gasket?
I dont recall if i did it the last time 9 years ago. I think i did.

The reason it's an Autozone Duralast waterpump is it's covered under the lifetime warranty. I did get 9 years out of the previous one. I'm also replacing the fan clutch, both serpentine belts and the 3 hoses that connects to the waterpump out of preventive measures.
As I removed the waterpump bolts, I inserted them into cardboard outlined like the water pump. I also took photos of all of the accessories bolts before removal and put them in separate labeled zip lock bags.
I THANK YOU, again,
Mike

[Arquemann]

Eh, the gasket is between 2 nice flat surfaces. Unless you bought a cheap chinesium pump and/or the gasket is crappy.

[stinkydogfilms]

Like this

[sly]

I always put a very thin bit of blue rtv on the gasket and then put the backing plate back on. I don't trust any manufacturer any more to make things flat enough to not leak. I only put rtv on the pump side of the gasket to the engine though unless there's pitting/corrosion on the engine side. This is mainly to make the gasket stay put as I put the whole mess on the engine.

[stinkydogfilms]

THANK YOU ARQUEMANN.
I found out Duralast water pump are indeed made in China. I put gasket seal everywhere, even the kitchen table. Waterpump is on, AC PS and ALT is back on. The new waterpump hoses are on.
I only have to replace the bottom radiator hose, put the new fan clutch in and add the anti freeze.
It started raining so I'll finish in the morning and do the start up in the afternoon to give the sealant some time .
I do THANK YOU again.
This GM BOARD is awesome and can never be replaced.

[GMUE03]

I’m running the exact same water pump. At first I installed it with just the paper gasket and it would drip coolant from the backing plate bolts after sitting for some time. I had to remove it and replace the gasket either a new felpro one. The second time around I coated both sides with water pump sealant. No leaks thus far, just make sure that the backing plate bolts are tight and you use either RTV or pipe thread seal on the water pump bolts.

Edit: read you already installed it with plenty of sealant. Nice work.

[gadget73]

Not a bad idea, but you want to use a very light application, not "all over the place". On the timing cover side it only needs to be around the water ports. The whole chunk in the middle is dry. No point in making it harder to get the next gasket off.

[DerekTheGreat]

^^^This. You don't need a 3/16" tall or wide bead as 95% of that will be squished out once you tighten the bolts down. I tend to skim the stuff on opposed to using a bead for that reason..

[friskyfrankie]

Yep, just enough to hold the gasket while installing. The gasket should do the sealing!

[stinkydogfilms]

Super damn CRAP.It seemed to be fixed for a couple of days. Now it is showing a very small leak again.
I think it may be the timing chain cover. I know I should have replaced that gasket but I didn't want to go thru that headache.
I guess I'll have to redo all over again. I'm going to wait a week or so before I get into it again.
Anything I should be aware of concerning the timing chain gasket?
Any type of stop leak sealant to use temporarily? I only it drive 5-6 miles to work..20 minutes each way about 3-4 times a week.

[GMUE03]

If you can do the water pump with no issue then you can definitely do the timing chain cover. It’s just a coupe more bolts and removal of the harmonic balancer and you’re there. I’m not sure what your budget is but in my opinion (unless they’ve been replaced recently) you should go ahead and put a new harmonic balancer and timing chain kit on since you’ll have that all apart anyways. If the original balancer looks okay then you could probably get away with reusing it. If I had to do the job again, I would save myself a few hours and would just order a new, non pitted timing cover as well.

When I replaced mine, I ordered the felpro front cover kit from rockauto, it even comes with a new water pump gasket and front main seal. I coated my timing cover gasket with permatex “the right stuff” and it’s still sealing well a year later. Only thing I wasn’t a huge fan of in the kit was the cork oil pan gasket sections, but that hasn’t leaked either (knock on wood) so I guess you’ll be alright. I suppose you could use RTV instead of those cork sections but I’ve never done it.

When you go to reinstall the harmonic balancer, make sure you put a dab of RTV on the crank keyway, if not it will leak oil.

[sly]

also, if you didn't use thread sealer on the water pump bolts, it may be leaking down the threads since those are mostly into the water paths. I know I forgot to do that and just had to remove each bolt once at a time and put thread sealer (not locker) on the threads and torque them back down.

[stinkydogfilms]

I did use never seize, not thread sealer Sly.