On Tue, Jan 03, 2006 at 08:28:48AM -0800, Jim Cathey wrote: > So, from yesterday's list I'm only left with surface roughness as a > potential culprit, and that seems unlikely to be responsible for such > widespread leaking, especially as the gasket is a rubberized (?) one. > It seems pretty grippy, unlike the old 2-layer metal one.
Or surface being too smooth, but if you're thinking roughness there's no way it is smooth enough to have a problem. I've seen problems where one of the surfaces was too smooth for the gasket to get a good bite on, and leaked quite spectacularly. > Sigh, no real smoking guns. I suppose it is possible that the > business with the dowel pins could have been responsible. If the head > got started clamping down while it was not seated flat to begin with > it could have gotten 'trapped' at a bad angle and leaked, even though > it looked OK by eye. > > The current plan is to put it back on again but this time paying more > attention to getting it flat before I start torquing the nuts down. > If it leaks again the plan is to remove the head and use that spray-on > copper gasket sealant I bought yesterday. If _that_ doesn't work > I'm not sure what I will do. I like the dowel pin theory. If that doesn't work and the old gasket looks okay, I'd give it a shot with the copper spray and see if the old factory gasket works better than the seemingly aftermarket one. K
