Sealing water pump gaskets

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chappy190

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The merc manual says to apply quicksilver perfect seal to the small hole gasket (the one on the bottom) when replacing the raw water pump impeller and gaskets on an Alpha 1gen 2.

Is this really necessary? I have read other places on here that there is no need to seal any of the gaskets in the raw water pump. Don????

Also if needed where would you find quicksilver perfect seal. I can't find it anywhere locally or on the internet. Is there a suitable alternative? Thanks.
 
Gary H NC

Gary H NC

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

LocTite aviation gasket sealer does the same thing.
Not sure if its needed on that,,,good question for Don is right..
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

What manual are you looking at? I've never seen that in my manuals.
NOTE: Seloc and Clymers are NOT Merc manuals.
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Don- I found this in the mercruiser factory service manual #14, section 3B, page 6 as indicated next to part 23, As well as page 75.

1. Apply Quicksilver Perfect Seal to the small hole gasket. Place the small hole gasket, the
face plate and the large hole gasket onto the gear case.
NOTE: Add Quicksilver Perfect Seal to the gasket to seal it and prevent water from seeping
into the gear housing.

It seems that noone does this, so is it absolutely necessary? Thanks.
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Wouldn't you know it, neither of the auto parts stores by me carry the permatex aviation sealant either. I guess I'll have to look a little further out tomorrow.
 
ziggy

ziggy

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

service manual 14, online. sterndrives page 3B-75 item #1

i have the same question. gettin ready to help a buddy out with his gen2 waterpump here in a couple of daze. buddy claims the mercury service kit he has that the gasket has some goo on it from mercury. he showed me the small hole gasket and it did appear to have a line of something appearing to possibly be gasket sealer.....w/o haveing done it yet, right now our intentions are not to use perfect seal....but there does seem to be a dilema here......my buds boat is a '00 gen2
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

I have the sierra repair kit 18-3214 and it doesn't seem to have anything on the gaskets.

Also the Seloc manual does not mention putting sealant on any gaskets in the water pump. The factory manul is the only one that does.
 
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John_S

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

I'll confirm that it is in the printed manual and I used Evenrude/Johnson gasket sealer. It is what the dealer had. Water pump worked fine last season. Might be a surprise when I take it apart to service it next year.
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Hmmmmm. Learn something new every day. Must not have been there for the original and second version of the manual. But it's there for revision 3. Funny thing is, they forgot to change it in section 3C. Guess the counter rotation drives won't leak water.
Back to the real world here. I use it there, but not for the reason the manual states. I use it to prevent corrosion since all I work on are salt water boats. A little Perfect Seal really cuts down the amount of corrosion between the aluminum housing and the gasket. I don't use it to help seal, only for corrosion control.
But if the book says use it, Then use it.
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Thanks Don, now I just need to find some and I can get this project under way. Sure enough it doesn't mention it in 3C. I guess if I can't come up with some it won't be a big deal.

The diagram on page 3C-6 (the counter rotating drive) shows to use Locktite 231 on the gasket. Whats up with that? That can't be right...im loosing faith in the factory maual a little bit. Or at least the editing capabilities of Mercury.
 
Don S

Don S

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

If you don't have a counter rotating drive, don't worry about it. The 3B section for the standard rotation that you have says to use Perfect seal in that area.
I don't know why or why the part about perfect seal is different.
I would guess they found that perfect seal worked better, perhaps on salt water boats and they just put it in as use on all gaskets. But since there are very few CR drives nobody noticed the forgot to change those pages also.
Once MercNet (the Merc dealers site at Merc) is back up from the upgrade (another week) I will email them the contradictions between sections B and C and see if it can't be fixed. Probably will only be a change pasted into the manual, but those that don't receive service bulletins will not receive the update. So don't expect to see something.
 
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Cptkid570

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Sorry for hijacking the thread, but out of curiosity, what is that little hole on the water pump for?
 
Dshow

Dshow

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

When putting on the gasket sealer, do you have to be concerned about excess squeezing out into the impellar area?
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Good question, I was kinda wondering that myself, but figured you just brushed on enough to lightly cover the gasket on both sides. anybody else?
 
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John_S

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Yep, just lightly coat. There shouldn't be any sealer on impeller. I believe (manual not with me) you coat the impeller and inside of the metal housing with 2-4-C, for the initial dry start-up, before it water gets pumped through.
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Thats what I was thinking. I was able to find some of the Permatex sealant at a small hardware store. Now if the lower will go back on smoothly this will have been a fairly reasonable project.
 
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chappy190

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Re: Sealing water pump gaskets

Changed the impeller today and noticed that the gaskets that came off didn't have any sealer on them. I still put some on the new one though, just to be sure.

All went back together pretty easy, didn't take a lot of jiggling to get the lower back on, so hopefully that means its all lined up right.

Heres a pic of the old impeller. Wasn't that worn at all. 3 years old and it had been accidentaly dry run a time or two. No burning, melting or anything, just curved to the shape of the pump.

Well cant seem to figure out how to post it.. so maybe later for that.
 
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