98 Johnson 115 crossflow water leak question?

[GatorMike]

I posted a few weeks ago that after rebuilding my powerhead everything ran great but I had a small stream of water comming out between the powerhead and the adapter it sits on. I finally got around to lifting the powerhead so I can reseat it. I found that the gasket between the powerhead and the adapter had blown out around the port where the water enters the block.

Now for my question. My repair manual does not mention useing any gasket sealer on that gasket so when I put the powerhead back on after rebuilding it I used no sealer. This evening when things cool down a bit I am going to put the new gasket on and reseat the powerhead. Is any gasket sealer recomended fot this? And since the last time I seated the powerhead I set it on a dry gasket and the gasket blew do you think I should use sealer this time.

 

[emdsapmgr]

Re: 98 Johnson 115 crossflow water leak question?

On some engines, OMC used a simple paper base gasket. They also have an improved base gasket which is a sandwich combination of aluminum and paper. Use the better one. The factory recommends gasket sealer on that gasket.

 

[GatorMike]

Re: 98 Johnson 115 crossflow water leak question?

Good advice there. The one I used that leaked was a paper gasket that came in one of those cut rate gasket kits you order online. When I compaired the one I got yesterday (one of the good ones) it was obvious why the paper gasket would have blown out if not installed perfect.