Engine oil leak (from base gasket)

[Grimly]

At least the blue ones ain't Athenas.
I've never had any bother with Vesrah gaskets and sets.

[jasonadams74]

At least the blue ones ain't Athenas.
I've never had any bother with Vesrah gaskets and sets.

Grimly,
I have a Vesrah Head Gasket coming in this week. I have the engine out due to another issue with the secondary gearbox. But my specific question is when installing the Vesrah Head Gaskets, do I use any silicone/ sealant with the head gasket? Or just the gaskets by themselves? Looking for direction. Thank you!

[Grimly]

I spray them with Hylomar.
Other people don't.
I don't care about other people's opinions on the matter.

[Phil]

I managed to replace the base gasket with a blue one (Vesrah?). I slipped it on the cylinder block bottom since it seemed to me a better fit than on the base trying to insert the cylinder sleeves in.
PXL_20220830_162623668 by pwauthy

[jasonadams74]

I spray them with Hylomar.
Other people don't.
I don't care about other people's opinions on the matter.

Spray both sides? Also spray Both Headgaskets? Upper and lower?

[Grimly]

Spray both sides? Also spray Both Headgaskets? Upper and lower?

Yep, just a light coat on all.
However, there is one that I don't know that I would - the multi-layer steel head gasket. The makers of those say they're already coated and no further coating is needed.

[jasonadams74]

Yep, just a light coat on all.
However, there is one that I don't know that I would - the multi-layer steel head gasket. The makers of those say they're already coated and no further coating is needed.

Do you know if Vesrah brand that has "multi- layered steel" ?

[tatu]

I'm with Ed on this, dry is the way I have always done it, I had a base gasket leak on my dirt 1000 and replaced with an oem and the new tear drop shaped o rings and in this case for good measure I used three bond. The three bond (far superior than Hylomar) caused the gasket to slip and squish out, So I did the job again using less three bond and because I thought at that time it was the fault of the o ring, (I had doubts about them being OEM) but same thing presious hard to get oem gasket squeezed out.
After managing to source another OEM gasket from the US the first one arrived broken because it was dry and brittle. I managed to find an 1100 oune that needed trimming this time I roughed up the crankcase and cylinder base and replaced dry. End of problems. My fault for trying to be clever and putting the three bond. I've done heaps and heaps of these over the years never put goo on them and never had a problem till I did. .A waste of hard to come by gaskets as none are available anymore including the multi layer steel, I cheated and used the MLS one again and it's fine. I understand that Cometic gaskets are good replacements.

WhatsApp Image 2022-09-02 at 02.44.12.jpg

[Phil]

Lessons learned & closing remarks from a first-timer.
1. Follow rigorously the Service manual. Haynes is ok but not as detailed.
2. When lifting the cylinder block, prepare some wood pieces that you can insert between the cylinder block and the base. I had trouble taking the block off and, at some point, I let it sit on the pistons. Bad idea: the cylinders dent the soft metal of the pistons crowns.
3. When ajusting the timing chain on the camshafts, take care of the timing mark on the crankshaft end: there is more than one "T" mark and I ended up with a 90 degree timing error. Fortunately, I didn't brake any valves but it took me very long time to diagnose what prevented the motor to fire up: there was no compression. You're looking at the timing mark just past the "F 1.4" mark. Also, it's a good idea to give the crankshaft a couple of turns (using a 19mm socket) just to make sure nothing prevent the engine to turning before blindly pressing the starter button.

[Brendan W]

My 2c worth.
I replaced the head and base in 2015 with NE gaskets. The entire engine set was less than an oem headgasket.
However the stem seals were junk and I had to get replacements.
The lower deck was in bad shape so I sprayed the base gasket both sides with high build, high temperature aluminium paint.
The oval corner o rings had been pinched badly on the previous job. I use a tiny amount of three bond as an assembly tack and made double sure that the holes in the base gasket were going to fall outside the new o rings.