Electrolysis on aluminum manifold

[MrMarty51]

There is slight grooves eaten into the aluminum intake manifold.
Slight enough to be caught with the pinky finger finger nail.
I used a sanding block and did a good cleanup on the gasket rails of the heads and the intake manifold to help minimize the pitting.
I have these Felpro manifold gaskets, perma seal or some such.
Instructions says to use no sealers on these gaskets.
With the parts of the intake being a little rough I do not want to take any chances of having a leak.
Using some Hondabond I laid on a very thin smear of the sealer. Let it cure and dry. The pits are now filled with sealer and the surface is smooth.
Anyone see a problem with such a repair ? Comments ? Suggestions ?

 

[Will L.]

Don’t use those gaskets. Get paper ones.
Those will not seal adding the hondagoo. When surfaces are in good condition those gaskets are fine.

You are right to add some type of silicone- choose your poison. I prefer prematex- would probably go with the ultra for this but honda stuff is a custom blend made for them- wanna guess by who? But you need goo friendly gaskets or no gaskets and only gasket maker goo.

 

[MrMarty51]

Don’t use those gaskets. Get paper ones.
Those will not seal adding the hondagoo. When surfaces are in good condition those gaskets are fine.

You are right to add some type of silicone- choose your poison. I prefer prematex- would probably go with the ultra for this but honda stuff is a custom blend made for them- wanna guess by who? But you need goo friendly gaskets or no gaskets and only gasket maker goo.

Okay. Honda bondo coming off.
I’ll need to get paper units coming from RA as the only parts store in town that could get the Intake gaskets was NAPA and they had to order it out of Minneapolis. Special order and freight charges applied.

 

[WarWagon]

Guessing 3.1L or 3.8L V6? They are known to leak coolant into the engine from an intake leak and lock the engine up. The reason they have the gasket (pictured) is because of the cast iron and aluminum expansion rate difference: gasket allows some movement.

Have you checked price and availability of a new intake manifold?

 

[MrMarty51]

Guessing 3.1L or 3.8L V6? They are known to leak coolant into the engine from an intake leak and lock the engine up. The reason they have the gasket (pictured) is because of the cast iron and aluminum expansion rate difference: gasket allows some movement.

Have you checked price and availability of a new intake manifold?

3.8 in a 1991 Oldsmobile Royal 88.
Over $500.00 for a chinesium dorman.

Dorman 615-280 Dorman Intake Manifolds | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Dorman Intake Manifolds with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Intake Manifolds, Fuel Injected at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

Plastic ones is a lot less.

 

[MrMarty51]

3.8 in a 1991 Oldsmobile Royal 88.
Over $500.00 for a chinesium dorman.

Dorman 615-280 Dorman Intake Manifolds | Summit Racing

Free Shipping - Dorman Intake Manifolds with qualifying orders of $109. Shop Intake Manifolds, Fuel Injected at Summit Racing.

www.summitracing.com

Plastic ones is a lot less.

I went back to Summit and none of the plastic manifolds fits my car.
I also did a check fit on that $530.00 aluminum manifold and it also dont seem to fit.
Those paper ? Intake gaskets are suppose to be here tomorrow.
I’ll dose up the intake manifold with no1 permatex and let that cure. After it is cured I’ll use copious amounts of No2 permatex around the coolant ports then install the manifold.
Maybe see if there is some aluminum J-B Weld and doctor the manifold with that stuff.
I dont think that the steel base J-B Weld would be an answer. Probably really eat out the aluminum on the manifold.

 

[Will L.]

The way you described the fingernail test, doesn’t sound like much damage really.
I wouldn’t worry about jb weld at that level. Just a bit of the goo goes a long way.

 

[MrMarty51]

The way you described the fingernail test, doesn’t sound like much damage really.
I wouldn’t worry about jb weld at that level. Just a bit of the goo goes a long way.

Any time prestone is involved I have always used the no.2 permatex, bottle with the brush on the cap.
I have never had a coolant leak after using that goop.
I am not familiar with these Felpro perma seal, or whatever they are called, perma dry ? And I just dont know if they would seal such imperfections so thinking I’ll go with familiar territory and use them paper or cardboard gaskets and do a thorough goop around them coolant ports.