Fuel Pump Gasket

[fastrack1966]

Just as you thought I'd gone away there's a minor leak where the diesel fuel lift pump fits the cam cover. The gasket-in-a-tube I'd used clearly hadnt worked, so I found the proper one from the head gasket set. Still a dribble and I'm wary of overtightening the bolts and risking snapping them. If I remove the pump again I assume the new gasket will have to be discarded. Has anyone used a homemade gasket in "non-critical" joins like this? Cardboard, plastic marge lid?
By the way if you find the pump bolts' hex heads awkward to tighten try getting a matching pair of Allen key heads, they're great and I don't know why we don't see more of them on cars.
BrianJ

[SimonR]

Hi Brian, I must admit that the only homemade gaskets I've made were from proper gasket paper which I got from my local motorfactors - never had any problems with this approach. I have heard of people using beer mats to good efect in the past!

Best of luck.....!

[talkingcars]

As already said you can get gasket paper, a sheet of A4 is under £1

[H536NOG]

Hi, the best 'gasket-in-a-tube' you can get is from your local Rover dealer, its called RTV (room temperature vulcanising) & is superb, there is nothing generic available as good.
Does the lift pump have a small hole in the base of it? If it is leaking oil from there no amount of 'gloop' on the gasket face will stop it.
To answer your original question... yes you can use a Kellogs packet (not sure if the cheaper brands are as good :laugh:
coat both sides in said 'gloop' & it will be fine but a lift pump gasket does not have the same demands on it as certain other gaskets on the engine.
HTH
Nige
Originally posted by fastrack1966
Just as you thought I'd gone away there's a minor leak where the diesel fuel lift pump fits the cam cover. The gasket-in-a-tube I'd used clearly hadnt worked, so I found the proper one from the head gasket set. Still a dribble and I'm wary of overtightening the bolts and risking snapping them. If I remove the pump again I assume the new gasket will have to be discarded. Has anyone used a homemade gasket in "non-critical" joins like this? Cardboard, plastic marge lid?
By the way if you find the pump bolts' hex heads awkward to tighten try getting a matching pair of Allen key heads, they're great and I don't know why we don't see more of them on cars.
BrianJ :laugh: :laugh:

[Rich]

I made gaskets for my new fuel pump out of gasket paper, seems to work fine, and was very easy to do, but its probably different, as mine is on a 1.3

Rich

[H536NOG]

Lift pump & mechanical fuel pump are pretty similar really (look similar, both driven off a heel on the cam IIRC & both only need their gaskets to hold back nominal oil pressure) Originally posted by Rich
I made gaskets for my new fuel pump out of gasket paper, seems to work fine, and was very easy to do, but its probably different, as mine is on a 1.3

Rich

[H536NOG]

Fitting 2 gaskets (or a double thickness gasket) would also be fine if you are worried about stripping the threads in the cam cover... alternatively if you think the bolts will bottom out before the gasket is 'nipped up' sufficiently you could always run a nut down the bolts before hacksawing off the last couple of threads of the bolt then dress the cut end with a file before running the nut up/ down the bolt to make sure its ok before replacing in the lift pump, if 2 gaskets are used make a sandwich of the 'in-a'tube' thereby minimising chances of oil seeping between the gaskets.
HTH
Nige

[fastrack1966]

Thanks everyone. I've found the gasket card for £1.75 a pack. The fault which before I removed the sticky tube gasket was a messy spray is now barely a trickle, so maybe its down the list of priorities now,

BrianJ

[E_T_V]

Just a word of warning to people who love to use RTV sealant in large quantities to seal everything in sight. If you use too much bits of your gasket ion a tube can fall off inside the engine and block oil ways causing lots of problems.

Use it sparingly and when it is required, not all over the place.

[H536NOG]

At over 6 quid a tube from Rover it always gets used sparingly !
Very good stuff for making your own 'O' rings out of too.
Originally posted by E_T_V
Just a word of warning to people who love to use RTV sealant in large quantities to seal everything in sight. If you use too much bits of your gasket ion a tube can fall off inside the engine and block oil ways causing lots of problems.

Use it sparingly and when it is required, not all over the place.

[fastrack1966]

Certainly I am a bit wary of tube sealant after this leak. It was definitely RTV I used. The car was idle for a week or so after sealing the fuel lift pump to the cam cover (cyl head?) but after an hour's drive it seemed the RTV was almost leaking from the lower side of the join. When I removed the pump the sealant was still gooey and easily removed with only a cloth. I thought this was the last thing you need for a gasket?

BrianJ

[H536NOG]

The whole idea of RTV is to not quite nip the joint up fully until the RTV has gone off, its not quite the same as other silicone instant gasket products.