SEALING HEAD BOLTS RIGHT
We have always sealed the head bolts that go to water with a Teflon sealer of some kind, but we still had one that leaked from time to time. So when I saw an ad for a new and improved Teflon Sealer, I called the company. The engineer that I spoke with told me that none of the Teflon products would work on the head bolts because Teflon was actually designed to lubricate tapered pipe threads, not to seal them. He explained that they had added some solids to the material to help fill the gaps in the poor threads found on some of the cheap, imported pipe that is on the market today, but this wouldn’t do any good on a straight threaded head bolts. After hearing this, we called our sealant representative and discovered that there are certain “Head Bolt and Water Jacket Sealer” products designed specifically to seal head bolts that go to water. We started using such a product over a year ago and haven’t had a head bolt leak since then. And, it also lubricates the threads so the head bolts still torque correctly. Check with your supplier of sealing and thread locking products for their recommendation.
Doug Anderson
Grooms Engines
Nashville, TN
June, 2017
