Thread: oil pan gasket rtv? gasket or both

I know this may sound strange, but a permatex dealer/sales rep came to my work handing out little flyers about the RTV and quizzed me on all of it. His take was that in between dissimilar materials you wanna use gray. For synthetics, you wanna use gray, it is good for continuous 625* temps, coolant, etc. Basically he said the only reason they even have black anymore is because they would lose sales for not having it. The Gray meets stricter standards.

At least, that's what he said...

If Nissan uses gray factory, that's what I'm gonna use.

*Unless it is The Right Stuff. That stuff is so incredible.

good take on that coheed

Nissan uses the gray rtv from the factory. Enough said.

why would you even think of using some cheap ass cork/rubber gasket??

Actual gaskets don't really work well on Nissans. The crank vent system has too much positive pressure in it for them to seal. When I was a tech, I did what I was told. And every time I put a cork gasket on a Nissan it came back with issues. I'd protest every time, then I wouldn't do it anymore.

well i was just curious as to what people thought of them, i always used the rtv but i was getting some weep so i decided to throw up a post ot see if ppl were using gaskets or if there were using just rtv. and what kind of rtv ect

Sitting at the store comparing the descriptions on the packages had me coming to the same conclusion. I remember now. I was like "Why do they even sell half of these products when the grey stuff is better in every way [described on the package]?"

I used both on my lower pan. Seals great. For 7.99 im assuming its a felpro cork one from autozone cuz thats what I paid for mine. No leaks here.

you guys got any tips on removing the RTV from the bolt holes before bolting the pan(s) to the engine block?

i've used a phillips head screwdriver or a punch to remove the RTV before i bolt it in, but i can never seem to get all of it out, and since you only have 15 mins tops to tighten it up before the RTV cures, it can get tedious to do.

thing im worried about is that i dont have a garage and im worried about dirt and grime getting into my engine. while i pull off the pan i need to clean both the mating surfaces and the pan itsself and worried about the dirt or grime getting into the engine, so between pulling the pan, cleaning the pan mating surfaces and keeping the engine from getting dirt or grime it in and applying the rtv and installing the pan again, wow lol

get a few cans of brake clean so when you drop the pans you can spray the dirt before installing pans