Plate that water pump bolts through???

[SANDMAN500LT]

Im in the middle of a water pump swap on my 93.......I pulled the pump with the plate attached.....There was a gasket between the plate and the block....My dealer says they dont make that gasket any longer and to just use silicone.....Does this sound correct???........Just wanna make sure since it was a bear to get apart......Dont wanna do it again anytime soon...

Thanks....Tony

[john8662]

Silicone works well in this location, just get it nice and clean. You'll want to use a gasket on the waterpump though. The gasket is necessary on the waterpump (instead of just silicone) because of the impeller clearance to the backing plate.

Felpro makes a front gasket set that's around 15 bucks that has a gasket for the water pump plate, but you need to apply an adhesive to it (brown stuff that comes in a bottle).

J

[diesel65]

From the factory the water pump plate has been sealed with "anerobic sealer" to the timing cover, GM didn't use a gasket there.
That is what I use when I do water pumps or replacement engines.
As John says, Felpro makes a gasket for the water pump plate.

[Robyn]

I always use a gasket in both places. The after market has the gaskets you need.
Use a thin coating of high temp black silicone on both sides of the gaskets.
This will be sure of a good seal as well as aid in the removal the next time you need to get it off as the silicone will pull loose and tha gasket wont weld itself to the parts.
Many smiles and a zillion miles
Robyn

[MTTwister]

Got my plate gasket through a NAPA store. I like overkill.