how long do I wait for gasket to seal/cure?

[jwilkey84]

I just replaced the head cover on my johnson because I replaced the thermostat, do I need to wait for a period of time before I fire up the motor, to allow the gasket to seal properly? I also used some of the "brown stuff" gasket sealer, would that make a difference?

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: how long do I wait for gasket to seal/cure?

If the head gasket had a shinny appearance to it, more than likely it had sealer already applied to it whereas heat would cause it to seat/seal properly.

If the gasket was just a plain gasket, nothing should be applied to it other than plain oil. It's not proper to coat the head gasket with anything else, however it's very unlikely that whatever you applied will do any harm.

As long as the head bolts were torqued properly in the specified sequence, there is no waiting period.

When time permits, visit my store (copy/paste) at: stores.ebay.com/Evinrude-Johnson-Outboard-Parts-etc

 

[jwilkey84]

Re: how long do I wait for gasket to seal/cure?

actually it is just the cover, right next to the spark plugs. I just had to remove the whole cover( about 12 bolts) to get to the thermostat.

 

[Joe Reeves]

Re: how long do I wait for gasket to seal/cure?

I saw later that I overlooked that mention. It's a common practice to coat that water jacket cover gasket with gasket sealer.