Silicone sealant in place of gaskets

[Andy Mc]

I'm currently having my inlet flowed for my mk2 vlaver and it seems that my mechanic has forgotton to send to the company carring out this work the gaskets to be matched off to the increased size of the ports.

The company doing this work has said that silicone sealant can be used instead, is this correct.....?? Can I get away with using this in place of the gaskets....??

[VeeDubGTI16v]

maybe but i wouldnt. get some light gasket sealant too

[Andy Mc]

Thats what I thought, hence why I raised this post. They're going to see if they can find another 16v inlet which should have the gaskets, if not, like you said, I'm not keen to use silicone and I doubt my mechanic will either.

It's taken them over 4 weeks to get this far.....!! after originally being only told a week, 2 at the most and I've been with out my car for over 5 weeks and am getting really pi$$ed off and to be quite honest, just want my car back. Can anybody suggest anyway to get around this without the gaskets. Also my mot runs out on the 15th, so u can understand my desperation.

[VeeDubGTI16v]

is the garage near where you live? just buy the gaskets yourself from vw and give them to the garage or post you should be able to get the parts next day if you get to the parts department before 11 i think if they havent got them in stock

[richandhazel]

I wouldn't recommend using sealant in place of gaskets. For a start it would have to be high temp stuff and I doubt it would stay in place very long even at that

[Andy Mc]

The company doin the inlet are based in the midlands, I'm in Southampton, I want to avoid at all costs giving them any more work, I feel that if I was to buy the gaskets, send them away, this will only add more weeks on top of the 4 weeks so far. I'm annoyed that after having the inlet for over 4 weeks and reqular descisions with them being and told that only 10 more minutes worth of work was needed that now they've told me they haven't got the gaskets.

If my mechanic was to order them in, is it a simple enough job for him to match them off, and cut them to size....??

[richandhazel]

Another option if you're looking at trimming some anyway:-

You buy gasket making material and make your own. Its quite easy, keep the gasket material in the same place and lightly tap all round the edges with the ball of a ball pein hammer - it more or less cuts the material at the same time. Just make sure you get the right material as it will come in various thicknesses - inlet manifold gaskets are usually quite thin.

[Andy Mc]

Yeh good idea, I'll ave a word wiv my mechanic tomorrow and suggest that to him. He'll be glad to get shot of my motor taking up room in his workshop.....!!

[VeeDubGTI16v]

whats wrong with getting real ones from vw, about ?20 for both i think, if you order them today you get them tomorrow, first class post to garage tomorrow and they get there mon morning or tell them to get off their lazy arses and go buy some theirselves this is why i do my own work, f**king monkeys

[...joe]

^^^^couldn't agree more!