Reply To: 6CTA Coolant leak on top of exhaust manifold

[Bob Foster]

Rob Schepis wrote:

Sounds good Bob, and congrats!

Thank you Rob!

Tony Athens wrote:

Think positive..

The RTV makes the steel gasket very forgiving–That’s why we changed the Cummins “dry assembly” Protocol , & use RTV as it has a 100% track record as to working very well except in very surface pitted applications.

Using the composite gasket requires not less that 3 re-torques after installation/initial use hot/cold cycles.

I even re-torque the steel gasket after the first start-up when I check for leaks.. BTW, all torquing is done with a box end wrench by “feel” & experience as to what is tight use a grade 12.9 alloy bolt/nut w/ RectorSeal # 5 as the assembly lube.

Tony

Tony ,

Thank you again for all of the advice and I agree that the RTV makes the steel gasket forgiving as I have experience in a prior life as a Nissan Tech and Nissan swore by that stuff on pretty much all of their gaskets.

You answered my next question regarding torque specs, I’ve always done these type of things by feel
( unless doing a head gasket ) so that is great to hear from you as well.

I just placed the order for the gaskets about an hour ago and they should be here in Philly on Tuesday so my plan is to drain the coolant and replace the gasket on both engines on Wednesday ( my day off ) unless it is freezing cold. I will certainly post an update on how things went along with pictures.

Thank you!
– Bob