98 Regal Belt Tensioner Help

Sorry for the long post but I'm having some issues:
I have a 98 REgal non supercharged VIN K 3800. I need to replace the water pump and the belt tensioner assembly because its never been replaced and the plastic elbow is leaking. Should I be using permatex with the water pump gasket or no?

Does anyone have instructions to do the belt tensioner assembly WITH TORQUE SPECS? I couldnt find it for my year on the forum.

I brought it to the shop due to my low coolant light on and they told me I had a bad waterpump and leaky elbow from the belt tensioner. I do have some brown sludge in the coolant but I can't smell oil. 6k miles ago I had yellow crusty stuff under the oil cap. I paid someone 2 years ago to change ALL the gaskets in the manifolds and valve covers. I am starting to wonder if he didn't do it correctly? I see people have issues with brown sludge pretty commonly and supposedly the yellow under the oil cap is nothing to worry about. Does all these sypmtoms put together ring a bell for anyone? Thanks tons in advance.

I personally don't put anything on the gaskets. If you clean the surfaces completely, you dont need to. Also, don't put any sealer on the o-rings on the elbows, and don't use the Dorman replacement elbows, they will leak. Use OEM. You can spray them with some silocone to aid in assebly.
The bolts get tightened to 37 lbs.ft.

First of all, that w/p may not be leaking....it could be just the plastic elbow.....when the elbow leaks, it trickles down onto the w/p, making it look like the w/p is leaking and it isn't....have seen several times where a w/p was supposedly leaking, was replaced, and then later on it was found to be the elbow instead......so I would do the elbow first....

As for the elbow, fairly easy job, just remove belt and alternator, and then the whole tensioner assembly(one bolt in the back, two in the front, I believe).....pull it out evenly, and have a pan under the vehicle to catch the coolant......

Like GMtech1 says, use an OEM elbow.....I lube the o-rings on the elbow with petroleum jelly.....there will also be another o-ring on the bottom of the tensioner assembly(different size)....I use jelly on that too.....make sure you clean the openings where the o-rings slide into.....

Burping the system is important to get all the air out when filling the coolant.......the funnel attachment tool works great on this engine....

Wash down and check for leaks....if there are none, then you saved yourself a w/p job.....if the weep hole does leak, then you replace the w/p.....gasket goes on with no sealer.....

Due to the fact I needed my car up and running asap I bought an duralast water pump and a duralast belt tensioner that came with an elbow. I also bought a dealer elbow but it did not fit my aftermarket tensioner the same way as the one that came with it so I didn't use the dealer part. After 1,000 miles my duralast parts have been working flawlessly with no leaks.