Emergency Cooling System Fix .. Best $6 ever .. PERMATEX Thermostat Gasket RTV

[dogkatcher]

This stuff made my life easy until I can fix it right .. what a joy

PERMATEX WATER PUMP / THERMO RTV SILICON GASKET

90 XJ laredo, 145k, 4.0, probably original thermostat

long story not so short: last sunday overheated / boiled over .. thermostat finally went out Im guessing .. so why not swap it .. easy enough & cheap

I did everything so right, even down to cleaning old gasket off completely & taking my time .. even used a shopvac to capture exterior crud debris

install:
I managed to break the old thermo / outlet housing & bust the lower attaching bolt in engine block .. words to wise .. 20 yr old engine .. buy the housing too & new bolts .. housing was only $12 (AND remove the hoses, much easier to see .. the cause to me breaking everything)

tried a few extraction tools on that bolt .. spent about $40 on drillbits & extractors .. a tough angle for sure .. so I bought a flex attachment for drill

finally grounded the bolt down enough so it was below level of thermostat gasket area.. NONE of the extractors worked .. eventually the flex thing broke .. Ryobi of course

I 1st tried JB weld to make a makeshift gasket / using just the upper bolt only = must be too cold for it to set, even after 24 hours .. leaked heavily right away .. as soon as the engine temp went up, sprang a leak & the JB turned to goo .. housing came right off, with snot looking JB .. at least it was easy to clean

so .. tried again today .. this is when the ryobi flex broke .. out of luck, no time to go buy a $150 right angle drill to finish drilling that bolt out... impatiently I made a sandwich of the permatex with the usual gasket

I spread a thin layer on housing & attached gasket to it 1st while preparing for the install .. couldnt believe when the rtv was already bonded to gasket after 30 mins ,, so I went for it .. spread a thin layer to attach to engine block .. tightened bolt & w/in 30 minutes fired jeep up

had a small pinhole leak at 1st .. quite depressing I thought .. then it stopped .. i couldnt believe that

im guessing, the heat of engine cured that rtv or something .. very quick .. just took it for a test ride .. no leaks at all .. will be keeping an eye on it for sure .. will soon be fixed right & a new radiator probably (since stock & old)

I dont have to ride the bus tomorrow to work .. what a blessing .. a 20 min drive takes 1-2 hours on the bus + some walking ... fingers crossed

that stuff works great !!! cures quick, even in the cold .. this is not a sales pitch .. it worked great !!!!!!!!!!!!!!