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old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
I've never done that water thing but with metal head gaskets I have put them in the oven and heated them up and let cool slowly and reused them
No, I have never tried that, and I wouldn't recommend it. I suppose you could reuse the head gasket (if it's in good shape). The crush rings are already crushed but could still seal the cylinders. I have re-used a gasket on the head of a GM 235. Try using copper spray gasket sealer. Re-check the torque after the first few heat cycles. It should settle in.
Fritz Maurer
Well-known Member
According to the Waukesha 6BZ instruction book, the head gasket can be reused. I like the oven idea, that could anneal the copper rings so they could be re-crushed.
Steve@Advance
Well-known Member
Never heard of soaking one in water. Common to need to soak paper gaskets that have been laying around for years and shrunk, but a head gasket is a different animal.
Some engine designs are more acceptable to reusing head gaskets, reused them all the time on outboard motors, flat head air cooled motors, but never on an overhead valve.
The old copper laminated gaskets are pretty forgiving for reuse, usually they were on low compression engines.
I would base the decision on, is it mine, (on me if it fails), the cost and availability, but mostly how big of a job will it be to do it over and the consequences of a failure!
Some engine designs are more acceptable to reusing head gaskets, reused them all the time on outboard motors, flat head air cooled motors, but never on an overhead valve.
The old copper laminated gaskets are pretty forgiving for reuse, usually they were on low compression engines.
I would base the decision on, is it mine, (on me if it fails), the cost and availability, but mostly how big of a job will it be to do it over and the consequences of a failure!
redforlife
Well-known Member
I have re-used them. Older engines with caste iron heads.
I'm not going to recommend it. My reasoning. What I have made to work, might not be accomplished by somebody else. For one thing, you would have to be able to inspect the old gasket for ANYTHING wrong with it. Reject it, if you see the wrong kind of damage in the right place. If you don't know what to look for (what your looking at), then you won't be able to determine if it should be rejected or not. And that comes with experience. Replacing head gaskets that ARE bad. And knowing what a bad one looks like. And it's kind of one of those deals, where you have to see to know, and not just have it explained to ya. It's kind of weird how a problem area looks. Kind of like, OK, I can see it now, after somebody else has pointed it out to ya. Once you know what to look for, you don't need somebody to point it out to ya. It's kind of like that.
I'm not going to recommend it. My reasoning. What I have made to work, might not be accomplished by somebody else. For one thing, you would have to be able to inspect the old gasket for ANYTHING wrong with it. Reject it, if you see the wrong kind of damage in the right place. If you don't know what to look for (what your looking at), then you won't be able to determine if it should be rejected or not. And that comes with experience. Replacing head gaskets that ARE bad. And knowing what a bad one looks like. And it's kind of one of those deals, where you have to see to know, and not just have it explained to ya. It's kind of weird how a problem area looks. Kind of like, OK, I can see it now, after somebody else has pointed it out to ya. Once you know what to look for, you don't need somebody to point it out to ya. It's kind of like that.
Phil-mar Farms
Member
My mentor told me that you could spray it with several coats of aluminum paint. I have never tried it. Our go to gasket sealer is Copper Coat
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
When I built my Farmall BA I used aluminum paint and a used head gasket. It was a metal gasket so I did the oven trick plus used 6 coats of paint and it sealed up just fine
rustred
Well-known Member
them old engines from the 20's and 30's the head gaskets were reused lots. i have also reused my head gasket on my 10-20 before. all i have done on it was put a light coat of grease gun grease on it as i was told that is what they used to do back then. plus i did this darn near fifty years ago. plus i have reused head gaskets on other engines, even in the 340 tractor with the diesel engine. if the gasket looks like new i dont have a problem as i have proved my work.i spray them with permatex high tack sealer on both sides. these new style gaskets are junk they hardly seal when new.
Stephen Newell
Well-known Member
I think it would be worth the peace of mind to purchase a new gasket. I have enough to do without risking having to do a job twice.
OregonAaron
Member
In my days on this earth I have done some terribly redneck engineered things- especially when I was younger and very broke with several young kids in the house. For the most part things worked out. Would I have done it right if I had more money? Without a doubt. For all the work and time we spend working on things in the cold or heat or whatever I wouldn't want to chance tearing it all back apart again for the cost of a gasket.
Best tell us what engine it is on and what the head gasket is made of.
I know the old copper clad head gaskets of yesteryear have been re-used. but it you are thinking something modern with higher compression, the answer is probably no.
For instance, the old metal clad head gaskets on small engines probably would work fine. I've re-used them on flathead Briggs and Kohlers, but most modern small engine head gaskets have the metal in the middle with a fiber/teflon like outer layer on both sides. These usually tear all apart when removed.
I know the old copper clad head gaskets of yesteryear have been re-used. but it you are thinking something modern with higher compression, the answer is probably no.
For instance, the old metal clad head gaskets on small engines probably would work fine. I've re-used them on flathead Briggs and Kohlers, but most modern small engine head gaskets have the metal in the middle with a fiber/teflon like outer layer on both sides. These usually tear all apart when removed.
I have reused a head gasket on a John Deere 620. The tractor had swallowed a choke butterfly screw. That little screw made a terrible noise. Sounded like a rod or main bearing had given out. Dug the screw out of the aluminum piston and put it back together. Now a couple things. First, I had heard of reusing head gaskets. Second, the head gasket was in like new shape. I believe it was metal on both sides. I had installed it in this tractor about 10 years before. I cleaned it up with a scotch pad. Thirdly, if it didn't work it would only take me a couple hours to replace it. Plus, the tractor is only used around the farmstead. I probably wouldn't consider reusing a head gasket on a higher compression engine and certainly not a diesel. I did spray a couple coats of Copper Coat gasket sealer on the gasket allowing it to dry some between and after the last coat. Worked fine and it didn't even have the occasional John Deere 2 cylinder antifreeze leak across the top of the head/block!
It would depend a lot on what the head was on if it takes a 1/2 a day to get to the head I would never ever try it unless I was on episode of macgyver and need to escape Pakistan or something . If its right out in the open where you can pop the head off in 30 minutes Id try it
old
Well-known Member
- Location
- Camdenton Missouri
Back around 1977 my dad had a Gravely brush hog walk behind machine. It has a single cylinder engine. I was home on leave from the Navy and the neighbor had borrowed it. They could not get it to run. I looked at it and one of the valve had stuck open again. Ha that problem a number of times. I pulled the head off and freed up the valve. I then started to put the head back on using the used head gasket. There where a couple of high school kid watching me and they said you can't do that the head gasket will never seal. They where in the high school shop class. I told them watch and learn. At the time I was maybe 19 or 20. It by the way worked just fine
Destroked 450
Well-known Member
- Location
- Harned, Ky
I've done it a few times, one was a race engine that had less than 2 hours run time when it destroyed a lifter, metal particles were everywhere so we pulled it part to clean everything and replace the scratched up bearings, while reassembling it one night before a race we realized we had forgot to pick up new gaskets, so we put it together with the old ones, the head gaskets were Felpro and we sprayed some sealer on them and didn't have any issues
The other two were fresh engines, one had a carburetor nut dropped into the intake, it rolled thru a open valve and dropped onto a piston, we pulled the head, removed the nut and bolted the head back on using the same head gasket.
The last was my 5.9 Cummins, we had the head torqued down when I remembered we hadn't checked piston parturition so we had to pull the head back off, The block has been milled so a .010 thicker head gasket was required, that head gasket had cost $165 so we sprayed some copper coat on it and reinstalled it, still holding today.
I've used cheap aluminum spray paint several times with complete success. The smaller HP Kohler engines used in Cub Cadets were prone to warping the heads, BAD! I've even seen the blocks warp. I got to the point where I'd buy 2-3 head gaskets at a time for the 7 hp K161 in our '65 #70 CC, Dad didn't have ANYTHING that was really a flat machined surface, couldn't sand it flat, Machine shop in town wanted this stuff called MONEY that I didn't have much of either. But 3 coats of aluminum paint and assembled with paint still wet, and it lasted over a year mowing TWO big farm yards, probably 2-3 acres each including all the road banks. I got so I could replace a head gasket in a bit less than a half hour with hand tools. Dad did have a torque wrench so they were properly installed. This was about 1968/'69. The engine was rebuilt or replaced every three years.
Welding man
Well-known Member
- Location
- West Virginia
Gas maybe--Diesel NO. An old timer mechanic friend of mine, that never worked on anything but 6 cylinder Chevys said he used to soak his in the bath tub in Hot water. I'm sure that made his wife happy.
Crazy Horse
Well-known Member
WM .... well he should have waited till she was finished her bath !!!
I have never heard of a head gasket being anything except metal so how can soaking one do anything? Cork gaskets normal to soak them to get them to stretch and flex to fit without breaking. I can possibly see that on paper gaskets as well. But no way I can see soaking metal will do anything.
dr sportster
Well-known Member
If copper you can heat them and anneal them and reuse. Aluminum paint is the go to sealer in 1940s manuals
I have heard an old timer explaining me that he used to put head gasket in bowled linseed oil and reused them during the WW2 area.
Also, the quite recent Deere 4620 manual said about torquing head "if a new head gasket is used," this means that for Deere it was still OK to reuse them.
Also, the quite recent Deere 4620 manual said about torquing head "if a new head gasket is used," this means that for Deere it was still OK to reuse them.
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