In June of this year I replaced the water pump with the forum recommended Airtex unit because the original had developed a noisy bearing. Now in October it has developed a leak, a little orange blossom appearing on the passenger side of the pump. The Airtex replacement came with a thin paper gasket which I supplemented with a thin spread of RTV. I am sort of suspecting that the thermostat may be stuck in a partly open position or not fully opening but once I diagnose the cause, wondering about replacing the gasket. The only replacement available for sale that I could find is the original metal type gasket. Would it be appropriate to use the original type gasket with the Airtex pump along with a spread of RTV (given that the Airtex has no O-ring) or do I need to contact Airtex or someone else to obtain a paper gasket? Or is there another replacement pump that does indeed use the O-ring?

 

When my new AirTex leaked, like yours, I went with an ACDelco. Hasn't leaked, yet.

 

The metal gasket is 0.064 inch. The difference in height between the original stock waterpump and the Airtex is 0.061 inch. This explains why the Airtex pump came with a thin brown paper gasket that looked like it was cut from grocery bag. So I am afraid that there might be too much belt misalignment by using the metal gasket plus RTV with the Airtex pump.

The original thermostat when boiled in a pan functioned correctly so there was no pressure problem (I'll still replace it as a matter of course) but the paper gasket was dissolved at the point of the orange blossom so there was an obvious gasket failure. The two halves of the pump look like they are assembled with the same gasket material tho, so I am considering ordering the acdelco which according to the picture, uses the original style o-ring and metal gasket.

I don't think I'll buy anything from Airtex ever again. Years ago I had a brand new fuel pump fail on me in the Arizona desert. Called Airtex 800 number and they were nice about finding me a replacement pump under warranty but they didn't pay my hotel bills or towing. Then to add insult to injury, the replacement failed on the return trip and I spent four days in Tucson waiting on Fedex to deliver a Bosch pump which still works fine.

 

I keep use of RTV to a minimum because it can block small passageways. Usually I use permatex non-hardening gasket former.. It has performed very well in cooling system applications.