Thermostat housing leaks with brand new gaskets??

[Fisherman302]

Hey guys I just replaced my thermostat since I was having overheating issues. I replaced both gaskets and after I put it all back together I ran the boat on the fake a lake and noticed it leaked from both gaskets on the housing. I tighten both bolts on the top and the smart one on the back of the housing quarter turn at a time to get the leaking to stop. It did stop it a little bit but it’s still just dripping slowly from both gaskets. I didn’t want to go any tighter and strip the threads on the block.

When I took the thermostat housing apart the gaskets were absolutely cooked onto the housing I had to do some pretty aggressive scraping to get them off while still being mindful to not damage the housing.

I was wondering what the torque specs are on the bolts for the housing. Should I have added some RTV gasket sealant along with the paper gaskets? Or should I just buy a new housing?

[Engine Nut]

We installed the thermostat housing dry ... no RTV on the gaskets. The two larger bolts are torqued to 31 foot pounds and the smaller one to 17 foot pounds.

[james yarosz]

I just replaced the thermostat on my 2003 outback because the boat started running too cold. It was the original stat.The metal surfaces where the gaskets go were slightly pitted.I used permatex uitra gray silicone and new gaskets.I let it sit overnight.No leaks.BTW the original gaskets had silicone on them.

[Fisherman302]

Okay thanks for the torque specification I’ll add some permatex to the gaskets and torque to spec and let you know if it fixes the issue.