- Jul 22, 2015
- 2,724
Figured I'd post this here, because someone as anal as I am will ask about this, eventually...
I replaced the oil cooler gasket in my Sierra 6.0L today. Fel-Pro # is 72462. It's the one with the dual 'portholes' (the one with the large oval opening is for engines with *no* cooler, using a block-off plate).
Anyway...the old one came off, and it was perfectly flat on both sides.
However - the Fel-Pro gasket had a convex / concave arrangement.
??? Does it make a difference which side to orient where ???
According to Fel-Pro, unless they specifically label the gasket, or it's asymmetrical (for example: coolant bypass outlet on a t-stat gasket) - 'no - it does not matter'. This concerns all of their gaskets, not just this one.
I could find no other info elsewhere concerning this (well, I did find some info on a google patent archive, although it did not suggest which orientation would be correct.)
Since the gasket seals bidirectional passages, logic said to me (?) that I was just as likely to 'pick right' if I were to flip a coin. That being said, I'll record here that I oriented the convex side toward the cooler, and the concave side toward the block. If it leaks afterward, I'll repeat the exercise, in reverse (and I'll try to remember to come back here and notate that it failed.)
The cooler looks to be aluminum; the LQ4 is an iron block. Any expansion is going to be on the cooler side. I suppose that's as good a reason as any for the orientation I chose.
I'll make a separate thread concerning the actual install of the oil cooler gasket, and keep this 'on point', relative to the title.
I replaced the oil cooler gasket in my Sierra 6.0L today. Fel-Pro # is 72462. It's the one with the dual 'portholes' (the one with the large oval opening is for engines with *no* cooler, using a block-off plate).
Anyway...the old one came off, and it was perfectly flat on both sides.
However - the Fel-Pro gasket had a convex / concave arrangement.
??? Does it make a difference which side to orient where ???
According to Fel-Pro, unless they specifically label the gasket, or it's asymmetrical (for example: coolant bypass outlet on a t-stat gasket) - 'no - it does not matter'. This concerns all of their gaskets, not just this one.
I could find no other info elsewhere concerning this (well, I did find some info on a google patent archive, although it did not suggest which orientation would be correct.)
Since the gasket seals bidirectional passages, logic said to me (?) that I was just as likely to 'pick right' if I were to flip a coin. That being said, I'll record here that I oriented the convex side toward the cooler, and the concave side toward the block. If it leaks afterward, I'll repeat the exercise, in reverse (and I'll try to remember to come back here and notate that it failed.)
The cooler looks to be aluminum; the LQ4 is an iron block. Any expansion is going to be on the cooler side. I suppose that's as good a reason as any for the orientation I chose.
I'll make a separate thread concerning the actual install of the oil cooler gasket, and keep this 'on point', relative to the title.
