Caleb Steel
Junior Member
2011 Ram 1500 SLT 4.7
Hello. I noticed today that my timing cover seal and my water pump gasket were both leaking a small amount of coolant. It wasn't enough to notice on the coolant level, but I kept smelling coolant in the engine bay and I finally saw it.
I'll cut right to the chase here. I purchased the only listed timing cover seal kit (Fel-Pro, in this case), and I am thoroughly unimpressed. I watched a video where a guy had a 4.7 that called for the new style seal kit, and he instead purchased a seal kit listed for an earlier 4.7 variant. In case I've lost anyone here, the issue is where the old style kit included an actual gasket that sealed the entire outside edge of the timing cover, the new style kit has some dinky little o-rings for the water channels, and a couple of tubes of RTV silicone to make the outer seal. The idea is at the specified 43 ft/lbs of torque, the o-rings compress to the same thickness as the healthy bead of sealant you apply around the edge. The issue, as any rational person may infer, is that when you're leaned over the bumper trying to get the timing cover in place without knocking off your silicone, gravity has its way with the little o-rings. I even tried to tack them down with RTV but it wasn't good enough.
I didn't even want to try it because it just seemed stupid. Then I read in the factory service manual that that was the correct kit, and it made the process seem like a piece of cake. Not for me. I really thought I had all three o-rings in place, and I had most of my bolts in when I ran into one of the o-rings, sitting directly over a hole. So, I don't know what our Mopar friends were thinking, but this is asinine.
I've seen several things about people using the old style seal kit on the new 4.7s. Can anyone confirm that there are not any negative consequences in doing that?
Thanks.
Hello. I noticed today that my timing cover seal and my water pump gasket were both leaking a small amount of coolant. It wasn't enough to notice on the coolant level, but I kept smelling coolant in the engine bay and I finally saw it.
I'll cut right to the chase here. I purchased the only listed timing cover seal kit (Fel-Pro, in this case), and I am thoroughly unimpressed. I watched a video where a guy had a 4.7 that called for the new style seal kit, and he instead purchased a seal kit listed for an earlier 4.7 variant. In case I've lost anyone here, the issue is where the old style kit included an actual gasket that sealed the entire outside edge of the timing cover, the new style kit has some dinky little o-rings for the water channels, and a couple of tubes of RTV silicone to make the outer seal. The idea is at the specified 43 ft/lbs of torque, the o-rings compress to the same thickness as the healthy bead of sealant you apply around the edge. The issue, as any rational person may infer, is that when you're leaned over the bumper trying to get the timing cover in place without knocking off your silicone, gravity has its way with the little o-rings. I even tried to tack them down with RTV but it wasn't good enough.
I didn't even want to try it because it just seemed stupid. Then I read in the factory service manual that that was the correct kit, and it made the process seem like a piece of cake. Not for me. I really thought I had all three o-rings in place, and I had most of my bolts in when I ran into one of the o-rings, sitting directly over a hole. So, I don't know what our Mopar friends were thinking, but this is asinine.
I've seen several things about people using the old style seal kit on the new 4.7s. Can anyone confirm that there are not any negative consequences in doing that?
Thanks.
