Hylomar or Something Else?

After reading 79 pages of information on gasket sealers for the KZ-1000 oil pan my eyes are wacky. It seems that there is a bit of disagreement on when or when not to use gasket sealers on almost every gasket in a Z/KZ engine, but the one I am concerned about right now is the oil pan. I decided to take it off to quell my suspicion of parts and pieces laying in the bottom of the pan so off she came yesterday. No big deal really as the exhaust is off already, but the gasket removal is a real beotch! Been working on this for a good 4 hours and only have about 2/3 rds of the block finished. The pan is sitting in my parts tank soaking. No parts to speak of in the pan, but there was an incredible amount of sludge in it. I haven't seen that much sludge since working on Ford big block pig motors back in the 70's. I wondered why my fresh oil looked so dirty after only running it about 50 miles, now I know.

Anyway, I would like to install the pan and gasket in the best manner using a sealer, or not, that allows easier removal and surface cleaning. Does anyone have any recommendations for me? I read in my forum search and several people suggested something called Hylomar, but I don't know what it is, nor have I ever seen it. Are there different types of Hylomar for various applications? Years back we used to coat gaskets that we wanted to reuse with a very thin coat of bearing grease, but I don't know about doing that on the oil pan. Thanks as always. Oh, here is a pic of the inside of my oil pan.

Rick H.

I would simply follow the instructions in the Kawasaki Service Manual. According to the KZ1000 manual the oil pan does not require sealant but I believe it should have a new gasket installed. Of course, that assumes there has not been any damage when removing the old gasket. Ed

If the gasket surface is clean and you use an OEM gasket the pan won't leak if you install the gasket dry.

Great! Thanks gentlemen....

Rick H.

Opinions are like a$$holes, everyone's got one!!!

Here's mine on this subject. The only thing I have ever used on O.E.M. fiber gaskets is K&W CopperCoat since back in the early 70's. The brush on type, not that spray on stuff. Hope you don't have the newer orange colored pan gasket. They do not seal anywhere near as good as the older grayish/black colored gaskets!!! I hate doing pan gaskets on the bike. The oil seems to run down onto the gasket surface no matter how much you try to keep it free of oil. I used to spray a bunch of carb cleaner up above the gasket area and then wipe it down with paper toweling and hurry up and put the pan and gasket in place and tighten up all those pan bolts before more oil ran down onto the gasket!!!!

Use no sealant on new paper/ card gaskets.
Just coat both sides with grease to aid settlement and ease of removal and re-use in the future.

Dry is good , or grease them up...
I would be more concerned with all that sludge after only 50 miles.
Ring blow by ? Need new valve guide seals ???? NO air cleaner ???????
Dave

Street Fighter LTD wrote: Dry is good , or grease them up...
I would be more concerned with all that sludge after only 50 miles.
Ring blow by ? Need new valve guide seals ???? NO air cleaner ???????
Dave

Dave: Perhaps my post was somewhat confusing. What I meant to say was that the sludge was in the motor when I bought the bike, I just didn't know it until I dropped the oil pan. The previous owner swore that he had changed the oil a week or two before he sold the bike to me. The oil looked really dirty in the inspection window when I got the bike so I decided to change it right after I got the bike. When I decided to finally drop the pan and I drained the oil I was surprised how dirty it was when I had only put about 50 miles on the bike after I changed the oil. Once I dropped the pan and saw all the sludge I realized why my fresh oil became so dirty so quickly.
Rick H.

Years ago my next door neighbor was rebuilding an aircraft engine in his garage. I wandered over one evening to see how things were going and saw a large container of Hylomar. He said he used it on all the gaskets . I immediately figured if it was good enough for a plane engine it should be great for a Z1. I’ve been using it ever since. Everywhere except the head gasket. If you get some use the ‘advanced formula’. The regular stuff has a carrier the has to evaporate before reassembly. AF can be assembled right away. YMMV.

Hylormar is good stuff. It was recommended, and I used it, when rebuilding a Mazda rotary engine. The question though is whether or not ANY sealer is needed on a pan gasket?

If you don’t want it to leak, use Hylomar.

Zeerx wrote: If you don’t want it to leak, use Hylomar.

Is there a certain type of Hylomar one should use? I think they make several different formulas. And can you get a gasket off using this stuff without resorting to a jackhammer? I don't know what was on the pan gasket I took off, but I think I spent about 4 or 5 hours getting the gasket off the engine case. At my age that can feel like an eternity all contorted over trying to see under the bike while it's on my lift.

Rick H.