About tired of changing the thermostat gasket.

[98BLKGT]

The first time I changed the thermostat gasket I used RTV on both sides and it leaked. Next, I used the "sticker" gasket and rtv on the engine side. Now thats showing a small leak. What am I doing wrong?
Is it possible to over torque the bolts?
The water neck was nice and smooth and so was the block.

 

[red95gtconvert]

When I do mine I glue the thermostat to the housing by using a small amount of black RTV on the inside of the housing, next I will smear a small amount on both sides of the gasket and stick it over the thermostat and housing, let it tack up for 15 minutes and bolt it down. I tighten the bolts until they are tight but not super tight because it is no fun to strip out a bolt hole. Good luck.

 

[4G-KDMP]

i think there is a small notch in the thermostat housing so the small hole in the thermostat can set at 12 o'clock. could be the thermostat isn't fitting in the housing correct and not letting the housing pull up tight.

 

[TomCat]

Is it the stock thermo housing? Like I've said before, I had a Spectre one that must have warped after getting hot a few times... it would leak no matter what I did. Got a new housing and all my problems were gone.