Metal p-gasket longevity

I have just replaced the P-gasket on my engine. I have been finding small smears of coolant down the side of the block as usual and realised that coolant loss had been increasing (I usually top up no more than 500ml at service time i.e. every six months - this time I topped up more than a litre in 4 months). This morning I found a small puddle of coolant underneath the vehicle so shelved my plans and got it done. Not a bad job. 2 hours from start to finish with the help of some pneumatic tools. This p-gasket lasted 6 years. The one before it lasted 3 years. They were all metal p-gaskets, not paper. Should I start worrying that the p-gasket failure may be attributed to something more serious, like a head gasket or am I being rude in expecting a tiny metal gasket to last for more than 6 years? BTW, I never found the p-gasket to be ruptured and the aluminium face of the water pump housing is in perfect nick. I'm very meticulous with regards to coolant quality and replacement frequency.

Last time (couple of years or so) I replaced my P gasket I smeared it with Blue Hylomar each side, it's never leaked since.

You do only need a light smear, if there are any blobs, wipe 'em off! Let it develop a skin and feel a little tacky before assembling. Technically you shouldn't need anything, but I prefer some kind of gasket goo ..

+1 for hylomar ^^^

IIRC, gasket life is listed in one of the LR documents - IIRC, head gasket life is stated to be 250K, so presumably there is a figure for the P gasket too ....?

Paul D said:

I prefer some kind of gasket goo

Click to expand...

+1 - deffo needs some goo on ...

Goo was applied. I don't trust any land rover gasket (apart from the cylinder head) without some goo.

I fitted a metal P gasket about 12 months and 12000 miles ago. It started to leak slightly after about a month. The leak, only when the engine was cold, gradually increased until I changed it again 2 weeks ago. I replaced it with a paper gasket simply because I ordered the wrong one and didn't check until I had the front end stripped down. However that might be a "save" because you could see where and why the metal gasket had failed, the aluminium housing is not perfectly flat in one corner. I decided that the paper gasket I had got would be more forgiving of the less than perfect sealing face than refitting a metal one . I will keep my eye open for a replacement housing to fit when the paper gasket fails next time.
I know that the multi layer metal head gaskets require nothing less than perfect sealing faces to work correctly, no doubt the metal P is the same.
David

Thanks guys. So I can put my mind at rest.