So I recently bought my 1994 dodge 1500 and want to go through everything possible to put new. In this quest, I noticed my truck was always running around 220 degrees. I wanted to get it closer to 185-190. I bought a new thermostat and gasket and went to town. Took everything off, cleaned the surface, and replaced. When I went to add coolant, it seemed as though there was a huge leak, poring coolant on the ground. I went back cleaned everything back up and bought a new gasket and hi-temp rvt. I replaced it setting the adhesive side of the gasket on the thermostat and then hi-temp sealant. Tried refilling and now I still have a leak. It's not as bad, but still a leak. It seems as though the leak is through the adhesive/cardboard gasket. This is very frustrating! Does anyone have any ideas?

 

base of your housing may not be good may need to be cleaned up not allowing it to seal

 

I felt that I was able to get the housing super clean before reinstalling. It looked as though its never been changed before this. Could the housing be warped preventing a good seal? Or should I try not using a paper gasket at all and just use rvt?

 

The bolt isn't bottoming out before the housing is sealing is it?

 

That I'm not sure of, ill check it out, any ideas of how to see for sure if it is or not?

 

Could try torquing it down a little more or just start all over again, making sure surfaces are good and clean.