I've been hearing good things about Corteco gaskets. They look very interesting. They are fully encased with a special silicone surface to help seal better. They're the same price as Fel-Pro gaskets, so I was wondering if anybody has any experience with them? Or should I be a guinea pig and try them out?
You can read more about how they're made in this PDF file.
Casey
[ 02-23-2005, 11:33 AM: Message edited by: arveetek ]
If you check out the PARENT COMPANY website, you see that the partners have been around for a long time.
The concepts described in the tech data are reasonable, and I like the explanation that "a white gasket can't hide defects".
Casey, if you go ahead as the Beta Test Site for TheDieselPage.com, I predict you will be pleased with the performance.
Dr. Lee :cool:
Thanks for the opinion good doctor! I was very intrigued by the whole white gasket concept when I discovered the company in Motor magazine. I contacted the company and got the part numbers for 6.2L gaskets, and contacted a distributor in Kansas City where I got the prices: around $33 a piece.
Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.
Casey
I ordered two Corteco head gasket and head bolt kits yesterday. Total with tax came to $124.03.
Can't wait to get started!
Casey
I received my head gaskets today, but I was quite suprised to find orange Detroit Gaskets in the box instead of the white Corteco gaskets I had ordered.
I had looked up the part # for the 6.2L diesel on Corteco's website, got a dealer listing directly from Corteco, ordered that part # from the Corteco dealer, and received the orange "sticky" Detroit gaskets we've already heard about.
The box doesn't mention the name Corteco anywhere, but it shows the same part # as on the Corteco website. It says "Detroit Gasket, a division of Indian Head Industries, Inc." I looked on the Corteco website along with its parent company's website, and I don't see any mention of Detroit Gasket or Indian Head Industries. Obviously this company is owned and operated by Corteco or its parent company somewhere.
The Detroit Gasket is orange, not white, and is said to be a "Coldseal" coated cylinder head gasket, and that "Coldseal Gaskets" are a Detroit Gasket exclusive. This sounds very similar to the Corteco "White Seal Technology" marketed on the Corteco website. Hmmmm....very interesting.
Anyway, I've heard that the Diesel Depot uses Detroit Gaskets in their rebuilt engines, but I've never heard about where you actually get them. Now I know.
The orange Detroit Gaskets are part # 20654CS and sell for $33.19 each. I bought mine from Leaverton Auto Supply in St. Joseph, MO, 816-279-7483. They shipped them directly to my home very quickly, and I'm very pleased with their service.
And here I thought that I had discovered something new and extraordinary! [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Casey
Did you have to contact them to get a list of suppliers to find who to order from? I am helping a friend put his motor together and he wants to use something other than felpro and likes the "sticky" gasket concept. The only problem is I can't find a place to get the gaskets that is nearby.
Yes, I contacted Corteco through their website, and they emailed me a list of "local" retailers. They gave me two places, one near Kansas City, MO, and the other in Alabama. I'm guessing they don't have a huge amount of retailers in the Midwest.Quote:
Originally posted by dieseldummy:
Did you have to contact them to get a list of suppliers to find who to order from? I am helping a friend put his motor together and he wants to use something other than felpro and likes the "sticky" gasket concept. The only problem is I can't find a place to get the gaskets that is nearby.
You can order them through the auto supply I mentioned in the post above, probably wouldn't take but a couple of days to reach you.
Casey
I just realized that I had better post and let ya'll know that these orange Detroit Gaskets are not, in fact, literally "sticky." They are fully encased in some kind of silicone, but they aren't sticky to the touch. They're rather slick, like normal head gaskets. I'm not sure where the term "sticky" originated from, but I imagine it refers to the ability of the gaskets to seal better than standard gaskets, not that they're sticky to the touch.
Just wanted to clarify. I'm still convinced they're better than standard Fel-Pro gaskets.
Casey
The "Diesel Depot" engine I just got came with Fel-Pro gaskets...it was mentioned that "Diesel Depot" uses the "Sticky Orange" Detroit Gaskets. So, I called and asked Benny, at the Diesel Depot, about it. I thought his answer may be of interest to all here. He said that they used them, and pushed them, based on the claims of the manufacturer. Benny said that they will NOT use them ever again because they had a large number of engines returned in the first six months after beginning to use them. He said it was $50K worth of engines that failed, and the manufacturer refused to take any responsibility. He said that they went back to Fel-Pro gaskets, and they have had no more problems. "Diesel Depot" will use nothing but Fel-Pro. Benny said that there is in-sufficient strength and re-inforcement in the "Sticky Orange" gaskets, and they simply fail. I asked him about the Corteco "White Gaskets"; he said that they are the same as the "Sticky Orange" and he would never use them. He said that if you use the Fel-Pro, you will never have a problem. Hope that this didn't come too late for anyone here!
Well that stinks! I haven't started any repairs yet, so at least I won't have to redo anything. I'll have to research this a little more....
Thanks for the information.
Casey
while on the subject of head gaskets has anyone used the thicker felpro head gasket to lower the compression some when rebuilding the engine for a turbo?
My friend got the same story from Benny as well... HERE is a complete gasket set for a GM diesel on ebay that is made by corteco...
Hi I have worked for a leading gasket manufacture for about 15 years now, before that I owned my a Napa auto parts store with an auto machine shop attached to it. I remember years ago when everyone wanted the blue head gaskets ( Felpro).
What most were doing then was to coat the gaskets with a teflon based layer, We were doing it because it let the OEM manufactures do an air test on the engine before installing it into the vehicle. Most of the teflon in the combustion area burns off from the combustion temps. Now most of the oem's are gong to multi-layered steel gaskets with coatings in certain areas to promote better sealing and to get the gasket to last thru the warrenty period. As most of you know with the overseas manufactures extending the warrenty periods the big three had to follow. What it boils down to is that most of the gasket makers are doing about the same thing with the coatings but some are better at addressing failure prone areas than others. They can change colors and such but it still boils down to surface prep and straightness of machined surfaces, along with a well made gasket and always use new head bolts. Am glad to get information about gasket failures because I certainely don't want to use a brand that has that type of history.
Phil
Darkroad
Okay, I talked to Benny Avant yesterday, and ya'll are correct, in that he said that the Detroit Gaskets are basically junk, and in his opinion, should never be used.
I'm glad I found this out before I installed them!
Looks like Fel-Pro is the only way to go.
On another note, anybody want to buy a brand new set of orange Detroit Gaskets? :rolleyes: [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Casey
I'd talk to em and see about a refund. From talking to Benny, the manufacturer of the gaskets hasn't been willing to help The Diesel Depot out for all the returned engines that had these gaskets fail on them. For that sour treatment, they can just have those gaskets back.
I called Leaverton Auto this morning, and they were very nice and said I could return the gaskets. I didn't try to explain that I decided the gaskets were defective, or anything like that, I just simply said that circumstances had changed and that I no longer needed the parts that I had ordered. They said it was no problem.
So, I've boxed up the Detroit gaskets and Detroit head bolts, and I'm shipping them back. The head bolts were probably okay, I mean, how could you make defective bolts? But I'm not taking any chances, I'm using Fel-Pro.
My local auto supply, whom I deal a lot with, said I could take both the 6.2L and 6.5L gaskets with me, and return which ever set I didn't use. I won't know until I take the engine apart exactly which way I'll be going, but this way I won't have to wait a day or two to get the right parts since they don't stock many diesel parts.
Fel-Pro gaskets and head bolts are on the way!
Casey
Casey,
Thats great that they took them back, even better that you didn't have to find out the hard way about these gaskets! I'm a Fel-pro user myself, and this convinced me to stay that way. Another thing, I think that the Fel-pro gaskets are really reasonably priced, the 6.5L Blue gaskets I last bought were 20 a piece locally in stock, and the bolts were 17 per box.
Hello. Some time back I mentioned that we, at the Diesel Depot, were using Detroit head gaskets. We honestly felt at the time that the Detroit gaskets were comparable to the Fel-pro gaskets. Boy were we wrong! The decision to use the Detroit gaskets literally cost us thousands and thousands of dollars from warranty claims. The gaskets would leak at relatively low mileage and appearance wise they looked as if they had 300k miles. We have been using strickly Fel-pro gaskets for several years now and I can honestly say that I don't remember a blown head gasket warranty claim since. So to make a long story short, USE FEL-PRO HEAD GASKETS.
Thanks,
Jamie Avant
Diesel Depot
I had recommended those orange gaskets, as well - the silicone "sticky", observed in humid heat of Texas summer, would probably not be as apparent in winter ambients.
I cannot say as to failure, as the 6.2 was in service only a week, before I began the 6.5TD conversion.
And, Detroit Gasket is\was Detroit Diesel, GM Division and co-designer of the 6.2\6.5 - mother knows best, right?
Who knew?
But that sticky orange sure did look good, goin' down........ ;)