Thread Sealant Question

Hi Everyone,
Just recently torqued down cylinder head. I placed sealant on bolt 1 that goes into water jacket. Now I’m second guessing myself. There was oil on thread before I applied sealant. I now realize thread should have been completely clean of oil before sealant was applied. In the event that coolant makes its way through, would it just come up out of the top of the bolt? I guess what I’m getting at is, if it is not sealed correctly, what could result? Thanks

I believe it is to prevent bolt corrosion. If there is nothing to seal the water jacket to the bolt threads there is a chance it can come up the bolt and cause rust. If it makes you feel any better i didnt put sealer on any of my bolts and i dont have anything crazy like burning coolant or water spewing out the top. But yes the threads should be clean before you put sealer on. And I do eventually plan on putting sealer on mine as well.

I forgot to put sealant on mine. Coolant boiled out past the bolt and made a mess. I had to drain, remove the bolt, clean it up, apply the sealant (some Permatex product with PFFT), refill, and try again. What sucked was I was in the middle of breaking in the cam when all of this happened.

Thanks for info guys. Tough experience cr_bobcat. Did you need to replace the head gasket as well as a result? At this point, I'm just going to go with it and hope for the best. I did put a fair amount of sealant on; although it was over an oily bolt.

I took the risk that everything was ok and didn't replace it. Not sure if that was foolish or not, but I've not had a single issue because of it. Well, at least that I'm aware of anyway....