I-5 motor: Gasket sealer or forget about it???

[Gerard]

Here's a sad story regarding using some form of silicone sealant on the
sump gasket.

My Audi 200 had a sump leak, took it to be repaired and got a car back
with gobs of silicone sealant around the sump to block mating surface.
About an hour later there was a thunk. Car still leaked a bit so I took
it somewhere else where they replaced it with a normal cork gasket from
Audi. No more oil leaks, but oil pressure was still dodgey. I drove the
car for a long time afterwards (it being my only transport and me not
having the cashflow to have everything inspected and repaired), and then
I eventually had the engine stripped down and inspected.

I still have the oil pickup lying around at home. The metal seive is a
nice funnel shape with a big hole in it and the only conclusion I have
is that some lump of silicone was sucked through it. This was also the
warning of the mechanic who fitted the cork gasket. He said if there was
that much crap silicone hanging on the outside, just imagine the amount
hanging inside the sump. At that time I couldn't afford to have him
dismantle the engine to sort things out.

The point? Use the silicone sealant sparingly to assist the sealing of a
normal gasket on slightly uneven surfaces.

G.