I am working on my old 1985 Mercury 35 hp SN 0A120528 that is on my old Bass Tracker. It died last week while running at full speed and steam came out the pee hole as it died. The motor seems to be fine. It started just fine once I got home but was not peeing with the hose attached. There was water coming out at the spark plugs from under the head cover.
I have taken the water pump apart to be sure the PO installed a new impeller and did it correctly. There was a gasket with a small chunk missing on the plate so I replaced that and the lower unit is now back on the engine. I also removed the head cover plate, have cleaned all the surfaces and will install the new gasket today if it arrives.
My question is should any sealer be used on the head cover plate gasket?
The old Clymer shop manual I have does not mention any sealer for installing the cover and there was none on the old gasket that I could tell. I do belive it was the original gasket since the bolts still had all their original paint.
Thanks, Charlie