Of all the engine components and other parts of a car, the gaskets are the most concealed ones as they are placed between components. Although this might make them invisible to inexperienced people, it doesn't make them insignificant. Gaskets are the bridge that provides the necessary insulation for components to be able to work together.
Without even a single gasket the engine wouldn't be able to work at its best. It would still operate but you would feel it struggling at a certain point. Car gaskets are found anywhere where you can find oil moving around. They're mostly found in the engine but other parts of your vehicle can have gaskets too.
Why Are Gaskets Needed?
Heat
Apart from making your engine run properly, gaskets are also needed to distribute heat. This is usually the case for heat going from the cylinder block to the head block. These are one of the most important automotive gaskets since they also help prevent leaks.
Leaks
Leaks can occur anywhere where you have fluid running around. Oil is the main fluid, a car gasket is used to prevent leaks as you don't want oil to enter the radiator. Gaskets also prevent oil from getting into the combustion chamber and they also help maintain the density of the oil itself. Especially during the compression process as engine gaskets also help provide a tight chamber for better compression.
Pressure
Quite an important yet often overlooked factor of internal combustion is pressure. It's needed to build up the compression inside the engine and thus burn the fuel needed to propel your vehicle. Well, automotive gaskets help with building pressure too since they already make for a tight fit so that air doesn't escape and the pressure doesn't drop.
Types of Gaskets
Valve Cover
A valve cover engine gasket is what provides the seal between the cylinder head and valve cover. This engine gasket helps protect the cylinder head hardware from getting damaged or oil seeping out of the engine.
Oil Pan
The oil pan gasket is a bolt-on gasket that provides the necessary seal to the connection of the engine block and oil pan. This gasket ensures that the oil goes through the engine smoothly and without it leaking out.
Exhaust Manifold
An exhaust manifold gasket helps seal the gap found between the cylinder head and the exhaust manifold. The exhaust manifold gasket helps prevent leaks from the exhaust and it also ensures that exhaust gasses flow through the catalytic converter.
Intake Manifold
The intake manifold gasket is one that seals the gap between the intake manifold and the cylinder head. With this type of car gasket, you're able to prevent coolant, oil and air from leaking when fuel combustion happens. An intake manifold gasket also helps maintain the temperature inside the chamber
Cylinder Head
The seal between the cylinder head and the engine block is provided by the cylinder head gasket. A cylinder head engine gasket is able to prevent gasses caused by the combustion process from entering the cooling system. It also prevents any fluid leaks and loss of pressure.
Pump
As you'd expect the pump gasket is used for the fuel pump and it's made to prevent water, oil, petrol as well as coolant from mixing together. Pump gaskets come made from all kinds of materials and they can also be treated to improve their properties.
Automotive Gasket Materials
Rubber
Being one of the most versatile materialism rubber makes for versatile gaskets too. Rubber gaskets are resistant to heat and they are used on drains just like the one found on the oil drain plug. The thermostat also has rubber gaskets so that when the coolant gets in contact with them it doesn't make them expand or flex.
Fabric-Coated Graphite
When hot water and steam are present fabric-coated graphite gaskets are the ideal solution. They also offer great heat resistance as well as in alkaline and acidic conditions.
Metal
Solid metal gaskets are commonly found on the manifold as they don't go bad that quickly and can be reused too. Metal gaskets are more resistant to heat than rubber and graphite ones but they are not as versatile when it comes to alkaline and acidic conditions. Therefore you can clean the exhaust pipe with a light solvent and put the gasket back on as long as it's not pitted or cracked.
There are also flat metal gaskets that have a solid ring with dots that are compressed into it. This design is what allows the heat in the gasket to disperse. The reason why this is not a solid metal gasket is due to its position on the exhaust pipe.
Copper-Coated
A copper-coated Asbek gasket is one that has an asbestos layer made of two ting sheets of copper and steel. This type of gasket is extremely good at handling high temperatures. If you want to avoid any kind of leakage, a copper-coated gasket is the best option.
