Anyone familair with Fel Pro MS98006T intake gasket

[tieoneon]

About 3 weeks ago I changed the intake gasket on my 2000 4.0L "X" engine. If you are famialir with the FP MS98006T gasket set there is no middle section that would seal between the block and the intake.
I don't know if I missed it in the instructions or maybe it wasn't there but I didn't put any sealer between the block and the intake, only in the corners where the block,heads & intake meet.
Now I have an oil leak at the back of the engine. I have several questions.

1. Do you believe the lack of sealer is causing the leak:
2. What are the chances it could it be the valve cover gasket?
3. If it is the lower intake by the head, since it's only been a few weeks, any change of removing the intake, putting sealer where the block & intake meet and reuse the intake gaskets or will I have to buy new?

I paid $128 for the first intake set but now know I can get it for about $64, but I was wondering it I could salvage the recently installed intake gasket set.

Thanks.

 

[pj8847]

Felpro used to include the "valley" gaskets, they were either cork or rubber. Both of which eventually would leak in some applications, but not all...

So the brain-stormers at Felpro decided, no more, and started supplying a tube of black sealant to use in place of these gaskets. Again, even if sealed properly, those certain applications that caused therm to change out to the sealant, STILL leaked after time... so their change was pointless. (then again, it saved them a few bucks too, and any company that can save a few bucks per part, which results in hundreds of thousands saved in volume sales, will undoubtably do it)

To answer your question though, if you installed the intake without using any sealant on the front and rear "rail" then yes, it is probably the source of your leak. You can try and re-use the gaskets since they are new, but common practice is to change them out since you already torqued them down and "squished" them, and they may now leak, even if re-torqued to spec.

There should have been a small tube of black sealant in your set, if there wasn't, then the set should be considered defective from manufacturer, and the place you bought it from needs to replace the set. (although they will probably argue that anyone doing such a job should have known to use sealant, and claim you just learned a somewhat expensive lesson. I always open gasket sets in front of the people I buy them from, so if something isn't right, or something is missing, they can't refuse to take it back since it's been "opened". On the flip side of the coin, you can argue right back that if that were the case, adequate instructions should be made available (again, were the full instructions included, or were they missing?), or the product shouldn't be sold to "DIY's" (do It Yourselfer) or over the counter, but, that is a tough argument to win...)