Originally Posted by
duneland
Silicone at the base of the Heatsink? Sounds nuts to me. The combustion chamber is sealed by the head gaskets/shims & proper torque of the head bolts. If those loosened & leaked, the only purpose the silicone could have, would be to mask the problem temporarily. It could not possibly contain the combustion pressures.
The slight surface rust on the counterweight, is nothing to worry about. Just be carefull not to nick the crank pin when cleaning up the rust.
Engine may have died from getting the air filter clogged or soaked. The rust on the crank, probably had nothing to do with your mud bogging.
Sounds nuts? He bolts on the head in the criss cross pattern and to ensure the seal is absolute, he applies a light coat of silicon around the bottom......that sounds nuts? If he is thrashing, the silicon will not mask a problem, but keep a seal long enough IN CASE the bolts loosen. If the bolts do loosen, imagine the gook and grime that could get inside WITHOUT the silicon? It wont act as an adhesive if the bolts loosen anyways, and the engine wont hold the tune as well. Doing a check, he might notice the break in the seal. And, the purpose of the silicon is to provide an additional seal, not stop rust. In that case, why do so many pros silicon seal the back plate????? I think I read it somewhere to give a better seal....oh, er, um uh, thats what I thought.