I have a 03 X-type 2.5L looking to replace the water pump. Was wondering if a gasket cement or some kind of gasket sealer would work best or just the gasket itself.

 

Cheeto, first off, welcome to JF. Lots of good info here and lots of friendly people. But, we do ask a small favor of you. Please stop by the New Member section and tell us a little bit about yourself. We pride ourselves in being a better car group. As part of this, we like to get to know one another. I think you will find that this place is unlike most of the places where you go to find car information.

As for your question. I tend to use both, the paper gasket and some gasket maker. I tend to use the black Form-a-Gasket and what I will do is apply the Form-A-Gasket to the side of the gasket that goes against the water pump. I will then apply the gasket to the water pump. From there, you can apply a second layer of Form-A-Gasket to the side that will go against the engine block. At this point, you can move the water pump into place and not have to worry too much about the gasket moving around on you.

In the time it takes you to put in the bolts and get the car back together, the Form-A-Gasket has set and you can fill the coolant system.

 

Water pump was a success thanks for the gasket advice. only took about 1hr and 30 mins.