"Hondabond HT" vs other silicone sealants

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The service manual for my Civic calls for using "Hondabond" to seal various things (e.g. the corners of the valve cover gasket). I'm going to need to do one of those things soon (preferably this weekend) so I did some price checking.

A tube of this stuff is $18 (!) at my local dealer and about $9 online from on place I checked with $7 shipping. I consider this essentially a wash. I could order more stuff to amortize the shipping cost but I don't think I really need anything else right now. In an effort to enable the job this weekend, I'd like to just get something local.

So my question is, what's so special about Hondabond? Can I just get some "normal" silicone sealant at an auto parts store instead? If I have to pony up the $18 I will, but I don't really want to waste the money if there's no advantage. To be fair, the stuff does seem to be pretty good from what I've read on various forums.
 
The closest is the gray Permatex. It will work just as well when installing and will seal just as well.

However, the Honda stuff is incredibly easy to remove. It sticks to itself and pulls off in one easy piece, and makes it a lot more likely that you'll be able to re-use the rubber valve cover gasket. You don't have to scrape it off either of the mating surfaces.

So, if you plan on opening back up whatever you're sealing, I'd go for the Honda stuff.
 
Originally Posted By: JOD
The closest is the gray Permatex. It will work just as well when installing and will seal just as well.

However, the Honda stuff is incredibly easy to remove. It sticks to itself and pulls off in one easy piece, and makes it a lot more likely that you'll be able to re-use the rubber valve cover gasket. You don't have to scrape it off either of the mating surfaces.

So, if you plan on opening back up whatever you're sealing, I'd go for the Honda stuff.


If you're ever going to open it up again, this seems worth the extra price.
 
Thanks, that's exactly the type of information I'm looking for. I have to assume I will be opening this up again -- so it sounds like it's worth the extra $10.
 
Hondabond is good stuff, however I've been using RTV on the VC gasket corners for over 15 years without any problem. I do use Honda specific sealants on oil pans...not sure it's necessary as I have to special order it from my local Honda dealer as they don't use or stock it.
 
A premium O2 sensor safe RTV obtained at an auto parts store will work great.


Note that you will have more weight - in your wallet!
 
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