should there be a gasket on thermostat housing?

[Gary.pb]

I've recently bought a recon engine (1.9dg) and whilst swapping the bits over from my old engine ive become a little stuck so I'm hoping somebody can point me in the right direction. Basically between the thermostat housing and the engine there is a rubber 'o' ring. The thermostat housing I took off also had a paper gasket. Is this right? When I put on the water pump it only had on 'o' ring so I can't see why the thermostat housing would be different. Perhaps my logic is all wrong but I would of thought having an additional gasket would affect the seal on the 'o' ring. I may be way off the mark with this one but I would rather make sure I get it right as I don't want to be pulling the engine out again. I did have a look in my haynes manual but it seemed unclear

Any help would be gratefully received

[itchyfeet]

just an o ring

[silverbullet]

Late cooling system then? All sealed with O-rings.
Thermostat to head is a high-temp yellow one, 'stat cover itself sealed with a large conventional black O-ring.
No paper!

[Gary.pb]

That's exactly what I though it would be. Thanks for that.

[itchyfeet]

yellow one is hard to find, most people stock a standard black one, VWH were stocking the yellow until recently
Black will work but probablg have a shorter life.
Yellow comes with Elring gasket sets.

[itchyfeet]

I think this would be better than the black one 1mm diameter difference is nothing, bigger cross section as it should be.
Going to measure an Elring one...
https://www.vwheritage.com/shop/type25- ... StartRow=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Gary.pb]

I have got the yellow one. It came in the gasket kit that was supplied when I picked up the recon engine so I'll use that one.

Cheers for your help

[itchyfeet]

Give the head a good clean up too with fine wet and dry, o rings won't seal well without good surfaces.
You may find some pitting, need to get that smooth.