I am assembling my engine and have a gasket set that provides a cork/rubber gasket for the oil pan/block interface. My Haynes manual says to use RTV adn doesn't mention anything about a gasket.

Gasket? RTV? or both?

I used rtv the 3rd time i did it on my 2.5L this is after 2 years. When i used the gaskets, it would eventually leak on me.
In chiltons it says to use 3/16" wide rtv all around the oil pan and 3/8 on the area by the flywheel.

speeder, do you use red (hi temp), blue or black?

I rebuilt the 2.5 in our 84se last year and used the black rtv on the oil pan. It now has about 10,000 mi. on the rebuild and has not ever leaked. You just have to make sure the mating surfaces are very clean. I use laquer thinner to clean them right before applying the rtv. Some of the sealers say to assemble immediately, others say to wait till it "skins" over,(about 15 min.) Make sure you get one that says it is safe for sensors.

I used some high temp one, it had an orange color. The black ones are fine.

Remember to scrape the oil pan, and the engine block and wipe the pan off with brake clean and spray some on a clean rag and wipe the block. When putting the oilpan back in make sure you dont bumb against anything so the rtv doesn't get rubbed off.

I say toss the damn gasket. Nothing but problems. My old car had the four part gasket and was a pain to put on. My fiero is all sealent and hasn't leaked a drop!

Another trick is to not tighten the bolts all the way for a day,then go the last 1/4-1/2 turn to compress the rtv a bit.

Guys, great info. Does this also apply to the valve covers/gaskets? The old ones I took off were rubber. The new ones are cork/rubber. RTV again?

I'd go for the all rubber Fel-Pro gaskets for the valve covers,unless the cork/rubber ones are a lot cheaper,and you don't mind changing them.

For every person I've heard claim they never had a leak with just using RTV, there is another one wishing they had used gaskets because they do have a leak. I always use Fel-Pro gaskets with a VERY THIN layer of RTV on both sides. Since using this method, I've never had a leakage problem.

Do normal auto parts stores sell these Felpro gaskets for the V6? Are they very expensive? I took my heads off and will need gaskets very soon. Tks.