blue ring seals on inlet manifold gasket, where should it touch?

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

The blue rings on the inlet manufold is some kind of seal I assume. It is only on one side of the gasket but the gasket can go on either way. Where should the blue seals touch? Inlet manifold or head and why?

[vanagonturbo]

it doesnt matter.

[R.O.R-2.0]

that blue sealing ring is just silicone, and it will stick to whatever surface you put it to. so i would put the blue seal towards the intake, not the head.

the intake is easy to scrape the gasket off of, the head may not be soo easy to scrape, if its still on the car..

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

Maybe because silicone won't meltit is intended to act as a heat barrier in addition to the gasket. But then again it's only a small ring... unless it has significant thickness so then the gasket would be relatively loose around it's outer edges.

[92EcoDiesel Jetta]

that blue sealing ring is just silicone, and it will stick to whatever surface you put it to. so i would put the blue seal towards the intake, not the head.

the intake is easy to scrape the gasket off of, the head may not be soo easy to scrape, if its still on the car..

The old gasket also had the blue rings and looked identical to the new gasket. It came off cleanly without sticking to either the head or the inlet manifold and left no traces of old gasket material. Looking at the marks on the old gasket, the blue rings were facing the inlet manifold so that's how I installed the new one.

[Mark(The Miser)UK]

I wonder who could have put that in wrong then?

If it did melt, then it would squirt out leaving manifold loose wouldn't it?

What's the difference between silicon, silica and silicone? Googling time...