Thread sealer on water pump bolts

[SBSerpent]

Originally Posted by blykins

No thread sealant.

I also remove the backing plate and make sure the gasket has sealant on both sides, then tighten the bolts correctly.

I installed a new w/p and after a week of driving, noticed a tiny drip of coolant at the bottom of the pump on the drivers side. Can't say for sure, but it appears to be coming from between the backing plate and w/p. I never took the backing plate off to add Permatex but the 4 fasteners holding the plate onto the w/p appeared to be tightened properly at the factory.

So the recommended step that I missed was to remove the backing plate and add Permatex to both sides of that gasket...and that is why I now have a leak??