I would not go with the 3m sealants by themselves... ie, intead of the gasket .. if that is what you mean .
What was the gasket made out of ?
IF cork I always COAT the gasket with the 3m sealant... all sides... which means doing one surface at a time and letting it cure before doing the rest. This really gives a great gasket.
Even with rubber gaskets I glue them to the part which is movable ... that means NOT the engine block... the pan or the valve cover gets the gasket glued to it...
I use what is called ' yellow death' ... a search will bring up other threads about this topic... then when putting together always coat the surfaces with clean oil if they are oil items.. ( no oil on paper water pump gaskets for instance )....
It sounds like you put a new pan on (?)... all pans should be checked for flatness at the sealing surface... not always easy to do...
The most common cause of gasket failure is over torquing of bolts... or not using the cross pattern tightening.... also run a tap into all the holes to be sure they are clean.. any little item in the threads messes up the torquing accuracy.
Naturally all the bolts need to be clean ...