SuzukiSavage.com - Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Residue

Digger Serious Thumper 2005 No Login Offline Ya gotta be tough to ride singles! Posts: 1604 Colorado Springs, CO Gender:	Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Residue 07/10/09 at 20:27:50 What do ya'll use for stripping old silicone gasket residue from engine parts (e.g. the cylinder head cover mating surfaces)? I tried to source some Permatex Silicone Stripper locally, but nobody carries it and most people I talked to think it's been dropped from Permatex's product line. Ideas?
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Boule’tard Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline Master of the Obvious Posts: 1620 Austin TX Gender:	Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid Reply #1 - 07/10/09 at 20:44:05 You can still get the Permatex stuff off Amazon here but if you don't want to order anything, there's also mineral spirits or caulk remover from Home Depot, and oven cleaner is also rumoured to work.
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ero4444 Full Member Offline weekender Posts: 176	Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid Reply #2 - 07/11/09 at 06:46:16 Oven-cleaner etches aluminum like our blocks so I would avoid it unless nothing else worked.
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Boule’tard Serious Thumper ModSquad Offline Master of the Obvious Posts: 1620 Austin TX Gender:	Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid Reply #3 - 07/11/09 at 09:27:51 Agreed. Etching may or may not help with the bonding of the new gasket, and if it made the bond worse, it would take a lot of work to buff the etch off. So the oven cleaner is best left as a last resort.
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Digger

Serious Thumper
2005 No Login

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Ya gotta be tough to
ride singles!

Posts: 1604
Colorado Springs, CO
Gender: male

Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid
Reply #4 - 07/11/09 at 19:58:32

Some good ideas and information.

I tried some different things today I already had in the garage.

Coleman fuel (white gas) works OK, as does brake cleaner spray. You need a little elbow grease the get all of the silicone residue off, but I'd rather work a little than have another product in my garage that goes bad before I can use all of it.

Thanks for the answers!

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
I don't own a cage.
www.astronautbiker.com

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Digger

Serious Thumper
2005 No Login

Offline

Ya gotta be tough to
ride singles!

Posts: 1604
Colorado Springs, CO
Gender: male

Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid
Reply #5 - 07/13/09 at 18:53:11

Final update:

I found some Permatex® Silicone Stripper Gasket Remover locally. (Here's the TDS.)

It is easy to use and did not seem that caustic. I used it and followed up with some brake cleaner spray and it looks as if all traces of the silicone gasket sealant (Permatex Ultra Copper) I used last time are gone. It cost less than $6.00, so I can recommend it (if you can find it).

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Digger
2001, Metallic Glacial Blue, Raptor Petcock, Verslavy (first hole) (otherwise, mechanically, the bike is stock), 13,xxx miles
I don't own a cage.
www.astronautbiker.com

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vhfkid

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Thumpin' in ETEX

Posts: 138
East Texas
Gender: male

Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid
Reply #6 - 07/14/09 at 13:33:48

Digger wrote on 07/11/09 at 19:58:32:

Some good ideas and information.

I tried some different things today I already had in the garage.

Coleman fuel (white gas) works OK, as does brake cleaner spray. You need a little elbow grease the get all of the silicone residue off, but I'd rather work a little than have another product in my garage that goes bad before I can use all of it.

Thanks for the answers!

I have the same greasy elbow, but I used isoproply alcohol (rubbing alcohol 99.9% pure) it's probably not as good as the silicone remover, but a little work and my head cover was clean. You can get the 92 or 95% stuff at most drugstores.

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serenity3743 Serious Thumper Offline Striving to better, oft we mar what's well Posts: 778 Black Mountain, NC Gender:	Re: Chemically Stripping Old Silicone Gasket Resid Reply #7 - 07/15/09 at 11:02:45 I'm pretty sure there's some "silicone strippers" at our local gentlemen's club.
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