Tips to remove gasket sealant?

[peepsalot]

I need to remove some of this red permatex gasket maker crap, I'm slowly scrapiing it away with my fingers, is thre a better way? I have some on my intake manifold, and some on a thermal spacer which is a sorta plastic material, I don't want to scratch either of them by scarping with a razor or anything.

 

[Action Jackson]

I was wondering the same thing too. They might make some gasket remover.

 

[peepsalot]

I was wondering the same thing too. They might make some gasket remover.

Yeah I'm pretty sure they do too, but I don't know where to get it, and I can't exactly go anywhere without an intake manifold. (boom01)

 

[Focus]

Wire brush on a drill.

 

[Pretzellogic]

I used gasoline on the oil pan gasket. Worked well.

 

[Action Jackson]

Wire brush on a drill.

I tried a dremel with the wire wheel. It melted the Permatex gasket and the wheel got coated with it.

 

[BlkZoomZoom]

They make plastic razor blades. Also they make gasket scrapers that you can use on painted surfaces and won't rip the paint off as long as its smooth.

 

[uclap5]

kerosene might work.

 

[peepsalot]

Well, I got it off with one of those sponges that have the green scrubby part and a whole lot of elbow grease. It did slightly sand down the spacer, but not enough to matter. Just kinda dulled the face of it I guess.

 

[TurfBurn]

I second the fine wire wheel on a drill... just have to make sure your drill speed is slow enough... go too fast and you will melt it into the wheel...

 

[owen coffin]

Soaking it in full strength degreaser works. One that is fantastic is Super Clean. At full strength it totally devolves Permatex in less than half an hour. Super Clean is bio-degradable.
If Super Clean won't do it you can always use brake cleaner/solvent. Don't get it on your skin, use nitrite gloves.
Never scrape aluminum or wire brush aluminum, and a wire brush on a motor is the worst thing to use because you can so easily ruin a seal that way.
That wire is steel and when fast moving steel meets soft aluminum, guess who loses? It's so easy to ruin a closely machined surface such as the surfaces on your thermostat housing and cover.
Scotch bright (that is scotch bright on the back of the sponge) is a bad idea also because aluminum is so soft the scotch bright can damage it. I learned that the hard way.