Gasket Removal Tips

Removing gasket material from an engine case or other part of a powersports vehicle is easy enough, but requires some patience and extra care to prevent damaging aluminum parts.

Partzilla’s powersports pro John Talley does live Q&A on our YouTube channel every Friday at 3pm Eastern. In this session, John offers up tips to one of our viewers on how to remove gaskets.

Gasket removal tips

Tips for Removing Gaskets

I’m really enjoying the engine rebuild videos you guys make. Very helpful. Do you have any tips on removing gaskets? What to use, etc.

John Talley: I just went through that on a stator cover. Such a nightmare to get that thing cleaned off. I typically use a scraper, one designed for it. I tend to shy away from using really sharp blades, because either you’re going to cut yourself or you’re going to cut into the aluminum, which is easier than you would imagine. To break down the gasket material, I usually use a brake cleaner. It doesn’t really matter which manufacturer you want to order from, but let it soak for a few seconds. And as you go through the layers getting down to the actual aluminum, it helps to break down those fibers and the glue that’s holding it together. Other than that, just be patient. Because if you try to take off too much material at once, you run the risk of going into the aluminum, and then you’re more than likely going to end up with a leak. But hey, that’s really about it. I will give you one other bit of advice, you really have to be careful with this. I’ve used the Scotch Brite pads on the end of a dremel tool, but if you get too aggressive of a pad, you can start dishing out and causing imperfections in the aluminum. It rips it off really fast, but if you use one that’s too aggressive, you’re going to have leaks all over the place.