Removing Gaskets and Seals from Aluminum?

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I have tried alcohol, Goo Gone, lacquer thinner, a heat gun, paint stripper, and a brass gasket scraper. I also soaked the part in water. My sonic cleaner is way too small, or I would have tried that.

Nothing really works. I can probably get the gaskets off with the scraper if I spend several hours at it.

I haven't bought gasket remover yet because people on YouTube get nowhere with it.

A friend suggested using pure DMSO. Apparently MEK has been targeted by environmentalists now. Stores here don't have it. I have a quart, so I may try it, or maybe I sell it for $5000 on Ebay. Methylene Chloride also appears to be gone.

It's too bad they didn't ban the crap that glues gaskets to aluminum.

Tomorrow I will probably put the pressure washer on its most violent setting and see what it can do. Anything that eats concrete should be able to remove glue and paper.

The old front oil seal is also permanently welded to the part.
 
The pressure washer works better than anything, far and away. I used a narrow stream at 3100 psi. It took me maybe 10 minutes. There are still tiny bits of gasket on the part, but the pressure washer turned a multi-hour job into a one-hour job.

The water didn't harm the aluminum at all. It may have knocked a few flakes of paint off. I'm not sure. The paint wasn't that great to begin with.
 
I usually use a wood chisel with the flat side to the aluminum and nearly parallel to the surface. There is very little tendency to dig into the aluminum that way. I've used this approach for many decades on large and small engines. Final cleanup can be done with some gentle scraping. Any really stubborn areas can be cleaned by judicious use of a flat file.
 
Gosh sounds like you threw the whole hardware store at it and still didnt get the desired results.
Fresh razor blade Get under the adhesive if any might just be bonded from the clamping force and heat cycles. Once between surfaces you might have to roll side to side but it should cut right between surfaces. The problem comes when one starts cutting into the gasket layering it. Then one gets frustrated and gouges the surfaces. Spraying the surface with a brake cleaner helps breakup the adhesive and lube the razor.
I use a soft bristle brass brush on aluminum surfaces after the surface has been scraped. Cleans the surface a gives a nice finish that helps grip into the gasket. the brass brush DOES NOT harm the surface at all. Anything else I’ve found to be to aggressive for aluminum.
Adhesives 9 out of 10 times are not used on a gasketed surface. What’s the point of the gasket if you coating the gasket with a irregular amount of adhesive or sealants?
 
The pressure washer was great. Scraping the remaining bits off didn't take much time. Turpentine softened them enough, and the brass scraper took them off.
 
Chips O'Toole said:
Apparently MEK has been targeted by environmentalists now. Stores here don't have it. I have a quart, so I may try it, or maybe I sell it for $5000 on Ebay. Methylene Chloride also appears to be gone.
Click to expand...
MEK is a VOC by definition (high vapor pressure and therefore boil point), but it is not a hazardous environmental pollutant (was removed from EPA list in 1990s) because it does not form polluting oxides when photolyzed by the sun's UV. It's not very toxic, either. Our liver and blood metabolizes MEK and acetone as efficiently as beer and wine -same pathway.

Yes, sadly (and I mean bereavement sad) MeCl is gone. EPA banned it for use as a paint stripper last year. This stuff is so gone it ain't funny. I'll buy your leftovers, nothing else works.

Last, there are two things I would have done in your situation. First, I would use xylene-based carburetor cleaner to deglaze the part. Then, I would have used sodium hydroxide-based Easy Off oven cleaner (yellow can only, blue is butoxyethanol-based and has other unique uses) to float the gasket right off the part. The Easy Off does wonders, but if you leave it on overnight , heat the part, and keep adding fresh spray to it, it will eventually corrode the aluminum. I'm not saying to do that, I'm saying that with 10 minutes of contact time and a rinse the job becomes very easy. It's great stuff for aluminum castings and cleaning when you are trying to obtain bare metal without abrasives.
 
I didn't use oven cleaner because I knew it didn't get along with aluminum. If I had heard your advice sooner, I might have tried it.

I'm surprised no one uses pressure washers. It seems obvious. I didn't try my steam cleaner. Didn't think of it until just now.

I wonder if anyone here has tried a sonic cleaner. I would have thrown my gear case in there right off the bat if it had been small enough to fit.
 
I love my sonic disruptor cleaner. I reappropriated it from another unit when they relocated and abandoned a bunch of medical/dental equipment. Sadly, it would not have done much for you. They're great for cleaning, but not for breaking adhesive bonds. You can put acetone or green cleaner in a glass jar, and put the jar in the bath on your sonic cleaner. It works great for what the chosen solvent is good for.

I use my pressure washer for the first cleaning on any part that will survive it. Then I degrease in stoddard solvent. Then whatever is left is attacked with a suitable secret weapon.
 
I got my cleaner to fix chainsaw carbs clogged up by idiotic ethanol gas. A Youtube guy suggested putting things in jars of gasoline in the cleaner, and it works really well.
 
Cadillac said:
Gosh sounds like you threw the whole hardware store at it and still didnt get the desired results.
Fresh razor blade Get under the adhesive if any might just be bonded from the clamping force and heat cycles. Once between surfaces you might have to roll side to side but it should cut right between surfaces. The problem comes when one starts cutting into the gasket layering it. Then one gets frustrated and gouges the surfaces. Spraying the surface with a brake cleaner helps breakup the adhesive and lube the razor.
I use a soft bristle brass brush on aluminum surfaces after the surface has been scraped. Cleans the surface a gives a nice finish that helps grip into the gasket. the brass brush DOES NOT harm the surface at all. Anything else I’ve found to be to aggressive for aluminum.
Adhesives 9 out of 10 times are not used on a gasketed surface. What’s the point of the gasket if you coating the gasket with a irregular amount of adhesive or sealants?
Click to expand...
Actually, the chisel usually does the job. Some of the gaskets on old outboards have been in place for almost a half a century and are fairly well bonded to the aluminum. In particular, when the motors were exposed to salt water, there is often corrosion which worked under the gasket, bonding it to the aluminum. In cases like that scraping or filing will clean up the surface well enough.
 
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