Gasket coating chipping off during cleaning
When a gasket's thin coating starts flaking off during cleaning, it raises concerns about whether moisture will leak through. While some minor wear might be manageable, pinched or damaged gaskets often allow water to sneak in over time and cause rust, meaning they need to be popped off and reseat.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1Replace the gasket
- 2Use copper RTV to seal around the outside edge and bolt holes
- 3Cut out a soda can to shape and block off the valve
- 4Taking the vehicle back to the shop that performed the repair
- 5Trying to shimmy the seal back in using a screwdriver and a hammer
- 6Removing the cover and manually popping off and reseating the handle and gasket
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“Anyways, this gasket plate thing has got the thin plastic coating chipping off of it. Wondering your guys' thoughts on that. Can't really get a thorough cleaning without it coming off more.”source ↗
“Will water be able to get in or is this ok?”source ↗
“looks like the gasket got pinched during install pretty common on these tailgate handle jobs water will definitely sneak in there over time id pop it back off and reseat it before the rust starts”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 9Why does my car still leak oil after replacing the seal?
- 3Can you use RTV silicone to patch a hole in a timing belt cover?
- 2Temporary fix for a snapped coolant expansion tank nipple