Will a scratched gasket surface still seal?
Prying off a stuck manifold with a bare crowbar often leaves scratches on the metal. Because it is difficult to judge by eye if the damage is deeper than the gasket itself, you are left uncertain if the reassembled parts will actually seal without a second opinion. Frustration usually leads to simply sanding the area a bit and calling it a day.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
- 1Smoothing or sanding the scratches downDid this help you?
- 2Applying black RTV silicone sealant to fill the gapsDid this help you?
- 3Relying on a thick gasket to compress into the gougesDid this help you?
- 4wiping with a barely damp cloth to check for residueDid this help you?
- 5applying furniture polish or mineral oil to darken the spotDid this help you?
- 6using colored furniture wax or a touch-up markerDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“So, I used the glue off + to get off the dried paint from the table and then my mom wanted to clean it off with the pink stuff spray and now this happened. PLEASE tell me there’s a way to clean this 😭”source ↗
“I was forced to pry away the manifold with a bare crowbar since I couldn’t even fit cardboard in there without heavy prying force.”source ↗
“by my eye none of the scratches are deeper than the width of gasket sticking out from the intake but I want a second opinion.”source ↗
“I'm just kinda done with hyundai's bullhoncky so I'm just sanding it a bit a calling it a day.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
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- 2Can I glue a peeling vinyl door strip back on?