Poor persons rubber seal fix

[Guest]

Hi,
If you find some of the special rubber seals such as the front Master Cylinder Cover rubber or the petcock seal is pitted, or even brake dust covers that are deformed by corrosion or pressure and is still intact and not brittle, then clean it carefully with some dish washing detergent and then immerse in boiling water for a couple of minutes. The original shape should return and the seal will be and look nearly as good as new.
If you can rather replace, but beware that some after market seals (non OEM) are sometimes made of inferior material and the older repaired one may even be of better quality!

[Jd Powell]

For sure, I have successfully used this method to bring back almost unusable air box boots and intake rubbers. My preferred method being to boil water in the microwave then add the rubber, this way the rubber is not subjected to undue heat from a stove burner. Pieces come out flexible and in their original shape!

[Ironriot]

Thanks for the tip guys. I've known that hot water restores rubber but I didn't know it had to be boiling. I'll give this a try. Thanks

[Jd Powell]

The girlfriends new $30 tea kettle works great to:-D

[Matchless]

The girlfriends new $30 tea kettle works great to:-D

Ha-ha, thats what the dishwashing detergent cleaning before is for! Otherwise the next cup of tea tastes a bit like petrol or oil and you may have to watch the late night TV with only a beer to console you.

[Ironriot]

I did the trick and it went horribly wrong for me. It made them soft alright but they cracked in half!

[Matchless]

Brittle and hard rubber cannot be "restored". The rubber must be in good condition and the trick here is only to really remove indentations and slight deformation by bringing the rubber back to its old "memory"

Hard rubber will soften when heated but again go hard as it cools off.

Your damage is real bad news and I hope you can get your hands on some replacements soon. I also hope that I did not unintentionally mislead you in the initial post.

[Ironriot]

Its alright man. I can't reverse what time has done. Good post none the less