Rubber Headlight Gasket

[WormGod]

So is the 3M Weather Strip Adhesive still the choice for winners or has someone come across some new and improved goop? Wanna take care of this (again) before I reassemble the VX.

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

I haven't had to touch mine again since using the GE Silicone and I posted up above in '04 which was a couple years after using it. so that means I haven't touched the seals in nearly 5 years...I used clear and neatly applied it and I'm hard-pressed to see anything was done compared to stock. I have no regrets whatsoever with the silicone.

I use 3M products at work and they are great... so do what your heart tells you to do.

[Ldub]

I'm with Jolly Roger, though I didn't use GE, I did use clear silicone & it's been over 3 yrs.

[Pghachey]

I get the idea of using the silicone sealer, but what did you use as instead fo the original rubber gasket? materials and size, or approximate would be helpful. Mine were gone when I bought my VX in January, and it really doesn't bother me other than when it's raining water does have a tendency to find it's way under the hood around the headlights. Thanks for your help.

[VXR]

So is there any harm in just going without them?

[Jolly Roger VX'er]

Mine were still there but falling off after 1-1/2 years of ownership...so I used clear RTV to re-install them. As others have mentioned in previous posts 3M makes a weatherstripping adhesive too for this purpose.

As far as I know the purpose of the gaskets was primarily to prevent wind noise (aka whistling) from air rushing in around the headlights at highway speed. Also seem to help with rain entering engine compartment too.

For those of you that are missing them and would like to try and buy them I suggest calling St. Charles Isuzu for price/availability.

http://isuzu.stcharlesauto.com/Department-Parts.aspx

[WormGod]

I found that going without my passenger side gasket for a while was causing excess rainwater to get in and it was causing some minor rusting of some metal areas. It possibly aided in the failure of my battery as well, according to the tech that worked on my VX last. I have since replaced that entore headlight assembly and since I had the VX stripped down, I pulled just about every screw, nut, and bolt under the hood and greased them up before replacing.

Also, I pulled the gasket off of the unreplaced headlgith since it was already peeling back and I cleaned the headlight and gasket up really well. Instead of silicone this time, I went ahead and tried a high strength 2 sided tape from 3M. I lined the entire inside of the gasket with it and rethreaded it around the headlight. Let's just say it is so damned strong that I couldnt get it back off when I tried, heh. I appears to be a promising approach.