I can't get the things out. One side went so easily and quickly. The other side are practically welded in there. I've tried needle nose pliers, pick, small screw drivers, fish hook... I've tried tapping all these with a hammer at an angle and still nothing. They won't budge. I even tried tapping them with a flathead to cut and slice the gasket, still didn't work.

What do I do? I've spent over an hour and I don't know what else to do... Forget it and put the new gaskets right over the old?

it's all about leverage


got a cheap screwdriver?

see the picture, works great....

Good idea!
Is that a flathead or a poker-type thing?
So you just stick it up in there and push it as hard as you can inbetween the gasket and the head?

flat head, with the "flat" positioned to get between the gasket and the head.

Cool. Thanks! I'll try it tomorrow and if I can't get it i'll come whining back

I just went throught this, probably the reason why the PO used two gaskets on one port. I fashioned a similar tool because the one port was a bit small and the PO need to hammer in the gasket. I filed the OD of my new gasket so they would slip into the port and I would not have the problem a second time.

I also followed the advice of the people on this forum and heated and quickly cooled the gaskets to make them softer and used high-temp RTV to hold the gaskets in place.

No leaks and everything looks great.

Good Luck,
Dan