hydraulic cylinder gasket question
 

I'm doing my rear drum brakes and finding what a wholly terror this job is; trying to mess with reconfiguring the brakes with the springs, ughhh. In putting one wheel's brakes back together, I punctured the hydraulic cylinder gasket and now there is a small hole in it about the size of a bb gun pellet. I had the thing put back together when this happened and really don't want to have to take the lower spring back off and mess with getting it back into the cylinder's grooves again either (or go to get a gasket). So, I just gooped some high temperature lubricant on it as a patch. My car has 200,000 miles, so I don't see it lasting more than a few years now. Am I being foolish with not replacing the gasket, or do you think that it is unlikely that the cylinder will get any grime in it anyway and the patch should be enough? Thanks,

Andy

You're being foolish for not replacing the gasket.

You are also being foolish saying that you don't see it lasting more than a few more years. If you maintain it properly, it can last a VERY long time... WAY past 200k miles.

You can buy the boot gasket separately in some cases. The entire cylinder is not that expensive either.

I would not have put the high temperature grease on. Should petroleum based grease reach the inner seal of the cylinder, it will ruin it.

Thanks for the feedback guys. The reason that I say I don not see my car lasting for a few more years is that I have only owned her for one year and put on only about 5-6,000 of the 200,000 miles she has, so I am being conservative in my estimate. I don't really know how she was cared for the rest of her life. I may well get more than what I am hoping for, but that would be icing I think. I appreciate your suggestions, though, and will remedy the situation today with a new gasket. I especially appreciate the advice about the dangers of using petroleum based products around rubber gaskets and seals. Thanks again,

Andy

Attachment 20692
I don't see/know of any gasket on a rear drum set up. Unless you punctured the rubber seal at one end of the wheel cylinder? If so you will probably be leaking brake fluid onto the shoes which will ruin them. It would be cheaper to purchase a wheel cylinder rebuild kit from a parts store to get a new seal, otherwise you will have to buy a new wheel cylinder.