What solvent will work best?

[jarcher]

I am trying to clean all the old silicon and unknown adhesive and its a pain. is there a solvent I could use that would dissolve pretty much anything other than the plastic window? i don't know if the window is acrylic or plexi...

[Maine Sail]

There is no commercially available product I know of, and believe me I have searched, that will remove dried silicone from plastic. Silicone is resistant to most chemicals and that is part of why it was developed.

All you can do is rub it off with your thumb then wet sand it after taping off the areas you don't want sanded.

If this is a hatch or portlight Dow 795 is the preferred sealant to re-install.

Acrylic basically is plexi, Lexan is polycarbonate. Unless the PO changed the ports/hatches to polycarb they should be acrylic..

[DrB]

will "soften" silicone, but not dissolve it. The problem is you need to soak it for a while before it will soften. Maine Sail is right, scrap as much it off as you can and then rub it.

DrB

[timebandit]

Try Goof Off with a terry towel.

Test on a small area of the window first as I had it ruin a late model motorcycle windshield.

Fiber glass OK

[jarcher]

My mistake, I need to clean the window aluminum frames. But I guess I mistly have to just scrape. Oh well, thanks very much.