Low temp sealant for leaking tail lights?

[RMcG]

Hello everybody,

I have a significant water leak causing water to pool in my spare tire well and wetting the rear carpet and underlying pads as described in other recent posts I have made.

I want to seal in the area of the gaskets & screw/bolt holes for the tail light housings. One sealant recommended on this forum is a 3M butyl rubber product, Window Weld ribbon sealer 08612 see Amazon here to be used as described on Youtube here . Based on reading on this forum and others, this butyl rubber product has the advantage of being reusable/removable if the tail light assembly needs to be removed. So this looks like a good strategy, BUT, I called 3M and they say the product should be applied at a temperature that is persistently 50 degrees Fahrenheit or above. This 50 degree temp is apparently true for all 3M products. I do not have a heated garage and the temp here will only be a high of 44 degrees Fahrenheit for the foreseeable future. So I am looking for alternative sealing strategies.

QUESTION(S): Is there a material I can use for sealing that will work at lower temperatures?

Silicone rubber sealant would undoubtedly work, but it seems that it might be a significant problem to remove the tail light housings if necessary in the future. This seems to be true because you cannot get to the dried silicone rubber and insert a bladed tool like a dull knife or screwdriver to "separate" the seal by working around the seal. The same could be said for various caulking materials and other sealants. See attached screenshots of the removed tail light assembly and gasket from this youtube video on removing the tail light housing here on youtube .

Plain old grease might work, but might well not be very permanent. And might be messy to clean up in the future if I want to go for a more permanent solution in the future.

One other solution might be to just heat up the car and make a "tent" with tarps or plastic to drape over the back of the car to get to persistent 50 degrees Fahrenheit for application of the 3M Window Weld Ribbon Sealer.

Any other comments will be appreciated.

Thanks,

R.

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