I've found the following information, and reckon the seals would
not be made of silicon-based products, as the fluid itself would degrade them.
With this in mind, the seals would have to made of a material that would be intert to silicone, which seems to be a silicone-free rubber base.
And as the VCU is fitted to a vehicle that has mineral (organic) oils up to the ying-yang, my guessing is they are of a substance that would withstand most mineral solvents.
For instance, the clear plastic bottles you get drinking-water in is oil based and will dissolve if petrol is poured in.
It seems that organic-based compounds can affect silicone, in that it makes it expand. If, for instance, white-spirit is used and some residue remains, the silicone-oil compund structure may alter in consequence.
With this in mind, my plan is to now use alcohol to flush the VCU of silicone. I will also allow it to vent with enough time to allow evaporation to occur, which in-turn should leave no trace.
See the following...
Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS - Silicone oil)
Thus PDMS structures can be used in combination with water and alcohol solvents without material deformation. However most
organic solvents will
diffuse into the material and cause it to swell,
[4] making them incompatible with PDMS devices. Despite this, some organic solvents lead to sufficiently small swelling that they can be used with PDMS, for instance within the channels of PDMS microfluidic devices. The swelling ratio is roughly inversely related to the
solubility parameter of the solvent.
Diisopropylamine swells PDMS to the greatest extent; solvents such as
chloroform,
ether, and
THF swell the material to a large extent. Solvents such as
acetone,
1-propanol, and
pyridine swell the material to a small extent. Alcohols and polar solvents such as
methanol,
glycerol and water do not swell the material appreciably.
[6]
