wow... I had no idea that so many folks had the same problem. I'm going to try the Silicon fix mentioned by... (I forget who!) on an earlier post. My husband thinks it may work too.
Turns out we don't have the high temp red silicon, so I'll have to go out to the store to get the right stuff before I take my iron apart.
I'll report back to all y'all... with an update later this week or next. ....