DIY Penetrating Oil.

[Steve Mack]

I've been trying to get a muffler off an old Kohler 25hp. Soaked the nuts for five days with various things and only got a couple to budge and I was a bit scared of breaking the studs, they were pretty rusty. A guy at Rayco where I bought the new gaskets told me to try Wurth Rost Off. While trying to find someone around here that sells it I came across this forum thread. http://www.aulro.com/afvb/technical-chatter/183835-penetrating-oils-comparison.html

Thought I'd give it a shot, the nuts wouldn't budge. Twenty minutes later, Off in a flash.

Some of you probably know about it already but it amazed me, and that doesn't happen very often. And it's super cheap, if you have someone around that uses nail polish remover. I don't use it, but I did have some for taking old rego labels off. We don't have them anymore.

50/50 Auto transmission oil and Acetone, mix it well and only about as much as you need at a time. I just used a very small paint brush to put it on, didn't need much.

 

[Limbrat]

Great tip. Got a gallon of acetone, I'll have to try it.

 

[Steve Mack]

From that link, might interest you if you don't know about it already.

With the addition of equal parts of Mineral turps and Kero, it is also a military grade gun cleaner, known as Ed's Red.

I looked up Ed's Red. http://www.lasc.us/EdsRedBoreCleaner.htm

 

[flushcut]

And here I just bought the jumbo can of PB Blaster.

 

[Raj]

Crap, the mix brought up a memory, I think I heard it years ago, gawddammit I'm gonna try to remember it this time! Thanks!

 

[woodworkingboy]

Good tip!

 

[CurSedVoyce]

Thanks for finding this stuff.

 

[treebilly]

Great tip. Gonna write this down for the mechanic. Although the guys I work for break stuff before it can rust.

 

[Al Smith]

it works but the acetone seperates from the tranny fluid if it sits a while .

 

[BlackSmith]

Candle/Paraffin wax works good if it's a fastener that can be heated.

 

[Raj]

I've been using the acetone/tranny fluid mix since I've read this post. FWIW it seems to work pretty good, tested it against pro penetrating fluid and it worked better. I keep it in an eye dropper bottle.

 

[Cobleskill]

Heating the small part (bolt, bleeder, etc) to a nice glow and then quenching with water, rinse and repeat if it does not come loose. Works miracles. Seems like magic.

 

[cory]

Great tip. Gonna write this down for the mechanic. Although the guys I work for break stuff before it can rust.

Good thread.

Uh, what's acetone, where do you buy it, what's it normally used for?

 

[Raj]

It's a thinner. Most hardware stores. It's also used for nail polish remover.


Just don't mix it with bleach......

 

[cory]

Thanks.

Btw, what results, poison gas or boom?

 

[flushcut]

or a flame or spark

 

[Al Smith]

How the tranny fluid /acetone works is acetone is a solvent that will evaporate .It just thins the tranny fluid to a point it will migrate passed the threads .Once it gets soaked in good usually you get results .However an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure .If you know something will rust tight coat the bolt with never-seeze or Kopper-kote before you screw it together .I have little cans of both stuff sitting every where .

 

[Dave Shepard]

Heating the small part (bolt, bleeder, etc) to a nice glow and then quenching with water, rinse and repeat if it does not come loose. Works miracles. Seems like magic.

I was taught that by a friend years ago. Almost nobody believes it will work. You can even use water to rehydrate rust on things like c clamps. I have a squirt bottle with DHMO in big letters on the side. Had a guy bring me a clamp that he had been soaking in something petrochemicalish that wasn't working. I soaked it down and it freed right up. I told him to lube it up and keep it out of the weather. He wanted to know where I got DHMO. I pointed at the faucet.

 

[FireFighterZero]

Di-hydrogen Monoxide.

 

[cory]

That stuff has killed millions of people over the years, be careful.

 

[Limbrat]

Uh, what's acetone, where do you buy it, what's it normally used for?

As Al said, acetone is a solvent Cory, used here in boat building and repair but tons of other uses. In fiberglass work, it cleans and preps the surface to allow new coats of resin and glass to adhere to existing layers. It evaporates at an amazing rate. It works great clean fiberglass resin (and sap) off your skin but that's probably not too smart. It gets cold as it evaporates and will dry your skin out quick.

 

[cory]

Gotcha. Thanks.

 

[flushcut]

That stuff has killed millions of people over the years, be careful.

No kidding right! Deadly stuff.

 

[Cut4fun]

Thread we had on this way back. http://chainsawrepair.createaforum.com/tools/penetrating-oils-tested/

See if I can pull some details out.

Machinist's Workshop magazine tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts with significant results!

They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrants with the
control being the torque required to remove the nut from a
"scientifically rusted" environment (obviously a BIG nut!).

Penetrating oil ...... Average torque



None ....................... 516 ft lbs



WD-40 ................... 238 ft lbs



PB Blaster .............. 214 ft lbs



Liquid Wrench ..... 127 ft lbs



Kano Kroil ............. 106 ft lbs



ATF-Acetone mix....53 ft lbs



The ATF-Acetone mix was a "home brew" mix of 50 - 50 automatic
transmission fluid and acetone. Note the "home brew" was better than any
commercial product in this one particular test. Our local machinistgroup mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results.

 

[Marc-Antoine]

Is the ATF similar to hydrolic oil ? I never put my hands in it.