Penetrating Oils – a US study

All this new-fangled stuff…

I’d always thought WD40 was over-rated for shifting rusty nuts and bolts, that tends to confirm it. I still use Plusgas Formula A.

I must say that is something that has never failed for me. WD-40 is good if, like I did once, you need to work under the bonnet of a car in wet conditions. When I’d finished the car wouldn’t start so I treated the plug leads and distributor to a dose of WD-40, shut the bonnet and went inside for a cuppa. Came out after about 20 minutes and tried again sure enough it started first turn of the key.

“acetone is fairly polar whereas oils are primarily nonpolar”

Aha, thank you Professor! That explains why it is so difficult to mix ATF and Acetone – it just does not like it. I have tried this and you need to be quick before the Acetone evaporates or separates out.

:(Acetone is also a potential fire/explosion hazard.

Its a pity that the experiment didn’t also include diesel oil for comparison.

Bentley – not sure of your point – I was simply observing that from a chemistry perspective that you cannot dissolve ferrous oxides with organic solvents! Which I agree would require treatment with a reagent such as a strong acid

I can imagine the scenario that you are using the solvent to transfer lube into the voids – But I still cannot see that this would assist if the binding species are primarily ferrous oxides.

From an organic chemistry perspective – acetone is fairly polar whereas oils are primarily nonpolar – hence acetone should be less effective at dissolving olis than say n- hexane

I apologise if I was too simplistic – my Ph.D. is in organic chemistry not inorganic!

Dr. Brian Freer

Here endeth as well!

I use mineral hydraulic oil (OM15/DTD585) for easing things. Will give the ATF a try though as it has a high dopes content. ATF is also good for flushing piston engines out. Add a small amount to the engine oil (1/2-1 ltr) run it up to a good temperature, then drain.

Usual flushing procedure is to dump in a quart of ATF & let the engine idle for 20 minutes. If the engine is full of sludge you will end up with a drainpan full of what looks like black blancmange…

Via Steve Link – a US member of Barry Clay’s WOW Forum….

Penetrating Oils Compared

Machinist’s Workshop magazine actually tested penetrants for break
out torque on rusted nuts. 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.

Penetrating oil ….. Average load

None ………………… 516 pounds

WD-40 ……………… 238 pounds

PB Blaster …………..214 pounds

Liquid Wrench …… 127 pounds

Kano Kroil ………… 106 pounds

ATF-Acetone mix… 53 pounds

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. A local machinist group mixed up a batch and all now
use it with equally good results. Note also that “Liquid Wrench” is about as
good as “Kroil” for about 20% of the price.

I don’t know of availability (in the UK) or cost of the products, materials mentioned but it might save someone in preservation some money.

Roger Smith.

I’m sure our vintage machinery buffs would be graeful for any information of this nature even if the identical products are not available to them as it would at least give them ideas for their own equivalent.

Acetone is very cheap and easy be found in many high street stores.
used mainly by woman to remove nail polish , cheap also.
so a 50 -50 mix with some transmission fluid is a good cheap and easy soloution to make up.

Will have to give it a mix, i have a bottle of Acetone in the garage and some transmission fluid.

Nice find cheers for posting the info.

Alright then, I’ll ask – How do you milk a mouse?:D

Very, very carefully!

I use mineral hydraulic oil (OM15/DTD585) for easing things. Will give the ATF a try though as it has a high dopes content. ATF is also good for flushing piston engines out. Add a small amount to the engine oil (1/2-1 ltr) run it up to a good temperature, then drain.

Alright then, I’ll ask – How do you milk a mouse?:D

Thanks Moggy and appologies to Creaking Door you were right.Just goes to show you can`t believe everything you read.While on the penetrating oil subject I find Mouse Milk very good,i`m surprised nobody hasn`t mentioned it.

It’s mostly Stoddard solvent.

So it’s White Spirit then? That sounds even less likely to free rusted parts. :confused:

(And yes, I had to look up what Stoddard Solvent was.)

I am not sure how an oil based compound ( diesel etc. ) will dissolve and or soften ferrous oxides?? Similar with acetone/oil based systems – unless the locked compound is a grease/oil in the threads that has polymerised/degraded into a solid.

Exactly sir- the stuff I use it on (mostly old MGB suspension parts) will hopefully have had some sort of grese on it’s threads 30-odd years previously. So when given some diesel and left to think about it for a while, the parts come from together with much less effort, swearing and skinned knuckles 🙂

Myth.

It was the 40th formulation as noted above.

Info courtesy of a very informative R4 programme a couple of months back.

Moggy

I remember reading an article and it said that WD40 stood for water displacement 40 days,not 40`th formula as creaking door stated.After 40 days the solvents evaporated and left a greasey residue which actually absorbed water.I don`t know if this is true or not because there are so many myths around about different things it`s a job to know what to believe.

WD-40 wasn’t designed to free rusted parts; it was an anti-corrosion product hence its name Water Displacement-40(th formula).

It is primarily a mix of petroleum products so diesel diluted with a little petrol will probably be just as good as a penetrating oil.

It’s mostly Stoddard solvent

I used to work for Dow Corning – their first product was a water repellant grease that was applied to the electrics on B17’s coming across the pond – which were claimed to be having short circuits in the transit.

I am not sure how an oil based compound ( diesel etc. ) will dissolve and or soften ferrous oxides?? Similar with acetone/oil based systems – unless the locked compound is a grease/oil in the threads that has polymerised/degraded into a solid.

Hence this will work on softening old oils – but should not soften corroded metal oxides…

Like dissolves like !

WD-40 wasn’t designed to free rusted parts; it was an anti-corrosion product hence its name Water Displacement-40(th formula).

It is primarily a mix of petroleum products so diesel diluted with a little petrol will probably be just as good as a penetrating oil.

There is an interesting aviation link too…..the original producer was known as the Rocket Chemical Company and one of the first uses for WD-40 was to protect the outer skin of Atlas missiles from corrosion.

Diesel sprayed on from one of them garden spray thingies works well. Spray it on the night before you’re undoing what you need to undo and you’re laughing.

Of course in the UK it would have to be repackaged as Liquid Spanner

Somehow it doesn’t have the same ring to it

Moggy

Or ACF-50

http://www.acf-50.co.uk/aviation.htm

I stock it.

Regards
Mark