Penetrating Oils

[82vdub]

This excerp is taken directly from my Jan/Feb 2010 issue of the Fairlaner, the Fairlane Club of America Newsletter.

I have received a report that penetrating oils were tested and reported in Machinist's Workshop, April/May 2007 edition. Tests involved immersing metal pieces in penetrating oil for eight hours, then measuring the force to loosen the pieces. I could not find the article to determine exactly how the tests were carried out. So, I will only give relative results as compared to not using a penetrating oil.

WD-40 and PB Blaster reduced the force required by about half. Liquid Wrench reduced the force to about one-fourth. Kano Kroil reduced the force to about one-fifth. A 50/50 mixture of power steering fluid and acetone reduced the force to about one-tenth.

Since most of us wrench on our own, I thought this could provide useful information.

[surfcam]

I always though Kroil was better and now their is the reinforcement. Maybe Kroil is a weak acetone. It smells like paint thinner to me. I guess that's why fertilizer plants usually have a good stock of it. You really haven't seen rust until you go into one of those plants.

[Brit101]

I viewed the same post at the forum "Bob is the oil guy" and it was a little more thorough than the one you posted from the Fairlaner.

From a thread at "Bob is the Oil Guy"

"The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid!

Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
None ................. 516 pounds .
WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25
PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

[Harry]

VERY interesting, the acetone and ATF mixture. Probably shuold know, but where do ya go to find the acetone? Reason is I have a block with the pistons still in it and the ol' boy that had it let it catch rain water for about 2 years and the pistons seem pretty stuck. I would think maybe this mix might be able to soak down there and then I could bust them loose for an overhaul later. Does this idea seem likely?

Thanks,
Harry

[surfcam]

Sounds like a plan. I was able to free a 30.000lb winch by spraying it over time. If you can just soak it every three day a so it may have a loosening effect. Using a spray bottle to force the fluid in will help as well.

[Harry]

Surfcam,
Yeah, I agree, repeated soakings should help a lot, I hope. I wonder if pulling the pan and crank and bopping each rod(retightened of course) would help loosen the pistons, after the soakings, that is. But not to do them without removing any ridge. I dunno.
Harry

[Fatmobile]

I think acetone is easy to find.
It's used in fingernail polish remover,..
check a drugstore.
I think hardware stores use it to thin paint.
Auto paint store might have some.

[Harry]

Fatmobile,

Paint store, that makes sense, I'll check it out manana.
Thanks,
Harry

[Quantum TD]

Been a Kroil fan for years. It's good stuff. But, it is pricey. They're just down the road from me, so when I need it, I just stop in and it costs less than having to buy it at the local hardware store (if they even carry it).

Nice to see confirmation that my preferred brand (Kroil) is better than the schlock that everyone swears by (PB Blaster). Sad to see that liquid wrench is not far behind though...

Now I just need to figure out how to make my ATF/Acetone mix aerosol... I'd put it in a plastic squirt bottle, but I'm afraid it would eat through the standard bottles out there. Maybe one of those Armor All wheel cleaner bottles? They put some nasty crap in that wheel cleaner (probably worse than Acetone), and you get the added benefit of FOAMING ACTION!

[Brit101]

VERY interesting, the acetone and ATF mixture. Probably shuold know, but where do ya go to find the acetone? Reason is I have a block with the pistons still in it and the ol' boy that had it let it catch rain water for about 2 years and the pistons seem pretty stuck. I would think maybe this mix might be able to soak down there and then I could bust them loose for an overhaul later. Does this idea seem likely?

Thanks,
Harry

Welcome Harry, I recalled a story about freeing pistons with Coca Cola so I Googled it to see how good my memory was and lots of interesting posts popped up. I Googled "coca cola freeing seized engines"
One you may enjoy is here:
http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/show ... hp?t=78832

Recently there was a rust thread that lead to this picture thread on vwvortex regarding rust removal and malt vinegar.
Click on "next " midway down on the right side to advance the pics.
http://www.cookhaus.co.uk/vinegar/index.htm

Hardware and boat shops should have acetone, it is used as a solvent for fiberglass cleanup. Here in Canada Canadian Tire has it in the auto body section of the store. Wikipedia has a good writeup on it, not toxic as one would assume from the strong smell.

[82vdub]

Problem with trying to free a stuck piston by turning the crank is the lack of actual piston moving force just by the (little) exerted force on the crank. In fact, you may even snap off a bolt in the crank snout if you're not careful.

To free stubborn pistons, you need to soak in something (I've used ATF) and keep soaking it. After a couple weeks, try using a piece of wood sized about the size of the bore and smack it hard with a mallet. You just want to move it a little, then if it moves, turn it over and use another pice of wood and easily tap it back up in the bore. It's the slow movements that after you keep working it back and forth, you'll eventually get it out. Some are stuck so bad you have to destroy the piston to get them out of the bore.

[Harry]

Coca Cola? Far out! Think I might try it. Did get some acetone at the paint store down in town today.

Will let it all soak several times and proceed as per the wood block and mallet method by 82vdub. I'll give it time.
Thanks,
Harry

[Fatmobile]

It must be the phosphoric acid in the Coke.
You can get concentrated phosphoric acid.
I got some from a motorcycle shop,.. they had a coating for leaking fuel tanks,.. the tank prep/rust remover was phosphoric acid and could be bought seperately.

[82vdub]

If you're going to do anything with acetone, be very careful with it. Since it's in nail polish remover, it'll remove (damage at a minimum) the paint, and destroy rubber parts. So, play carefully with the stuff.

[rabbit_man]

When I pulled my rabbit out of the junkyard it had a big blue X sprayed on the drivers door, I tried gas but it didn't even smudge it so I used MEK (kinda like acetone) and the blue came right off and didn't touch the white underneath .