Penetrating oils

borrowed from another forum
Machinists Workshop Mag™ recently published some information on various penetrating oils that I found very interesting. Some of you might appreciate this.

The magazine tested penetrates for break-out torque on rusted nuts.

They are below, as forwarded by a professional machinist.

They arranged a subjective test of all the popular penetrates 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 that home brew was better than any commercial product in this one particular test.

Our local machinist group mixed up a batch and we all now use it with equally good results.

Note also that Liquid Wrench is almost as good as Kroil for about 20% of the price.

Steve from Godwin-Singer says that ATF-Acetone mix is the best and you can also use ATF- lacquer thinner 50 - 50 mix.

*ATF = Automatic Transmission Fluid

WOW. Who knew that a home brew of acetone and ATF is better than good ole WD-40. I might have to try this for myself.

WD-40 shouldn't even be listed as a penetrating oil...lol

I wonder how they ensured each nut was rusted at the same rate? Interesting test. I always thought PB was way better than WD40, but I guess not by much.

ive always been a big fan of liquid wrench. Its good to know I was right. Can the ATF acetone mix damage anything? Lines, hoses, paint, plastic, glass?

ATF already has a good amoount of mineral spirits. Can you mix mineral spirits and Acetone?

Interesting, thanks for posting that.

That's good information to know and very interesting. Thanks for the heads up.

only problem with the info posted is that it is 6 years old and some of those other companies may have changed the chemicals used in there penetrating oil.
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B7J17pYhhC6LaUpHREtMOWQ3Vjg/edit

I am totally going to make some of this home brew. That is awesome.


$miley

That is good info! I have used Kroil for years, and I know what it does. Some old-timers swear by a wax candle. What I recommend is to LIGHTLY WARM the fastener, then apply the lube or wax. The point is that it will cause a "wicking" effect with the penetrant. Similar effect to sweating a pipe with solder. But at a much lower temperature. Warm, but not hot is the key. Some fluids turn into a poisonous gas when vaporized. Brake cleaner can turn into phosgene gas when vaporized. It can cause immediate, and possibly fatal, lung damage.

lately i have done sandblasting bolt threads and then hitting them with penetrating oil. had no issue getting the nuts off the front cab support bolt on my 93 ramcharger.

Its always best if you can clean the exposed threads of a fastener before you suck more **** into the nut. Good advice!

Kleen flo *** ( pink can ) best daily rust buster ( efficiency:cost )
Pro labs super P best but $$$

I am interested by this atf/acetone however, will try!

And like stated wd40 is not list worthy, ******* on the bolt in question is probably more effective...

the rust release stuff wd40 has works pretty good. pulled some rotors that were seized on the hub off using it a couple months ago. pb blaster wouldn't work on another set a couple months before.

Going to bring this back up... I volunteer at an auto craft shop on a military reservation, and while we have pb blaster and wd40 available, we have a few bottles of Kroil for those pesky stuck nuts and bolts. Nothing else comes remotely close. In my experience, liquid wrench still doesnt fit the bill. Its better than wd which is more lube than penetrant, but Kroil works where all others fail. Its unfortunate that it costs a lot more and isnt widely available, but in all honesty a 5gal can of Kroil will last MUCH longer than aerosol products at your local parts store.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317 using Tapatalk

WD has a new lube specifically made for removing trouble bolts and nuts. I've not tried it though.


Sent from my miniaturizer via tap dancing...

still sandblasting everything and and hitting it with penitrating oil and it seems to still work good. here is a picture of the last bolts i sandblasted and hit with penitrating oil. believe it or not these where holding my gas tank up and nuts came off very easily.

Cool info. I'm in an industrial mechanics class and we happened to be talking about the best penetrants. Most people swore by PB blaster until I showed them this article. All of them want to go home and try this ATF/acetone mix, me included.


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coming off a farm, we used many different things from WD to liquid wrench but have found the best purchased item for removing rusted parts is Mopar Combustion Chamber Cleaner, spray it on watch the rust run off wait 5 minutes and presto works great. Follow caution on can about what not to spray it on.