Penetrating Oils

Kid Vette

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This was emailed to me and I haven't checked the accuracy but I thought I would share. This is old so my apologies if this has been posted before.

"Machinist's Workshop" (March/April or May/June, 2007) published information on various penetrating
oils. The magazine reports they tested these products for "break out
"torque" on rusted nuts and bolts. A subjective test was made of popular
penetrating oils, with the unit of merit being the torque required to
remove the nut from a "scientifically rusted" bolt.

Average torque load to loosen nut:
No Oil used ........................516 foot pounds
WD-40 ..................... ........238 foot pounds
PB Blaster .........................214 foot pounds
Liquid Wrench ......................127 foot pounds
Kano Kroil .........................106 foot pounds
ATF/Acetone mix...................... 53 foot pounds

The ATF/Acetone mix is a "home brew" mix of 50/50 automatic transmission
fluid and acetone. Note this "home brew" released bolts 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 20% of the price.

ATF/Acetone mix is best, but you can also use ATF and lacquer thinner in a
50/50 mix. ATF = Any type of Automatic Transmission Fluid

This version of the story was in one of the Military Vehicle Club newsletters.
 
The problem with Acetone is that it will evaporate pretty quickly. So you must keep the mix in a well sealed container when not in use.

I use Acetone at times with ATF and some other stuff in a Home Made Gun Bore Cleaner that works well. It is called Ed's Red. You can find it on the net if interested. :)

But for frozen bolts and such I have much better results with PB Blaster than WD-40 lol.
 
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