Penetrating Oil Tests

[Sandy]

A friend on COG site sent me this interesting test on how effective the different penetrating oil are for removing rusted bolts and nuts. Very interesting. A simple home brew mix seems to be far better than any of the commerical stuff and as we know WD-40 sucks.

Penetrating oils
Machinist's Workshop magazine actually tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts.
Significant results! They are below, as forwarded by an ex-student and professional machinist, Bud Baker.
Don't forget the April 2007 "Machinist's
Workshop" magazine comparison test.
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.
Our local machinist group mixed up a batch and we 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.

[chuck hahn]

interesting..i used to use liquid wrench till people started touting how much better the PB was..HMMM

[tkent02]

The tests are bad, Liquid Wrench has never worked at all.

[chuck hahn]

i remember my dad and grandpa always had a can on hand as well..maybe because thats all there was at the time maybe. I recenly saw my buddy Josh ( not the cafe kid) had a can of UHAUL penetrating oil..

[rustybronco]

The tests are bad, Liquid Wrench has never worked at all.

Kidding or not?

I used liquid wrench last evening on the '78's rusty fasteners. I let it soak for a few minutes and they came off surprisingly well.

I just may do a side by side comparison and see how it compares to PB.

there's sure plenty of rusty fasteners to go around on that bike.

[waterman]

I give this a big +1.

My Klx has a rubber chain guard that wraps around the end of the swingarm, and I needed to replace it since the chain had worn a groove completely through it. Unfortunately, in order to replace I needed to remove the swingarm, which I am pretty sure has never been removed. It is held in by a long bolt which is 15mm in diameter. This bolt goes through two set of needle bearings, and the rear of the motor. It is recessed into the frame so there is no way to effectively pull it out, and to pound it out you need to be mindful of the clutch cover case.

I started this last summer, applying liberal amounts of PB Blaster and tapping with two pound hammer--no go. Did this about once a week, figuring it would take awhile to penetrate. After a couple weeks, decided to try the once in month plan. Still no progress. I could spin bolt but figured it was just spinning races.

Had about given up and even consulted my machinist Brother in Law about bike. Then I saw this thread and mixed up some stuff. My only warning is that it looks like fruit punch in a clear plastic water bottle.

Went over to bike, squirted some into cracks between swingarm and motor. Decided that I didn't want to risk having punch I was using sliding around on end of bolt, so I grabbed cordless drill and drilled a slight depression where I could seat center punch. Grabbed my trusty 20 oz claw hammer and hit it maybe 5 or 6 times solidly and it Moved. Tapped again with hammer and it moved a half inch. Hallelujah and praise almighty, we have success. Haven't completely removed bolt since I need to disassemble shock linkage but I am thrilled.

Will be giving recipe to Brother in Law, good stuff. Thank you, Thank ou, Thank you.

[Danjal]

So with steel structure never being 100% even how was this test considered scientific? Id be more interested to see which one left wetness on the far side of the fasteners from where the product was applied. That would prove more for penetration and IMO would be the best product.

[dcil]

I have had better luck with pb than anything. Plus what is to guarantee the accuracy of "scientifically rusted". I had a 1973 Ford Capri with a 2.6l v6. Exhaust studs were so rusted I broke a Craftsman socket, luckily not the stud. Sprayed it with pb every 30 minutes for a couple hours, came off like it was a new car. Hard to argue with real world results. But, every situation is different

[paco13]

In the real world Pb works way better thab Lq. Wrench.
What is scientifically rusted?

[Hodado]

I wonder how flammable the"home brew" is. acetone is hot stuff.
Maybe not any more than what you get in a can.

[themess]

http://sterkel.org/papers/vintage/Testing_Penetrating_Oils.pdf

The author says that to read the detailed test methods, we must buy the issue on-line. The winning mixture used power steering fluid, not ATF. Parts were immersed for 8 hours for the test.

============

I don't often need penetrating oil, since I don't do much mechanical work. I have still experimented a bit, and used to make a penetrant from half motor oil and half diluted Gunk Super Concentrate. GSC is added 1:5 to kerosene or mineral spirits to make a solvent for cleaning parts. It is a bit more aggressive than most organic solvents, but it doesn't dissolve rubber and plastics the way that brake cleaner or carb cleaner can. NAPA sells the Mac product which is probably very similar. The final dilution is 10% motor oil.

I'm guessing that what matters most are the viscosity and surface tension of the mixture. Surface tension makes liquids bead up, which keeps them from entering tight spaces. If viscosity is high, they'll enter only slowly. Next time I try this, I might try ATF instead of motor oil.

My results with my home-made stuff were pretty good.

[portdave]

I didn't see it mentioned but I use Deep Creep made by the same company that makes seafoam. It is a lot more expensive but works better for me than all the others listed and it does not stink. A home brew sounds interesting too....

[Justonv]

My dad taught me a little trick about this once, haha. We use different pen. lubes for different situations, an aerosol can is just so handy in the pickup. We do on occasion have to break loose a seized engine as we do some mechanic work for ourselves, around the farm, and sometimes for other people, or else buy something that's seized cheap and get it running. When I did my first motorcycle engine (A 77 YZ80) that was seized up, I tried WD40 for a week, didn't do much, spraying the cyl full, putting the spark plug in and letting it soak. No movement. He then taught me about the magic of diesel and ATF, haha. Much better, much quicker. I use it sometimes on stubborn fasteners if I have a can mixed up somewhere.

[salty_monk]

Kroil works well but it sure isn't cheap... Having an aerosol is definitelyvthe way to go for ease of application but I imagine home brew in a squeeze bottle cold work similarly well with a small enough jet....

[Billy Ricks]

If you use the acetone mix be careful with your paint and plastics.