soaked airbox boots in ATF....and

[Guest]

I Figured I would soak my airbox to carb boots in ATF to see if I could improve the condition of them. I read on here it could soften them. My results:
I soaked them for 48 hours and , yes, it did soften them up. However what I have found is that before the "treatment" the boots were somewhat flexible, not like new obviously with certain spots being rock hard. The dipping softened the areas that were already reasonably/somewhat flexible but did not help the areas that were rock hard. These previously hard areas seem to have been permanently altered and will not come back to a soft state.
All in all, if your boots are somewhat flexible I would say a 48 hour or longer soaking would help them. I dont know how long they will stay soft like this, they may "dry out" again quickly but it DID help them.
The only real solution I would be confident in is repleacing them with new ones for long term piece of mind but if you have things torn apart already and dont plan on changing them yet a dip would not hurt IMO. I would not go out of my way to perform this tho.

[Toasty]

I've heard that boiling in wintergreen oil and water does wonders for softening up old rubber.

[cableguy]

I've heard that boiling in wintergreen oil and water does wonders for softening up old rubber.

Softens boots and tests your marriage at the same time! I can only imagine what the house smells like after that.

[Toasty]

Does it smell bad? I'd think it would be like spearmint or something haha.

[XXWoodmanXX]

Softens boots and tests your marriage at the same time! I can only imagine what the house smells like after that.

Agreed. Think I will pass, for my OWN sake. hehe

[Stasch]

I've used a camp stove outdoors to soften kawasaki carb boots recently.

What does it smell like? Wintergreen mints.

Smell might be kinda nice inside I guess . . . for the workshop but not in the house.