Penetrating Oil Test

[AndrewBird]

This was posted on another forum I frequent. Thought it was some useful information, so I decided to post it here.

Machinist's Workshop magazine tested penetrants for break out torque on rusted nuts. 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. The results are as follows;

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.

[wodcutr]

Very interesting. Where would one aquire the acetone?

[Thor]

You can buy acetone at Lowe's or Home Depot. It is usually near the paint thinner.

[SpecM]

Very interesting. Where would one aquire the acetone?

Advance Auto and Sherwin-Williams carry it too

[whiltebeitel]

Thank you so much in advance for this!

[Gooch]

I'm going to have to try the Acetone-ATF mix. Thanks!

[allwheeldrive]

Interesting. This could come in handy living in Ohio.

[george graves]

I usually have both of those around - nice tip!

[txtorquemade]

Wow...great info. Thanks

[M-technik-3]

Interesting, I like PB blaster it works fast and I tend not to strip nasty cruddy rusted on stuff.

[Philo]

Good info. One pat on the back awarded to you!

[StereoInstaller1]

No shit, what a trip.

Somewhere in my pile of shop crap I have one of those metal oil cans that squirts...or maybe I did, or something. That would be a great way to use it!

Thanks, bubba!

Luke

[AlarmedBread]

Straight ATF works pretty good too, if your car has a very leaky PS rack it will be very easy to work on after you pressure wash the underside. :)

[gearheadE30]

Huh, I'll have to try the acetone-ATF mix...

[3bvert]

yes it works, tried it, had a way frozen bolt, thought I would try the "mix" and if it did not work, I had my trusty pb blaster to fall back on
well, did not need the pb blaster

also straight atf does wonders for sticky rings, squirt it the cyllinder ( on m42 dngine on its side takes a lot), let it soak a day or two, blow it out ( crank engine a shit load with no plugs in it, if you leave the plugs in, could build rpessure you dont want result of). recheck your compression
change engine oil, as the atf will have leaked by and into the crank case. I learned this working on a motorcycle that was frozen solid, then again on a car that had low compression. then again, with my m42, wiht the head off, I soaked all the cylinders wiht it for a few days while head was at machine shop