Good penetrating oils?

Will Herring · Jun 3, 2012

Currently, these are the four items I have at my disposal that I have been using to try and free up rusted stuff on my antique AC WD.

-Gumout Carb & Choke Cleaner
-WD-40
-ATF
-PB Blaster

I use them all for different things, obviously, but does anybody have any other things they think work really well for breaking free old rusty bolts?

UncleTom · Jun 3, 2012

Billy NY · Jun 3, 2012

Free-All by Gasoila
Free All

Bob in Oakboro · Jun 3, 2012

A mix of 1/2 automatic transmission oil and 1/2 acetone. Works great.

rustred · Jun 3, 2012

as far as i am concerned nothing free"s up rusted suff other than muscle power. or a torch. all that those oils do is make things turn easier once broke loose.can pretty much expect bolts to be stuck and rusted on 60-70 yr. old equipment that has sat outside exposed to the weather.

M w J · Jun 3, 2012

kroil then deepcreep by seafoam pb blaster don't
do much but stink

Bryan inIowa · Jun 3, 2012

PB Blaster, Kroil ...Or Milf Oil

LeonardWD45 · Jun 3, 2012

I have used all that have been mentioned here but the best that I have found is the Mopar penetrating fluid. You have to go to a Mopar dealer to get it and it is expensive around 7 or 8 bucks a can. But it works. I have used this on my disk to remove bolts and nuts that have not been touched since installed at the factory over 50 years ago, and no heat was applied either. Never broke one of the bolts.

Leonard

old · Jun 3, 2012

A while back some one posted a chart giving the best to the worse types and ATF was one of if not the top one. I have found a mix of turpentine/ATF work very well. The turpentine seems to almost melt the rust and the ATF lubes things up so they will move

dlplost · Jun 3, 2012

KROIL

locojim · Jun 3, 2012

Kroil is a good lube but I never had much luck with it as a penetrant..
Years ago I had some penetrant from I believe Allis Chalmers..Would spray it on and it would crackle for a couple minutes..Seemed to work very well but I haven't seen it available for a long time now......

Kenneth R Ohnstad · Jun 3, 2012

Zep 45

S/C BOB · Jun 3, 2012

Kroil

Will Herring · Jun 3, 2012

(quoted from post at 10:53:31 06/03/12) kroil then deepcreep by seafoam pb blaster don't
do much but stink

This is actually the first time I've ever bought a can of PB Blaster... I do admit, I did not expect it to have such a potent smell when I used it.

The nice thing about ATF is that it is cheap.

Charlie M · Jun 3, 2012

Only I've found that works well is to heat them up with a torch.

rankrank1 · Jun 3, 2012

I do not know if PB blaster is the best or not but what I do like about it is that the can will shoot the stream very far (farther than any other that I have tried) which works great on the hard to reach spots (as well as wasps-LOL). It does stink though but is easy to find anywhere and cost is reasonable. For these reasons I use it the most.

I also like Kroil but it is hard to find and expensive. My Dad always used CRC 556 but it is a bit harder to find too.

A machine shop ran tests a while back and Liquid Wrench scored the highest among commericaly available products and was also the cheapest by a good margin of commerical products. Even cheaper was ATF and Acetone in 50/50 mix and it performed the highest of all products tested.

In my opinion any penetrating oil works better than WD-40 when a pentrating type oil is needed.

armand tatro · Jun 3, 2012

Kroil or Break-a-way which also leaves an oily film behind. Comes with a straw. Use it! Armand

doubleN · Jun 3, 2012

Have used PB Blaster for years but now came across "Liquid Wrench Foaming." Wow! That stuff cut right to the chase even on an old plow that had been sitting outside for decades.

Ray UK · Jun 3, 2012

Don't know if you can get it in your area but here in the UK I have used a product called Plus Gas for years now, another good penetrating fluid is Diesel fuel. I too find that WD40 is not too good as a release oil.

Bob Bancroft · Jun 3, 2012

YES! When I worked at AC dealer we used that by the case. It was great stuff. We called it "panther *iss". I think whatever it had that did the trick has long since been banned.

randy hall · Jun 3, 2012

gibbs claims to be the only patented penetrating oil.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 3, 2012

As others have said, heat if you want to get it loose right now.

As for a spray lube that will stay, Fluid Film.

Paul from MI · Jun 3, 2012

My personal favorite is PB Blaster & time. Time may be the most important of the two. I have pretty good luck if I keep at the rusty nut on a daily basis with PB, and keep it up for about two weeks. I just freed up the gas tank mounting bolts on my Farmall H, and I know they haven't been moved since it was built in 1942, but it took a couple of weeks. If I'm in a hurry, it's time for the torch.

MarkB_MI · Jun 3, 2012

HEAT is the only thing that works.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 3, 2012

If I remember the test results right, it was Acetone/atf, best, then Kroil. then PB Blaster. But another one that I like is Heat the bolt to Cherry red, then let it cool to about 250 degrees, and take some beeswax, and push it against the bottom of the bolt, the wax will wick it's way up, into the frozen threads. Then just turn the bolt out. Just did this, on some allen head bolts, on a baler, that a 550 lb impact gun wouldn't move, without the heat and wax! Thanks to my old friend, Richard Gosheff, RIP, for the idea!

kyplowboy · Jun 3, 2012

My brother bought a case of stuff at a flea market years ago that was in a spray can with a plain paper wrapper that just said "Penetrating Oil" on it. It was less than $1 a can and was the best stuff he or I had ever used, just wanted to be out side or have the barn door open on a windy day cause it would give a head ache worse than any hang over I had ever had. We just had to see so we peeled the wrapper off one and it just had a bunch of Chineese write'n on it. Never found any more of it but if I do I will buy all I can carry.

Dave

GordoSD · Jun 4, 2012

Wd-40 is neither a lubricant nor a penetrating solvent. It is a fish oil based steel preservative, Spray it on stuff to keep from rusting. Rated #2 out of 30 products for rust prevention.
Brake cleaner is a alcohol base cleaner, no penetrant.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 4, 2012

Kroil is easy to find, just Google it, they sell direct, maker is Kano labs, TN, I think. Kroil is also very good, at penetrating through a dried up grease fitting.

mkirsch · Jun 4, 2012

Look at all the responses here. Some love PB Blaster, some think it's worthless. Some love Kroil, some think it's a waste. Some people think ALL penetrants are a waste of time.

The problem here is that people spray the penetrant on the bolt, then slap a wrench on it and go to town...

1. If the bolt turns, the penetrant is GREAT.

2. If the bolt twists off, the penetrant is GARBAGE.

The biggest factor in a penetrant working is TIME. It's not instant. Y'all preach time and patience when freeing a stuck engine. Same goes for a stuck bolt.

The more times you can soak a bolt, and the longer you wait, the better chance it has of coming loose.

Anonymous-0 · Jun 5, 2012

Agree 100 % with time. I had a grease fitting freeze up on my asv rubbertrack crawler suspension. I took the fitting off, and cleaned as much of the grease that I could, then re-installed a pipe fitting and plug. I filled it with Kroil, every time I walked past it. 6 weeks later the Kroil had eaten through the dried grease. Another good tip, is to start out trying to tighten a bolt, it's easier to get moving. Just move a 1/16th of a turn, and I can get it to back out!

Will Herring · Jun 5, 2012

(quoted from post at 09:49:14 06/04/12)
The more times you can soak a bolt, and the longer you wait, the better chance it has of coming loose.

Well my current test, I have used a combination of ATF and PB Blaster to soak some bolts for approximately two weeks. So when I go and try to work on the old WD this weekend, we'll see just how much it paid off.

Good penetrating oils?

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