This is something my dad sent me from his AMC mailing list. I have no idea how they did the actual test, or if this really is legit. But thought I would pass it along.


February 2, 2008

Machinist's Workshop V20 number 2, April/May 2007, page 35
Article: “Testing Penetrating oils”

This reports a test of penetrating oils where they measured
the force required to loosen rusty test devices. The
details reported here were validated by the original
article author. He also added some details on the methods.

You must buy the issue if you want to see how they did the
test. The back issue is available for purchase.

The table below extracts the results table The lower the
number of pounds the better. Interesting that a simple mix
of acetone and power steering fluid (PSF) works the best!

Penetrating oil - Average load - Price per fluid ounce

None................... 516 pounds
WD-40................. 238 pounds------- $0.25
PB Blaster............ 214 pounds-------- $0.35
Liquid Wrench....... 127 pounds------- $0.21
Kano Kroil............ 106 pounds-------- $0.75
PSF-Acetone mix... 53 pounds-------- $0.10 (50/50 mix)

Note from original article author:
1) These are loads required to free the test piece after
8 hours of immersion in penetrating oil. This is
probably not representative of a quick squirt just
before a wrench is applied.
2) The original article states ATF was used in the DIY
mix. It was actually PSF. I corrected the table to
reflect this.

very interesting cory

I wonder what made them decide to combine PSF & Acetone?
And I wonder are there other combinations might be even more effective?

^^lol
Ima go try peanutbutter and pickle juice next!

wow, never would've guessed acetone/PSF would work that well.
cool info thanks!

I wonder what made them decide to combine PSF & Acetone?
And I wonder are there other combinations might be even more effective?

I do wonder what made them attempt that. But with a little knowlage, I can see how they maybe got there. I know acetone has been said to be really good at cleaning junk out of the fuel system, and breaking things loose. So sounds like a decent way to thin any fluid. ATF was touted as a great penitrating oil from back int he day. Why not try PS fluid while we are at it? Who knows, maybe some old farmer used to mix it up and use it. :D

Why not try PS fluid while we are at it? Who knows, maybe some old farmer used to mix it up and use it. :D

Sounds kinda like my good ol Pops.:D
never liked to use what ANYONE said worked for ANYTHING, just made up his own **** and said it was better lol.

We have that Kroil stuff at work and it works great. I like PB Blaster too, but Kroil works even better.

We have that Kroil stuff at work and it works great. I like PB Blaster too, but Kroil works even better.


I use a combo of kroil, PB blaster and CRC freeze off when needed. the acetone mix is too volatile IMO to use in most of my cases because I use the propane torch. the CRC freeze off is nice because it cools the part down.

I wish they would have put the freeze off in there. I end up using that alot as well.

Wow. I used Liquid Wrench 25 years ago. I bought the PB Blaster a couple of weeks ago because that's what the forums recommend, and I figured that the new stuff would be an improvement over the old compounds. I guess I was wrong.

I use pb blaster, but every once in a while at whatever shop I was working at, a bottle of kroil would mysteriously go into circulation and it always worked amazing. I used to joke that it's like that twilight zone episode with the potion peddler that gives the old gunslinger some magic juice to make him shoot perfect. I figured the Kroil genie would drop off one can every few months and bless people with its magic penetrating power (sort of like the way I bless my girlfriend with magical penetrating powers, but that's another story). Then i saw it in the eastwood catalog. I felt so unspecial. It was definitely no surprise to me that it won this contest, well aside from that one home brewed concoction that beat it out...but we shouldn't get into non epa approved cocktails of chemicals that form unknown substances when mixed. It may break the bolt loose but kill every living thing in a 15 mile radius due to poisons vapors. Although I guess the aforementioned peanut butter and pickle juice would be pretty harmless.

The stuff I have found to be the best is made my Kimball Midwest.
Great stuff.
Lets just say I have never broken a manifold bolt putting headers on these cars, and never broke a bit or easy out with a broken bolt.
I have only had to use an esy out once, the rest of the bolts will spin out with the left handed bits.
Air Pump fittings on the manifold, never had a problem with them either.

OK, Cory....are you SURE that's PSF??? The other forums I attend are all using 50/50 acetone and ATF.

OK, Cory....are you SURE that's PSF??? The other forums I attend are all using 50/50 acetone and ATF.


This is something my dad sent me from his AMC mailing list. I have no idea how they did the actual test, or if this really is legit. But thought I would pass it along.




.....

Hmm, I'm a little disappointed to see PB and WD-40 so close to each other. I've had pretty good luck with PB plus mapp gas torch, and shock force.

I have always had a high regard of PB over WD-40. It would be interesting to see how they compare, with say a 15 minute soak. Does one get in there faster? I don't think we could know this, without doing a test ourselves. I don't know that I could do a test that would produce any real results.

That surprizes my how much better Liquid Wrench did in the test. My dad always had Liquid Wrench in the garage so that's what I would go for until the various car forums convinced me that PB Blaster was the penetrant of choice. I wasn't really familiar with PB but really wanted the best penetrant when I was getting my stuff together to swap out my manifolds for headers. When I used the PB it definately looked and smelled more caustic and it would react to surface rust...definately made me think it was going to town on the rust more-so that the Liquid Wrench...so I've been using PB ever since ... well, not that I've really done any significant work on the car myself since the headers.

Damn I want to see more tests.

Who knows, maybe some old farmer used to mix it up and use it. :D

Yea...he prolly lubed a cow while he was at it!