These keep cropping up in various threads for use as a light lubricant and for loosening siezed components . Some folks insist that PlusGas is the best , others swear by GT85 I did some searching for any technical info available about the composition - WD40 : 75% paraffin ( aka " kerosene " ) , the rest being mainly mineral oil , with some unspecified solvent to thin it , and then that distinctive perfume . PlusGas : 95% paraffin and again , some oil , solvent etc . So essentially they are very similar except that WD40 leaves a certain quantity of lubricant behind after evaporation , but PlusGas leaves much less . [ makers of these products keep their exact ingredients secret , of course ! ] The term " penetrating oil " simply means an oil that is dissolved in a light volatile solvent ,which is why it penetrates effectively ..... .... " penetrating " is not a property of the base oil itself . Several others brands are popular - GT85 which is similar to those above , but leaves a teflon coating when dry ? Then there's Transyl which some reckon to be a must-have for stuck parts , for example :- https://www.ducatiforum.co.uk/threads/removing-stuck-disc-fasteners.70848/ Never used it myself , but I'm keen to give it a go , the next time a bolt from hell appears ... ( I also remember one called Duck Oil but I haven't seen that for years ) . I couldn't find much detail about the ingredients for these last few brands . I've looked on various mechanic-type forums and there is a fair amount of crap talked about all of them . Maybe it's a bit like religion ..... a lot depends on what you want to believe in . You makes your choice and pays your money ? I'm keen to hear from others , about trusted products , likes and dislikes etc.
Don't plan on doing any painting when WD40 is around. It's actually banned from site where I work, it's so virulent.
We use CRC penetrating oil at work. Never been a fan of penetrating oil but this stuff gives a nice uniformed thin coat of lubricant. The crc stuff is food safe so shouldn’t contain anything horrendous
WD40 works well imo and is a great cleaner. If you spray it on plastic coated electrical wires they will go brittle eventually (ask anyone with an outboard) Isn't the point that you use one product to seep into the threads and release them, then another to lubricate? I used Duck oil in the 'states way back when.
According to the crap ads that I get on my phone (mainly Google inspired) WD40 should be sprayed down your toilets for 'miracle' results. I have to admit that I don't go to my toilets and inspect the pan and now think, 'Hmmm, a bit of WD40 would improve things a bit!'. Just normal loo cleaners work for me so I must be getting it wrong. However, everybody is very polite and nobody comments on the state of my loo and advises spraying on some WD40 to sort it out! But I haven't tried loo cleaner to un-seize nuts and bolts yet either...
innotech do a range of lubricants and release oils that are on a parr or better than Worth. I use it in the workshop. its the Dugs brw.
Aye, that was me promoting Transyl ^^ and I still stand by it and trust me I had quite a few badly seized bolts on that one. Also recommended to me was a 50/50 blend of diesel and acetone - I'm presuming the acetone thins the diesel and I'm guessing paraffin/kerosene would work equally as well in place of diesel. I haven't tried that yet as it's a little hard to find acetone out here in rural west of Ireland - even nail varnish remover in the shops is no longer acetone based .
I saw on a classic car programme when they tried to recommission a car that had been standing 20 years, they put a couple of shots of diesel down each piston barrel and left if for a few days to free everything up, worked fine.
IMO, WD40 and Plus-Gas are pretty crap as penetrating oils......No better than diesel as far as I am concerned. Plus-Gas was a bit useful when it first came on the market many years ago.....(but that was down to the ether content in it......did you know you used to be able to knock your girlfriend out with it if she wouldn't play ball........'here love, take a deep sniff of this can') I use CLP Break Free.........favoured by the USA military and gunsmiths.
WD40 is a good product, as are many of their competitors, what they all struggle with is penetrating!, especially on fine threads that have corrosion in them, imagine a bowl with a fine threaded bolt at its base acting as a plug, fill it with any penetrating oil, or thinners, or water or anything you like, leave it there for days and look for evidence of liquid on the threads that protrude under the bowl, 9 times out of 10 there will be none, penetrating oils help sometimes in certain applications, usually those with course threads , I’ve always had more luck using heat.
I like GT85 which is made by WD40 but someone gave me a gallon of this and it seems to work well. https://www.smithandallan.com/produ...834-smith-and-allan-de-watering-40-dw40-wd40/
Thanks for the useful warning. I do love the way that WD40 can dissolve that vile snot-glue which is used on the stupid labels put on mains cables to inform the owner of a new appliance that the live wire is brown and neutral blue - if you don't know that you probably can't read the label anyway. It's pretty good at removing the residue left by other labels too. I'm sure I saw a suggestion somewhere that spraying onto arthritic joints could be helpful, but that seems unlikely to me.
