ATF and acetone

dinsdale Sat Aug 10, 2013 9:15 am

Somewhere in these fora recently someone suggested that the epitome of engine "de-gummers" was a 50/50 ATF and acetone mix. Sorry I can't find where/who it was. Any'ow, I gave it a go and have come to the conclusion that I must have read it wrong. ATF and acetone won't/don't homogenize. Within a minute of giving it lots of vigourous shaking the two separate out to ½ a pint of acetone floating atop ½ a pint of ATF.

What am I doing wrong??

On a totally different tack, ATF is an outstanding after run oil.

pkrankow Sat Aug 10, 2013 10:16 am

Acetone + ATF is not for degumming, it is for penetrating oil. It is also not a "normal" method, but getting into "aggressive" and if plastic is involved "extreme" means of getting parts apart.

I was introduced to it when I had to remove the rear wheels from the axles on my lawn tractor. Whoever assembled it last cleaned everything and did not reapply anti-seize. After applying this concoction and allowing it to soak I used a mild steel bar as a drift, and a 5# sledge to drive the axle out of the rim successfully. Then I had to do the other wheel.

I've never had problems with separation, but I've never mixed up that much at a time. It won't keep since the acetone will evaporate. I suspect your acetone is water contaminated since acetone is mixible with oil and water.

Phil

SuperDave Sat Aug 10, 2013 12:57 pm

The old standard, Hoppe's #9 Gun Cleaning Solvent, works well for me. I buy it by the quart from Cabela's. Using it on my engines AND my guns a quart lasts me a couple of years.

SuperDave

dinsdale Sun Aug 11, 2013 3:46 am

pkrankow wrote:I've never had problems with separation, but I've never mixed up that much at a time. It won't keep since the acetone will evaporate. I suspect your acetone is water contaminated since acetone is mixible with oil and water.

Phil

Of course the amount makes zero difference. I bought new (I don't drive an automatic car) garden variety (nothing special) ATF and the 1 litre bottle of acetone was first opened the day before. Moisture isn't the problem, but there's no way on Earth of homogenizing the stuff. I poured the ingredients into a large (there's an OS .46 and an OS .32 in there) glass jar with an airtight metal lid. I just thought that I might have been confused about the ingredients, but perhaps ATF and/or acetone are actually different in the US.

dinsdale Sun Aug 11, 2013 3:50 am

SuperDave wrote:The old standard, Hoppe's #9 Gun Cleaning Solvent, works well for me. I buy it by the quart from Cabela's. Using it on my engines AND my guns a quart lasts me a couple of years.

SuperDave

Never heard of it, but perhaps some other brand of gun cleaning solvent might work. I'll check it out next time I'm in town.

SuperDave Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:03 am

[quote="dinsdale"][quote="SuperDave"]The old standard, Hoppe's #9 Gun Cleaning Solvent, works well for me. I buy it by the quart from Cabela's. Using it on my engines AND my guns a quart lasts me a couple of years.

Dins: Hoppe's #9 has been used for over a century (1903) by the US miltary and has few if any equals for cleaning weapons. It comes in a nice plastic container with a good sealing lid. I wipe down my weapons after each firing and it it disolves powder residue very nicely.

I first tried it on Cox engines after it was suggested here on the forum and found it equally good at cleaning them and even freeing those "frozen" by castor gum.

SuperDave

dinsdale Sun Aug 11, 2013 10:52 am

SuperDave wrote:Dins: Hoppe's #9 has been used for over a century (1903) by the US miltary and has few if any equals for cleaning weapons. It comes in a nice plastic container with a good sealing lid. I wipe down my weapons after each firing and it it disolves powder residue very nicely.

I first tried it on Cox engines after it was suggested here on the forum and found it equally good at cleaning them and even freeing those "frozen" by castor gum.

SuperDave

I live about 12,000 (or more) miles from you. I've never heard of it before. I do shoot, but I use different stuff because Hoppe's #9 isn't on the shelves of any gun stores within several hundred miles of me. I might check what's available here though and give it a go.

dinsdale Sun Aug 11, 2013 11:22 am

I just did a bit o' Googling. There's a gun store about 2,400 miles from me selling it lol!

$25.50 (inc postage) for an unspecified size bottle, but it sure looks small. The stuff I have now is by "Outers".

EDIT: The Hoppe's bottle is 4oz

SuperDave Sun Aug 11, 2013 12:00 pm

Dins:

A quart of Hoppe's at Cabela's in the US is IIRC about $10 on special with free shipping from Cabela's.

Sorry that is is considerably more in Oz. That leaves you the ATF/Acetone "brew" as the alternative.

SD

dinsdale Mon Aug 12, 2013 6:23 am

SuperDave wrote:Dins:
That leaves you the ATF/Acetone "brew" as the alternative.

SD

... and how to homogenize the stuff.

SuperDave Mon Aug 12, 2013 9:21 am

Dins:

And I don't believe that's going to happen. Sorry.

One will always precipitate from the other like oil and water.

SD

SD

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