Took me 3 years to admit that penetrating oil is mostly hype

I used to swear by the big name penetrating oils. PB Blaster, Kroil, all that. Thought they were magic. Then I started working on a 1987 F-150 from a farm near Amarillo. Everything was rust welded. I tried every spray on the shelf. Nothing broke loose. My old timer boss walked over, grabbed a 50/50 mix of acetone and ATF he keeps in a jelly jar, and had that manifold bolt out in 10 minutes. I was pissed. Now I make my own batch for about $3 a quart. It works way better than the $15 cans. Anyone else finally ditch the fancy stuff for a shop mix? Don't care if it smells like a transmission shop.

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep623d ago

Spilled a whole jelly jar of that mix on my boots last week. Still smells like victory though.

gavinm893d ago

Lol I read something recently where a guy tested a bunch of penetrating oils with a torque wrench and the acetone/ATF mix beat everything except Kroil by like 15%. But here's the thing, he also tested just plain old WD-40 and it was surprisingly close to the fancy stuff for way less money. Makes you wonder how much of the magic is just marketing and a little bit of patience. I've been using that jelly jar mix on my tractor for a year now and it's never let me down. The smell is brutal though, I feel you on the boot thing.