Home-made Penetrating Oil

by aaahotdog in Workshop > Repair

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Home-made Penetrating Oil

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This weekend I did a front brake job on my vehicle.  After using 2 cans of commercial penetrating oil (lubricant) I still could not remove the rusted brake rotor from the axle spindle.   I had tried various additional things like a bigger hammer, heat and rapid cool, it would not come off.   Now this is not my idea, it took about 2 hours of internet browsing to find a solution and people who tried it were singing it's praises and now I am a believer also.   One person on another site said there was actually a study comparing this home-made to commercial brands and the home-made required 30% of the torque of commercial brands to loosen rusted bolts.   And it is by far cheaper than the commercial brands like WD-?? for example.

Here is what you need.  A cheap spray bottle (you probably have an empty one laying around).    In this bottle mix a 50/50 mix of 100% acetone and dextron/mercron automatic transmission fluid.    The two fluids will separate like oil and vinegar so you have to shake the bottle well before spraying.   

I mixed up a batch and let it soak for 15 minutes on the rotor and with a few taps it came right off.   Yesterday I spent 6 hours with 2 cans of the commercial brand with no success.   My other rotor was equally rusted, and came off the same with this stuff only.

Hopefully this helps someone else out too.