WD-40 Question

[Tony Miklos]

Isn't it though? How I ever figured out to use a water displacer to displace water is sheer fricken genius!

[notbob]

Yep.

It does what it is intended to do, jes fine. I had a distributor cap that was full of condensation, literally dripping water. No spark to any plug. I couldn't adequately dry it out by any means available to me at that time, but had a can of WD40 in my truck toolbox. I sprayed the cap interior liberally with WD40, it now dripping WD40, and put the cap back on. The engine fired right up, like nothing was ever wrong.

THAT is the sole purpose of WD40. All the rest is nonsense perpetrated by the same ppl that use duct tape and a screw driver for everything.

nb

[Jim Yanik]

[e-mail] wrote in news: [e-mail]:

You better go back and read the MSDS more closely;it is ~70% kerosene. You have to read the MSDS for each of the listed CAS numbers,and then you see that it's mostly kerosene.

IOW,"basically kerosene".

[Jim Yanik]

Smitty Two wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Go back and reread the MSDS,and this time,look at the MSDS for each CAS number listed under WD-40. You will find that it's ~70% kerosene. Thus,it IS "basically kerosene".

[David Nebenzahl]

On 11/19/2010 4:19 PM Jim Yanik spake thus:

Not true.

Yes, *one* of the ingrediments (listed twice in the MSDS for some reason) is kerosene, but it's nowhere near 70% of the total. The other petroleum components are naphtha (Stoddard solvent) and some unspecified "dewaxed paraffinic mineral oil".

Here, try it yourself: there's a MSDS search engine here:

and the MSDS can be easily found through a Google search.

Here are the components given in that MSDS:

CAS 64742-47-8 CAS 64742-48-9 CAS 64742-88-7 CAS 64742-65-0 CAS 64742-47-8 (same as first)

(I left out the CO2)

[David Nebenzahl]

On 11/19/2010 5:00 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Ackshooly, according to this page:

WD-40 is 60-70% Stoddard solvent. Although I think that also contains some kerosene, judging from those other CAS #s.

Very confusing.

[Tony Miklos]

After an exceptionally cold night and a warm front with lots of humidity came through in the morning, my van just would not start. A spit and sputter here and there but not much more. Looking under the hood I see everything was just about dripping with water condensation. I sprayed WD-40 on the wires, cap, and coil and it started right up. Oh, and it's duct tape, a screwdriver, and drywall screws! ;-)

[Jon Danniken]

Those are water based lubricants. At a minimum, we know they will absorb water, water which is undoubtedly a solvent.

Jon

[hrhofmann]

What about a hammer to beat on things when the previous three items don't work?

[snotty]

I have no need to look it up. I have known this for ages. Actually the latest MSDS no longer calls it Stoddard Solvent, even though it is still the same stuff.

[snotty]

If only you knew more about what you were looking at!

[snotty]

CAS number can apply to more than one variant, as it does in this case.

[clare]

WD40 in the squirt bottle worked real good for that. The early stuff in the spray can worked good too, but you had to wait a minute or so before reinstalling the cap, or the first spark would bounce the cap off the hood, retaining screws, clips, or whatever not-withstanding. You don't need to ask how I know - - - - - - .

[Roy]

lol =3D=3D

[notbob]

Bingo! Mine was a van, too, and the exact same weather conditions. WD40 does exactly what it was designed to do. If you like WD40, try LPS1, a better brand of the same type of water displacement snake oil. Also comes in LPS2 and LPS3, each a thicker, higher viscosity, version.

nb

[Larry W]

No

[Larry W]

All over again!

[dpb]

The latest MSDS doesn't refer to the same CAS No as Stoddard solvent, so it isn't still the same stuff (unless it never was, and any MSDS that said so was in error). It seems to me that earlier MSDS did refer to Stoddard solvent, too, however, altho I didn't do any other looking.

3 - Composition/Information on Ingredients Ingredient CAS # Weight Percent Aliphatic Hydrocarbon 64742-47-8 45-50 Petroleum Base Oil 64742-58-1

[Tony Miklos]

Yes I thought of that but it still seemed like a good answer. ;-)

[Tony Miklos]

I had an AMC Gremlin for a couple years and now and then I would find the distributor cap popped loose, but the wires were still holding it in position and it would still run as good as normal! I later found out they had a problem as they cooled down, the vacuum advance line would suck in some gasoline/fumes and leave it inside the cap. Spark - Pop!

I seriously wish I still had that Gremlin.