In article ,
"Ed Huntress" wrote:

"Joseph Gwinn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ed Huntress" wrote:

"Ignoramus11967" wrote in message
...
On 2007-11-16, Ed Huntress wrote:
I'm going to assume you're pulling our legs. However, the fact is that
while some of the ingredients of WD40 are secret, the ones that are known
are Stoddard solvent and mineral oil: paint thinner and baby oil, in other
words. Mineral oil has almost no lubricating properties that you'd
consider for use in a machine. All in all, it's a good product to kill a
machine for which you're looking for an excuse to trash.

If I wanted to ruin a motor, I would take a 3450 RPM 3 phase motor and
run it at 400 Hz from a VFD. Would be more fun that putting WD40 in
bearings.

i

It might be harder to cover up when you took it back to the store. d8-)

Lamp oil is good. That will kill a bearing pretty quick, like the time a
high school friend of mine decided to clean out the crap in the sump of a
Chevy V8 that he bought by running kerosene in the crankcase for a couple
of days. It made quite a smell when it fried.

Kerosene in the oil to clean an engine is an old trick, but one did it
for a few hours at most, and not under load. Maybe this is how WD-40
was really invented, never mind the legend on the website.

The one guy I've ever talked to who did this much, a mechanic who
specialized in converting car engines for marine use, told me that 1), it
usually doesn't do any good; and 2) it often fries your engine. He did a lot
of old Stars and Fords from the early '30s and Packards from the '50s, which
were once popular conversions. It was a last-ditch, desperate measure if you
were doing a cheap conversion, he said.

I believe it. I heard the trick from a coworker who was also an
experienced shady-tree mechanic from rural PA. It may depend on the
engine kind. He didn't report a high failure rate, but he would be one
to know just how far he could push it.

When the metal becomes too clean, it will weld nicely.

Hmm. If it didn't usually do any good, why did the mechanic even bother?


I don't know what WD40 says, beyond what's in their MSDS. And that doesn't
tell you much.

It's a saga on their website (?) that says that what became WD-40 was
the 40th formula they tried. One wonders what took so long.

Joe Gwinn