Hi, Ian.

Thanks for responding.

On Thu, 17 Jul 2014 21:43:52 +0000 (UTC), Ian Malcolm wrote:
Frnak McKenney wrote:
From the Department of Silly Questions: For my mower and chainsaw I
add something called Sea Foam which seems to de-gunk the fuel line and
carburetor fairly well. Would dripping something like this on an
Oilite bushing help dissolve some of the old-and-hardened oil so it
would do its job again? Or would you need something stronger to do the
job?

No. If the problem was just 'varnished' oil in the pores, then
alternating between soaking in a really agressive solvent (e.g.
dichloromethane) then pulling a vacuum (use a compressed air powered
vacuum generator as the fumes will probably rapidly kill a good vacuum
pump)could clear them out, ...

Hm. Rather like using your lungs to suck glass dry after etching it.
Ouch!

... but if the bearing has seized or squealed, the
surface will have been smeared and seriously overheated so most of the
pores will be blocked with metal particles or insoluable carbon.

Ah. Yes. And most anything I could imagine that would remove the metal
would also bits of the bearing, which rather defeats the original
purpose.

Some
people report good emergency results from burning out the old oil then
relubricating, but you need to immerse it in hot oil and repeatedly
pull a vacuum to do a proper job of relubeing.

All of which, for the reasons you point out, ought to be done _before_
the bearing screeches at you. ( "We ought to, you ought to, I'll get
around to it someday." )

Thanks...


Frank
--
To invent, you need a good imagination and a pile of junk.
-- Thomas Alva Edison
--
Frank McKenney, McKenney Associates
Richmond, Virginia / (804) 320-4887
Munged E-mail: frank uscore mckenney aatt mindspring ddoott com