Methylated Spirits as Parts Cleaner?

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Tornado

Tornado

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Looking for alternatives to aerosol brake cleaners as they are now about $9 a 300-400ml can. Meths/methylated spirits/methyl hydrate seems like it should a good alternative as a parts degreaser. Runs about $5 per litre.
 
Only thing about metho for that purpose is that it is hygroscopic and can actually contain a fair bit of water.
Not sure about its grease cutting effectiveness.
 
Tornado said:
Looking for alternatives to aerosol brake cleaners as they are now about $9 a 300-400ml can. Meths/methylated spirits/methyl hydrate seems like it should a good alternative as a parts degreaser. Runs about $5 per litre.
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You have Princess Auto in your Provence? Look for sales man!
I buy them by the Case when they are cheap.
Americans have Harbour Freight same thing.
 
If you need parts to soak then a gallon of WD40 is about $22 and can be used over and over
 
Red dyed Diesel fuel, Farmers and Non road use diesel, works alot cheaper.
You are not paying for the road tax by the gallon.
You just need a 5 gallon Jerry can.
 
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I use kerosine as parts cleaner and can be used many of times I buy by the drum full and last a very long time, I always have a 1/2 a drum full for soaking parts in, have also used diesel but the kero works best for me, I have even freed up an 15 hp outboard motor that took a dunking in salt water and left to sit for 4 months was completely seized but after submerged in a drum of kero for a few months freed it up and is still running to this day, by the way wasn't my motor but was given to me after the owner brought a new outboard motor, his brother dunked the motor and didn't tell him he dunked it.

Ashley
 
Requirement for a good brake cleaner is rapid evaporation and good oil and grease solvency. That's what made chlorinated solvents the favorite. Methanol is not a great solvent for oil and grease. Acetone, MIBK, or MEK might be better.
 
robs ss said:
Only thing about metho for that purpose is that it is hygroscopic and can actually contain a fair bit of water.
Not sure about its grease cutting effectiveness.
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Kerosene but it's not at the pump anymore, we'll in nz , I think you can use turps it will dry out a bearing after washing , I found the buying cans of CRC Brakeclean from automotive places like repco , supercheap auto in NZ is about $18 nzd a can , then one day I was at a hardware store BUNNINGS and they had just about every type of CRC spray can ,but the brakeclean was $9.79 nzd big can too , Yahoo bought 6, every time I go back buy two 😀
 
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Shelby-Right said:
Shane are you out in the shed , a bad sleeper , told off by the misses 😗 ! , or at work ?
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Funny you say that ...I was thinking the same about you 🤣
Nah I'm off down the line today for work....and woke far to early...whats your story ?
I used to run a small heated tank of trichloroethylene at a business I used to run...that stuff works real well ...but needs good ventilation...
 
Shelby-Right said:
On night shift , getting sick of it to 25 years , can't wait to crawl into bed , it will be dark and raining , so nice ..
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I worked in the shipping industry years ago doing all sorts of hours...its still hard to shake the early rising...what do you do apart from sitting on the internet at work 🤣🤣
 
Was thinking more for on bike work rather than part soaking etc.
A bit more googling and it seems Mineral Spirits may be a better degreaser over meths. Will it attack paint work?
 
kerosene (aka paraffin in the UK). but it is as expensive per litre as petrol.

(boom boom boom Esso Blue....)
 
ashman said:
I use kerosine as parts cleaner and can be used many of times I buy by the drum full and last a very long time, I always have a 1/2 a drum full for soaking parts in, have also used diesel but the kero works best for me, I have even freed up an 15 hp outboard motor that took a dunking in salt water and left to sit for 4 months was completely seized but after submerged in a drum of kero for a few months freed it up and is still running to this day, by the way wasn't my motor but was given to me after the owner brought a new outboard motor, his brother dunked the motor and didn't tell him he dunked it.

Ashley
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Kerosine is my favorite, but the only reliable way I know to get it in Northen Virginia is in the hardware store for $18/gallon. There is a station 9 miles from me that sells it but the times I've gone there they were out. The next station is 54 miles away and I don't want it that bad. In more rural areas, you can still get it at gas stations but it's often more expensive that gasoline or diesel.
 
Tornado said:
Looking for alternatives to aerosol brake cleaners as they are now about $9 a 300-400ml can. Meths/methylated spirits/methyl hydrate seems like it should a good alternative as a parts degreaser. Runs about $5 per litre.
Click to expand...
I use a lot of denatured alcohol (US term for meths) but it's not great for heavy degreasing. It's good for getting some types of gasket sealer off, removing soap and water residue, removing WD40 residue, cleaning dirt off rubber and plastic (be careful), and so on.

I used to keep two five gallon buckets of diesel on hand. The first for the first cleanup and the second for cleaning the residue from the first. Worked fairly well, but...

When the bottom of the dirty bucket split, 5 gallons of dirty diesel was on the floor to be cleaned up and since the floor was concrete - there was no total "clean up" possible. At the same time I has stored a dirty crankshaft in good shape in the other until I got to that restore - REALLY bad idea - it came out a rusted mess destined for the recycler. No more diesel for cleaning for me.

I have a small parts washer with water-based degreaser - waste of money. Eventually I'll clean that out and try odorless mineral spirits. It works almost as well as WD40 for cleaning. I buy quarts and pour some on a cloth rag for heavy grease and grime and follow it with WD40. Then if I want the WD40 gone, I use denatured alcohol.
 
Yes we use to be able to buy Kero at the pump and fill our own drums, ahhh the good old days, now they only sell it by the 20ltr drum or small bottles, $69 for the last drum I brought but the thing is I buy it when I building a motor or any other work on mate's bikes so they pay for 1/2 of the Kero but I keep the dirty kero in my soaking drum, I still have a near full drum of kero from my last major job that will last me a few years now, I have an old peddle Singer sewing machine I found completely rusted and seized up soaking in my soaking drum for over 8 months now, when I am ready to pull it out should be freed up, all the wood cabinet that it was on had rotted away a long time ago when I found it.
I have a Land Rover Defender that has greased wheel bearings and when doing a complete regreasing the soaking drum comes in handy for soaking the hubs to get them fully cleaned for the new wheel bearing grease, I do 2 hubs at a time and let them soak overnight, does a great job of cleaning.

Ashley
 
Since I must work in a parking garage below our residences, I cannot be using stuff that makes bad odor or leave oily residues on the cement. So kerosene/diesel/gasoline are out.
 
marshg246 said:
I use a lot of denatured alcohol (US term for meths) but it's not great for heavy degreasing. It's good for getting some types of gasket sealer off, removing soap and water residue, removing WD40 residue, cleaning dirt off rubber and plastic (be careful), and so on.

I used to keep two five gallon buckets of diesel on hand. The first for the first cleanup and the second for cleaning the residue from the first. Worked fairly well, but...

When the bottom of the dirty bucket split, 5 gallons of dirty diesel was on the floor to be cleaned up and since the floor was concrete - there was no total "clean up" possible. At the same time I has stored a dirty crankshaft in good shape in the other until I got to that restore - REALLY bad idea - it came out a rusted mess destined for the recycler. No more diesel for cleaning for me.

I have a small parts washer with water-based degreaser - waste of money. Eventually I'll clean that out and try odorless mineral spirits. It works almost as well as WD40 for cleaning. I buy quarts and pour some on a cloth rag for heavy grease and grime and follow it with WD40. Then if I want the WD40 gone, I use denatured alcohol.
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Mineral spirits (Stoddard solvent) is a distillation cut from crude oil that contains both aliphatic (straight chain) and aromatic (benzene ring containing compounds). Odorless mineral spirits has about half of the aromatic material removed. This removes most of the sweetish smell, but will be less effective than regular mineral spirits for dissolving heavy grease and some dirt, but will work to clean oils and lighter greases. Certainly better than denatured ethanol and my experiences with water-based degreasers (usually citrus based).
 
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