Loosening stuck parts

[Doyt W. Echelberger]

Hello John...........Not to diminish the suggestion about using Kroll (I'm
going to get some) but to give readers an alternative, I suggest trying
common household ammonia on rusted iron and steel parts. It has been most
useful in getting rusted nuts to break loose from muffler clamps and the
like. Repeated applications are effective. I learned about it from Doug
Haley in 1997, who had been using it since 1996. See the original posts
below. They are kind of interesting from a list-historical viewpoint. Maybe
some of the people are still around:

From: HaleyD at YANKELOVICH.COM
To: Doyt
Date: 28 Aug 1997 13:06:16 EDT
Subject: My God, It Works!

A year ago I clipped this from the list:
 >From: "Steinbrueck, GL" <steinbru at VNET.IBM.COM>
 >Date: Sun, 8 Sep 96 22:11:42 EDT
 >Subject: Re: 4kq Header Pipe.

<snip>
 >  Can't help too much with most of your "problem", but for those
blankety-blank
 >manifold bolts, soak them in ammonia solution (yeah, the regular
 >supermarket stuff --clear, not soapy) for a while before you have at 'em
 >with the wrench.
 >  You'll notice that if you put a drop on, it kinda wicks in after a
 >few seconds.  I'm no chemistry whiz, but I think it's changing the
 >ferrous to ferric or something.  Only works on iron.  I used this once
 >to loosen a massive compactor that had rusted up --used a whole gallon.
 >I noticed that NH4 really blasts off the part when it's working in such
 >huge amounts.
 >  Anyway after finding this trick, I'm now able to reuse muffler clamps
 >and other previously untouchable parts.  Let me know if your experience
 >matches mine, cause almost nobody believes this when I tell 'em, and
 >some even after I show 'em.
<snip>

Well, last night I was struggling to separate headpipe from catalytic
converter which was rust-welded together.  Soaked both in common household
ammonia (99 cents from grocery store).  An hour later they just fell
apart!  And the bolts which looked terminally rusted could now be
separated!  This is definitely now part of my old-car arsenal of tricks.
***************************************************** Doug Haley
(haleyd at yankelovich.com)
"There is no fundamental difference between a sufficiently advanced
technology and magic" (A.C.Clarke)
'92 S4 (mine)
'95 Saab Turbo Conv (Mom's)
'91 Sentra SE-R (new header installed!) '94 Miata (summer fun)

 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
At 06:32 PM 7/24/2002 -0700, you wrote:
>Despite the valiant efforts of the media to convince us all that WD 40 is
>the miracle made to fix all our collective ills, it is NOT a proper
>penetrant, and it's a waste of time to use it as such.  Get some liquid
>wrench.  Not a particularly good product when compared to others of it's
>type, it's nevertheless far better than WD 40.  BTW, "WD" stands for "water
>displacer".  Better yet, send off for some Kroil, look for some LPS, or use
>one of the myriad of local and regional products made for breaking things
>loose.  Blast Off, Rocket Bolt Buster, Bolt Blaster, and Zep are but a few
>of the good ones.  Personally, I think a can of Kroil (www.kanolabs.com) or
>Silikroil is the best way to deal with problems like this.  They work better
>than ANYTHING I've tried in more than 44 years of working on motor vehicles
>and machinery (except maybe a flame wrench!).  HTH, John