Chemistry of dissolving varnish

[JAG]

I posted this mostly for you guys in this forum but put it in the Articles forum so it does not quickly get buried and lost in this forum.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2578619&#Post2578619

 

[Loobed]

I one time added some Goof-off to an old engine I wanted to get clean before tearing it apart to rebuild. It cleaned about 50% of the varnish in the 10 minutes I had the engine idling. It also destroyed the bearings and piston skirts.

 

[JAG]

Yikes. That's mostly acetone which is a solvent I'd never mix in the motor oil because it dissolves some plastics and elastomers: http://www.pspglobal.com/fluid-compatibility/chemicals-a.html

How much goof off did you put in? If it was a lot I'd blame the viscosity drop but if not that then the very high evaporation rate causing cavitation and/or "dryness".

 

[BrianWC]

I think I ran acetone in my fuel tank once but don't know if I ever tried it in the sump. Wait, of course I probably did, lol. Good to see you still keeping up w/ this stuff, JAG!

 

[sunfire]

So is varnish harmful or not?

 

[TC]

One simple rule of thumb I'd recommend for anyone is to not add anything to a crankcase or fuel tank that isn't commonly used by the aftermarket industry. If it's not in Rislone, Regane, MMO, Seafoam, Sta-Bil, Techron, STP, etc. (per the MSDSs), there's probably a good reason for that. Some of these additives work great, others not so much, but they're all "safe" chemicals for adding to oil, gas or diesel in modest quantities. (Yes, you can find examples of engines undergoing desludging seize-up, etc., but they're the rare exceptions.) Much of what the aftermarket uses are what I'll call the "oily" petro-solvents such as kerosene, mineral spirits, naphtha solvents, pale oils, etc. Going off-reservation by experimenting with significant quantities of harsher petrochemicals not commonly found in aftermarket products is rolling the dice, in my opinion.

 

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted By: TC
One simple rule of thumb I'd recommend for anyone is to not add anything to a crankcase or fuel tank that isn't commonly used by the aftermarket industry. If it's not in Rislone, Regane, MMO, Seafoam, Sta-Bil, Techron, STP, etc. (per the MSDSs), there's probably a good reason for that. Some of these additives work great, others not so much, but they're all "safe" chemicals for adding to oil, gas or diesel in modest quantities. (Yes, you can find examples of engines undergoing desludging seize-up, etc., but they're the rare exceptions.) Much of what the aftermarket uses are what I'll call the "oily" petro-solvents such as kerosene, mineral spirits, naphtha solvents, pale oils, etc. Going off-reservation by experimenting with significant quantities of harsher petrochemicals not commonly found in aftermarket products is rolling the dice, in my opinion.


So is Kreen (in a sane/suggested dosage) "rolling the dice", in your opinion??

 

[TC]

No, I've never used it, but Kreen appears fairly mainstream, primarily with naphtha solvents/oils and an aliphatic alcohol that appears similar to what CRC Motor Treatment (a product meant to mimic Seafoam) uses, plus lesser quantities of a few other chemicals. By sheer number of chemical ingredients, Kreen is a little more complex than most -- STP Motor Treatment (another Seafoam clone), for example, is up to 100% mineral spirits. But sometimes complex isn't necessarily better....just more complex.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Kreen has been around for a LONG time.

 

[Shannow]

Not sure that I'd want to add "glycol ether" to my oil, but it's got a following.

Varnish will dissolve in fresh oil...until it reaches equilibrium.

So frequent (very frequent) oil changes will remove varnish, and it's only deposited once it's formed too much for the oil to carry.

It's no biggie in an engine usually, but in industry can cause catastrophe.

 

[Maxima97]

Don't add chemical in your crankcase. I would just use good syn oil for a couple of cycle to see if it can clean the varnish. I used Mobil 1, PP in all my fleet and so far the result is good. Once the varnish is cleaned. You can use the SN conventional oil in between syn oil change to low the cost. I would do 10K OCI on syn in winter and 7.5k on conventional in summer.

 

[SteveSRT8]

Baloney. Kreen doesn't hurt a thing. Trav has even soaked soft parts in it with no ill effect.

People may forget this is not a new product. And the reason it has a following is that it WORKS. Fast, easy, and safe.

IMO anything with over 100k miles is probably ready for some Kreen.

 

[Shannow]

Or a coolant leak.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: SteveSRT8
Baloney. Kreen doesn't hurt a thing. Trav has even soaked soft parts in it with no ill effect.

People may forget this is not a new product. And the reason it has a following is that it WORKS. Fast, easy, and safe.

IMO anything with over 100k miles is probably ready for some Kreen.


I agree, especially when buying a high miler with unknown history.

 

[Smokescreen]

Anyone know where you can buy Kreen in Canada...Alberta?

 

[Loobed]

Originally Posted By: JAG
Yikes. That's mostly acetone which is a solvent I'd never mix in the motor oil because it dissolves some plastics and elastomers: http://www.pspglobal.com/fluid-compatibility/chemicals-a.html

How much goof off did you put in? If it was a lot I'd blame the viscosity drop but if not that then the very high evaporation rate causing cavitation and/or "dryness".


I think it was about 1 or 2 tablespoons to 4 quarts