Cosmoline Failure?

[JHZR2]

This truck isn’t new (96 with 439k miles), but it’s new to me. So never oil sprayed or whatnot inside.

Inhad the door card off, so I sprayed it all over in the entire door. It adhered perfectly and is just fine everywhere else. Which is why it has to be something to do with the standing water. No idea why it happened like that.

Can it be applied too think and never set/cure? I kind of thought that was the general idea when using it on stuff in storage.

 

[LeakySeals]

It's a type of wax so it never really hardens. In winter it's pretty hard to the touch. In summer months when it's hot it gets tacky and moves around. Reseals itself. It starts to melt over 130f.

Yes it does look like water is causing a problem. No I don't think it's too thick I think it's too thin actually. Here's what I would do. Get out a heat gun or hair dryer and use it in the door. The wax will melt. Make sure that seam is dried out. Then spray a lot thicker. All along the seam. Build it up so it's dripping out the hole and it's harder for water to remain. 2 heavy coats minimum. If it leaks out that seam down onto the door jamb that's good. Then mask off the door jamb and spray the area underneath that area of the seam. Doesn't have to be super heavy there but enough to be absorbed into the rust. That should work. Don't worry about getting it on the paint. It comes off with WD-40 or some type of oil. Or heat

 

[LeakySeals]

I just took this pic using flash. The 2006 Escalade 5 years after initial treatment. That body bushing is starting to bleed. Need to touch that up. But the frame still looks great. The surface rust on the bolt is still frozen in time. I see a couple of other areas that need a little help. But it's small stuff. I'm not respraying the entire vehicle every year.

 

[JHZR2]

Yes it does look like water is causing a problem. No I don't think it's too thick I think it's too thin actually. Here's what I would do. Get out a heat gun or hair dryer and use it in the door. The wax will melt. Make sure that seam is dried out. Then spray a lot thicker. All along the seam. Build it up so it's dripping out the hole and it's harder for water to remain. 2 heavy coats minimum. If it leaks out that seam down onto the door jamb that's good. Then mask off the door jamb and spray the area underneath that area of the seam. Doesn't have to be super heavy there but enough to be absorbed into the rust. That should work. Don't worry about getting it on the paint. It comes off with WD-40 or some type of oil. Or heat

I think you are right about too thin. I did just as you stated today. Built it up so it essentially fully fills the pinch seam trough at the bottom of the door. Let that set and then gummed more in there...

First:

Second:

 

[LeakySeals]

Better but you still need more. Just let it rip. The surface rust should be flooded over and wax pouring out the drain hole. Then underneath the seam should be masked off and sprayed also. If it's damp in there use a hair dryer. If it gets on the paint or the door jamb don't worry about it. No worries getting it off. WD-40 will neutralize it

 

[JHZR2]

Hmm. Maybe it needed more, but still not liking how the stuff absorbs water and cracks.

Maybe it’s a bad batch? Maybe because it’s in a low lying valley that holds water, versus a surface that sheds?

 

[LeakySeals]

You can tell by the pictures it's incompatible with that black coating. Discontinue use.

 

[JHZR2]

That black coating is primer paint, as far as I can tell.

even if it doesn’t “adhere” to it, the cosmolene still shouldn’t turn white when water sits on it. That’s a different issue, IMO.

 

[JHZR2]

I had some corrosion x HD in my garage. It says it doesn’t harden, so I’m going to give it a try to cover the gaps in the cosmolene. Originally I was going to put woolwax or fluid film, but I found the corrosion x and figure it’s worth a shot. It may have more active chemistry than just the lanolin, which is good if seeping into crevices.

The can was really cold, so didn’t spray well. Some products have more gas entrained in the material - though fluid film and woolwax do this too, so the bubbles would be present had I used those other products instead. I purposely sprayed some spots and not others to see how it behaves with the primer. I’ll put more in later if this first spray looks ok and the propellant bubbles all come out.

 

[Exhaustgases]

Personally before I would use any sort of oil protectant, I would have used something like eastwood in frame paint. Oils and cosmoline are used to protect unpainted metals.

 

[LeakySeals]

Sounds like a good idea it may blend better with whatever that paint is on the door. I warm up aerosol cans in a bucket of hot water.

 

[JHZR2]

Personally before I would use any sort of oil protectant, I would have used something like eastwood in frame paint. Oils and cosmoline are used to protect unpainted metals.

Oils are used all the time. Krown for example is sprayed inside of primed/painted metals.

The interior of the doors were painted/primed. They didn’t need another coat of paint that would have been difficult to ensure adhesion. The use of creeping oils to get into nooks and crannies is established. Cosmoline, lanolin, and other such materials can be good to seal the large surfaces for longer term if they don’t crack or dry out. This was an opportunity to see what it looks like when some is laid down. I’m frankly surprised with this. I tried the CRC corrosion inhibitor and it adhered much better. It doesn’t dry as hard.

 

[JHZR2]

I tried this again. Different truck, this one my much better 96 Ram 4WD. I used the same stuff, sprayed it in heavy, and saw this:

Look at the white layer. It’s water mixed in. The cosmolene is absorbing water. This I can confirm.

I tried lifting and wiping the cosmolene that was white. It lifts up and the layer underneath is still the brown liquid cosmolene.

So after touching it, I wiped the white with a rag.

I wiped it all away and left the wet coating in the bottom seam. Thinking if I should actually remove all of the standing wet cosmolene while the door is open.

Ugh. Wonder how the cosmolene I sprayed in the other door (and topped with woolwax) is faring.

 

[Driz]

I’m gonna stick with my good old Vaseline ATF and chainsaw bar oil combo. It might be messy it sure seems to do a lot better than those even though you have to do it every year it every year. That ATF is magical if you can keep it in place.

 

[vavavroom]

I have never seen Cosmoline fail like that. I've seen it melt away in engine bays and near exhaust systems. Especially on painted inside door panels I have found Cosmoline to hold up exceptionally well with the waxy coating remaining solid but not becoming brittle or breaking down for at least a couple of years. I have never seen the product absorb water. Maybe the Cosmoline reacted with residue from another product? I have not seen Cosmoline react with automotive paint. Bad batch? Maybe there was moisture present when the Cosmoline was applied? RP-342 is what I use.

 

[nomas]

Flexseal ...

 

[JHZR2]

I have never seen Cosmoline fail like that. I've seen it melt away in engine bays and near exhaust systems. Especially on painted inside door panels I have found Cosmoline to hold up exceptionally well with the waxy coating remaining solid but not becoming brittle or breaking down for at least a couple of years. I have never seen the product absorb water. Maybe the Cosmoline reacted with residue from another product? I have not seen Cosmoline react with automotive paint. Bad batch? Maybe there was moisture present when the Cosmoline was applied? RP-342 is what I use.

Not sure. None of the above though.

None dry door interior, different vehicle than the one I used in the start of this thread.

What I saw was the cosmolene underneath was unable to cure. This you have a seam, a lot of wet cosmolene underneath, and a cured top. Maybe the water partitions out the solvents or accelerates the cure?

I’m tempted to do a test of some sort to understand better.

What I did was wipe that first layer, and then the rest did indeed cure. It left a nice waxy coating in there. Thing is, it also cracked as it cured.

What’s there is all bonded (over dirt and all, I didn’t clean it because it’s a lot of work for questionable benefit, and anyone blind spraying the stuff won’t be able to) and waxy.

I know that lanolin has great staying and costing/creeping power when out of water spray/wash. So I coated the cosmoline with woolwax. It will migrate into the cosmolene cracks and further displace moisture.

After some time creeping, and some rain…

 

[mattd]

It’s almost like it wasn’t able cure, or was applied to a surface that was completely clean/dry. Maybe that’s why it didn’t cure?