Catchin' up on the hot rod projects. Got my new brake drums drilled for the 4 1/2" pattern and opened the register up .010 to fit the 31's alloy axles. Next project, yank the 3.70 diff from the 32 and replace it with a 3.00. Hoping it will help mileage on the highway, guessing in-town mpg will stay about the same. Got the 32 jacked up and safely on 6 ton axle stands in the back and HD ramps up front. Yanked the rear wheels, brake drums and axles. Unbolted the drive shaft. Removed the diff retaining nuts and pulled the diff back about a half inch so it could drain. Figuring that was a good place to stop for the day, go back and hit it tomorrow when it's well drained. Figured I'd get the old oil off the "new" 3.00 diff, opened up my new last summer parts washer and this is what I found. Another view. The gelatin looking stuff was smooth all the way except for a few fault lines. It looks like crushed ice cuz I stirred it up with a large screwdriver. Looks like something you'd find in an Alaskan shop on the outside during winter. It was 82* F in the garage at the time. The parts washer I left behind in California was full of mineral spirits. A little dirty looking, but it had worked well for quite a few years and only needed topping off or cleaning out the gunk & grit and filling with fresh mineral spirits every 2-3 years. I got on an economy binge this time around. With solvent and kerosene at $30. per five gallons I figured I'd buy five gallons then next payday buy another five gallons etc. About fifteen gallons does it since I seldom use the pump. I bought ten gallons of mineral spirits at the swap meet where they sell old paint and five gallons of latex most of which I suspect has been frozen once or twice. Something a hardware store owning friend tells me that is not good. The mineral spirits smelled just like the gallon can I had on hand for actual paint thinning, but it was in an old latex five gallon bucket with clamp-on lid. The liquid that came out was pure and clear and no latex paint globules floating around in so I figured I was in Fat City. All I've done with the parts cleaner was to clean my Rangers used power steering pump on the outside as well as clean a few bolts and nuts. Weird huh? I guess it's time to step up to the water based stuff. Kinda hate to, I like to soak some parts for a few days now and then in a petroleum based distillate. Looks like overnight is as long you should soak parts in a water based cleaner.
Bringing this back around cuz I'm curious if anyone knows what happened here. Geez, I'm beginning to wonder if the so called mineral spirits was jet fuel with an added gel compound for lesser flammability during an impact situation....
I've seen water based hot cleaners with silica form a gel skin. Specifically a cleaner designed to be used hot that gelled after it got dirty and was cooled to room temperature. Then the solution was ruined. I'm guessing one of the many solvents in that tank forced some other solvent's silica out of suspension. that'll be a fun one to dispose of
That's pretty bizarre. I buy "odorless kerosene" for mine. It's been sitting in the parts cleaner for about 10 years and it's still liquid. I just add a little once in a while, but with the lid closed, it takes a really long time to dry up.
diesel fuel can gel..kerosene is close to diesel fuel..hum? well dont know what else to say..strange shit man
Ha ha, I was thinking the same thing. I bet many here will have to look that one up. I would guess you unknowingly made some type of chemical cocktail that caused the gelling. Best bet is to find your local household hazardous waste program and make a "donation" . Around here it is free up to like 16 gallons at a time.
I'd be curious as well to find out what caused that.I have had certain 1-Shot products;specifically 6000 Reducer and Liqui-Seal gel after they were opened.These products however have a very distinctive yellowish tint and this is caused by the resins in them reacting to exposure to air. Diesel fuel,jet fuels,kerosenes,and mineral spirits are all essentially the same;their difference being the degree to which they were refined.I'm not familiar with gel additives to retard flammability;sounds like it would be counter-productive to the intended purpose.The only gel substance I've ever seen introduced into fuel was napalm and it's purpose was not to decrease flammability but rather to make the flaming fuel stick to whatever it happened to land on. Diesel fuel,if left in a storage tank long enough will begin to form algae on it and raises hell with fuel filters in engines;maybe it is some form of algae.A lot of companies sell products to work against this formation;notably Red Line,Chevron Techron,and Biobor products.You might try introducing this into the cleaner if it is not going to be used regularly.
Well, I just looked up 'lutefisk' on Wikipedia, and I would say that if you have got it in your tank it would make a pretty good parts cleaner!
Brand new parts cleaner with the swap meet mineral spirits poured in. Like Rusty Bolts and his kerosene the old parts cleaner with mineral spirits lasted a long time. The gel bit was a bit of a joke since jet fuel was treated that way for the test you've all seen where a 707 think it was, was filled with gel formula kero and flown via radio control into a barricade setup out in the dez. It hit at an angle and there was a helluva fire. The test was considered a no go and never done again to my knowledge and regular jet fuel is still in use today. The algae growing in diesel tanks is one I learned from power boat owners down at the Ventura marina. One reason they have switchable filter setups and many extra filters. Good thing sailboats run on beer. Using the parts cleaner every week? The last year or two, most of my projects have been clean ones. Sorta, Sweetie just gave me hell for tracking in stainless swarf from the lathe. I'm gonna see if the gelled stuff will evaporate from a shallow oil change pan. Put up in a safe place so the pups can't get to it. I think it will evaporate away pretty fast, 88* F here today and for the next few days. If not, it's getting close to the next hazmat dump it free day at the fairgrounds. So, I know we've talked about water based parts cleaner liquids in a thread from last year, but I'm wondering if I go to that how it will go if parts get left in for several days in a row? Rust? No prob?
The gel bit was a bit of a joke since jet fuel was treated that way for the test you've all seen where a 707 think it was, was filled with gel formula kero and flown via radio control into a barricade setup out in the dez. It hit at an angle and there was a helluva fire. The test was considered a no go and never done again to my knowledge and regular jet fuel is still in use today. I seem to recall seeing that experiment gone terribly wrong. The algae growing in diesel tanks is one I learned from power boat owners down at the Ventura marina. One reason they have switchable filter setups and many extra filters. Good thing sailboats run on beer. That must be why Ted Kennedy enjoys sailing so much Using the parts cleaner every week? The last year or two, most of my projects have been clean ones. Sorta, Sweetie just gave me hell for tracking in stainless swarf from the lathe. So, I know we've talked about water based parts cleaner liquids in a thread from last year, but I'm wondering if I go to that how it will go if parts get left in for several days in a row? Haven't heard of water-based cleaners;might have to check it out.
The thinner I use for pinstriping got like that after a while. I think because I dipped brushes with paint on them in the can. It turned into a thick gel. Not sure why though...
Just get a screwdriver and keep poking it like a little kid. It serves no purpose but looks like fun.
I use this stuff.Just pour it in and start washing.Cuts grease like butter.If you put a heater in the washer it even works better. http://www.costco.com/Common/Search...e=1_en-_-Top_Left_Nav-_-Top_search&lang=en-US http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=328236
Mike: If you are using the 1-Shot 6000 reducer,it is the resins in the reducer that gel when exposed to the air.The High Temp and Low Temp reducers don't do that because there are no resins in them. Another cause can be if you are using 1-Shot Catalyst and it gets into the can.I have had this happen with paint.I now use a separate mixing cup when I'm using catalyst which minimizes contamination.
I remember as a kid at the speedway when guys switched across from petrol (gasoline) to methanol, they would get all the fuel system jelled up if they didn't clean everything out properly. I was only a kid so I don't know the details but maybe you've got a hydrocarbon (petroleum based) and polar solvent (alcohol based) mixture that's reacting like the methanol / petrol mix in those racers carbs and fuel lines.
I think it will burn. Still smells like mineral spirits and I've seen folks use it for a BBQ lighter fluid. Makes for some interestingly flavored steaks. Weird part about this is the parts cleaner has never had anything else in it. The only petroleum based product that could have come in contact with it was residual power steering fluid when I cleaned the power steering pump. You can see dark spots in the bottom of the tank where some grease or whatever dripped through from the top shelf. I put some in a 3# coffee can where the sun could hit it most of the day. Spread a little bit on some dirt in the oil drain pan and and it still looks like crushed ice as in the pics above a couple days later. Days here are still sunny and high 80's F. My pal offered me a mix of diesel and gasoline which he's running in his parts cleaner. He's doing ok with it, but I passed. I'm guessing it may have been 5% gasoline and a 50 gallon drum fulll of the mix was given to him when he bought his tractor. Not sure how good it is for the diesel engine, perhaps a starting aid in cold weather. Time for a big pit BBQ I guess. Dig a hole, put some hardwood in it, toss the gel-like substance in and light er off. Just the thing to BBQ a couple of hot dogs for lunch....
Heck, ol Ted ain't so dumb. He used to like bowling and figured any sport you could take part in while holding a ball in one hand and a beer in the other had to be the best. Then he realized he could hold both balls in one hand, a cold beer in the other and watch scantily dressed young women wander along the decks or tanning on the cabin top while sailing.... Didn't work for me. Sweetie and I took two couples out one day. Sweetie had jeans and a sweatshirt on. The other two girls peeled down to bikini's and laid down on a towel on the forward deck while we were still in the marina. Once we got out past the jettys, a 10-15 mph wind started blowing across the deck, the boat picked up to 6 knots (7 mph), leaned over a bit and a little cooling spray across the front deck had both the bikini clad lasses running for their warm clothes in the cabin. So much for visions of tanning in the bright sunshine on the foredeck. I think the two of them had been reading Cosmopolitans summer vacation issues and didn't think that Ventura weather was usually different than it was in the Bahamas. Rats . . . and I was looking forward to the tanning without tan lines bit....
I was a bit slow posting. I meant video of your BBQ not the girls on the yacht...although...have you got a video of the girls?
Used to have 8mm film from our days on the great Pacific. Best ones were when we were on the big desert lakes. Lake Powell and Lake Mead. Kinda weird to travel by Jeep to places we sailed to on Lake Mead years ago. When my Fillmore, California house got flooded we lost all our 8mm films, a whole lot of car pics and the cameras. I haven't burned off the gel yet. Got Shanghai'd the last couple of days - help granddaughter move etc. Kinda put a dent in my diff swap in the 32. I got it about half way through, got the gaskets and oil and there it sits. I'm sure y'all know how that goes. I like to BBQ though. Got five of them, not sure how that happened, but they all get used during the year. Looking forward to getting out the Dutch Ovens and cooking some winter stews, beer bread etc. Sweetie tells me I'm a good cook, but I just tell her that hunting camp cook is about the highest bit of Chef-Dom I wish to reach....
Looks like the solvent may have attacked the insides of the pump or the filter material and caused it to gel? Does the pump still pump?
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