Skip to main content
Gerry | Vanagon
Checking account...
← vanagon.com home · Continue the discussion in the forum
Subject:Re: Cleaning CV
From:David Beierl
Date:Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:21:01 -0400

At 08:43 PM 4/22/2013, Jim Felder wrote:
>I'll be trying this. It had better be good or you'll be prying my cold dead
>fingers off of my lacquer thinner.

Diesel should work beautifully on stuff like that.  It should behave
like a slower-evaporating form of kerosene.  It won't defat your
hands and does not pose the considerable explosive/flash fire hazard
of acetone (lacquer thinner).  And it won't eat your watch crystal,
which acetone might.  If you actually want de-greasing in the
technical sense, I'd follow up with brake cleaner.**  Acetone is an
excellent degreaser when you need to have a chemically clean surface
for paint or glue prep, but it's overkill for getting lumps of grease
off CV joints.  And the brake cleaner spray is great for getting into
corners and physically shoving stuff along.

**Just a note re brake cleaner: you've maybe noticed that brake
cleaner boasts about being either non-chlorinated or non-flammable,
but never both at once.  One type (just like acetone) will send fumes
over to your water heater and flash back, the other type is an
anesthetic and probably an atmospheric de-ozonator.  I keep both on
hand, use the chlorinated type indoors.

Yrs,
d