Other Chemicals for the Shop
By Gary Goms
Automotive chemicals are essential tools for keeping a modern vehicle in top-notch operating condition. I’ll break down a few of the most popular categories.
Lubricants
Not only does penetrating oil expedite the removal of rusty bolts, it also allows rusted threaded fasteners to be torqued to specification. Far from being an expense, a regular-sized aerosol can of penetrating oil becomes a profit generator by saving minutes on each job and occasionally adding hours to each day’s productivity numbers.
Some chemical manufacturers supply “dry” lubricants that resist attracting dust. They work well for door locks and other body and interior mechanisms requiring a greaseless lubricant that won’t stain clothing or upholstery.
Weather-resistant aerosol lubricants are required for applications like shift linkages, vehicle hood latches and truck tailgate latches that are exposed to outside weather. These are generally non-drying lubricants that resist water, snow and extreme temperatures. Aerosol silicone and synthetic-based lubricants are generally used on rubber door moldings, moving plastic parts and other non-metallic parts that require dry, non-petroleum-based lubrication. In contrast, silicone greases are generally synthetic-based, non-hardening lubricants that resist water and extreme temperature changes. Silicone greases are most useful for lubricating small, light-duty moving parts like shift linkages, window register mechanisms, door latches and small gear box assemblies like those found on windshield wiper motors. None of these light-duty greases should, however, be substituted for heavy-duty chassis or wheel bearing greases.
Stop-Leaks
Stop-leak chemicals are generally designed to reduce minor fluid leaks on older vehicles. When used as instructed, cylinder head gasket stop-leaks can often prolong the service life of a leaking cylinder head gasket and occasionally provide permanent repair if the leak is caught in time. In contrast, cooling system stop-leaks are designed to seal small seeps and pin-hole leaks that develop in radiators and around the external edges of cylinder head gaskets.
Because heat tends to harden neoprene oil seals, gaskets and hoses, many stop-leak manufacturers design chemicals to soften and slightly expand these materials to their original dimensions. Applications include power steering, automatic transmission and engine oil stop leaks. Because these additives often include oil supplements designed to blend with power steering, automatic transmission and engine lubrication oils, they are not interchangeable. In any case, using a stop-leak can reduce fluid leaks to manageable levels and reduce the potential for immediate and expensive repairs.
Maintenance Chemicals
Many modern engine and powertrain oils are becoming application-specific, which means the oil used in these vehicles must contain an oil base and additive package that will extend oil service life to 10,000 or more miles. With that said, many neglected engines might require a solvent oil additive or other lubricating additive to either clean or provide additional lubrication to the engine’s internal parts. Most oil additives, when used under these circumstances, will provide a benefit.
Other oil additives might claim to extend engine life or improve the lubricating qualities of engine oil. Just be aware that using unauthorized oil additives might void some auto manufacturers’ powertrain warranties.
In most cases, installing a fuel system detergent during each oil change can maintain the performance of the fuel injectors. In contrast, alcohol-based fuel additive chemicals are designed to prevent wintertime fuel line freeze-ups. Isopropyl alcohols tend to be the most effective “de-icers” because isopropyl transports the water out of the fuel tank into the engine’s combustion chambers.
Other Shop Chemicals
Sealants might include weather strip adhesives, the various silicone gasket sealing and gasket-making compounds, and thread locking compounds. Other chemicals commonly used in auto repair shops might include aerosol gasket-removing chemicals used for removing hardened gaskets from metal parts and anti-seize compounds used for installing exhaust systems, oxygen sensors and corrosion-sensitive parts.
For maximum productivity, every shop should have at least a small working inventory of these diverse kinds of automotive chemicals.