Gearbox cleaning question.

"carosine"? Sorry, I'm not following. Kerosene is a fractal distillate of oil one step up from No.2 Diesel. Years ago it was also known as No.1 Diesel. It is a hydrocarbon solvent commonly used for cleaning and it leaves a slightly oily residue. Immiscible in water. Diesel can be used for cleaning as well but is more of a lubricant than a solvent.
If you were using Kerosene,also known as Paraffin,you would need to use a detergent to remove it or a still lighter hydrocarbon solvent such as White Spirits or Naphtha. Blowing off with air to dry is all that is needed and as any small traces left would be 100% compatible with any mineral oil so there would be no problems. I think whoever had you rinse the parts with water didn't understand the process. I hope this is of use.
P.S. 'Lighting' Kerosene is a highly refined version and usually not tinted.
 

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If you want to lavage your machine, I would not use water, better to use some sort of something oil based.
I like diesel because it works as well as any other solvent and has the advantage of being
way less expensive. Sure, it has a diesel a diesel stench but I am willing to put up with that part.
In Minnesota, it is mandated by law that a small percentage of vegetable oil be added to diesel oil
and colored red if used as "off road diesel". As long as I am on the diesel subject, biodiesel has a lot
of the sulfur removed which aids in lubricity, not a good thing for diesel injection pumps and engines.
Wikipedia has good information on "ULSD" (ultra low sulfur diesel) for educating yourself on the subject if
interested. Laws regarding diesel oil content vary from country to country considerably. OK, I'm at
the ragged edge of being off topic, sorry. The main thing is to get the gear box clean and filled with
new oil no matter what hydrocarbon you decide to use for cleaning. :encourage:
 
cathead said:
biodiesel has a lot
of the sulfur removed which aids in lubricity, not a good thing for diesel injection pumps and engines
Click to expand...
I have to disagree. I worked in a fuel shop for around 8 years and when Scania/Volvo uprated their injection pressures around 1986? We had a major problem with the tips of the nozzles blowing off due to the Sulphur content of our local fuel. Good thing was it led to a tightening of all the standards for liquid and gaseous fuels. Diesel in and of itself is quite a good lubricant and from what I have seen Bio-diesels only real problem is gumming if left sitting, otherwise it burns well and leaves little residue. The actual engine itself is not lubricated by Diesel it has its own separated lubrication system as do jerk pumps. I am not aware of any problems with rotary pumps either.
 
Thanks for all the information guys. You learn something every day, all I wanted to know was with what to clean the gearbox and now I know more about diesel
 
The less you know the more you learn,
The more you learn the the more you know,
The more you know the more you forget,
The more you forget the less you know ad infinitum................
 
If you use a lot of K1and have a airport close go get jet fuel. Lots cheaper than K1
 
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