Two types of brake cleaners: which is better?

There are two major types of automotive brake cleaners. A brake cleaner does what the name suggests and it is useful for many other things.

Type 1:
The CRC green can. "non-chlorinated" 1.2:1:1 mixture of aromatic, ketone and alcohol. (toluene, acetone, methanol). According to MSDS, the same brand of carburetor cleaner has exactly the same composition.

-Extremely flammable
-moderate-to-high evaporation
-Smells like spray paint
-Moderate solvency on grease (in my experience)

Type 2:
The CRC red can. Chlorinated. 100% dry cleaning fluid (tetrachloroethylene)

-Non flammable
-slow-to-moderate evaporation
-Excellent solvency on grease
-Displaces water from crevices. Density: 1.62 x the water.
-Has a distinct REALLY NASTY smell.
-Toxic, probable carcinogen

So which is better? One dissolves oil better, not flammable with trade offs of higher toxicity and slower evaporation. The other one is less toxic, evaporates faster with trade offs of not dissolving oil as well and being flammable like gasoline.

This was the best of all, but now the decision is rather tough.
Type 3 (EPA banned it)
1,1,1 TCE
-Non flammable
-highly volatile
-dissolves grease/oil extremely well
-pleasant smell
-low toxicity
-OMG OH NOES it dissolves the ozone layer, BAN!

It depends on what you are cleaning. I have a can of choke cleaner that I use for some things. I have worked on cars for lots of years, I never bought brake cleaner. The few times I wanted to put in new brakes and clean the area - I used detergent and water, and the garden hose. This is for the external parts. Most internals are not rebuildable by the driveway mechanic, can't get the seals as a kit.

I use kerosene to clean oil/grease items. It's cheap, and does a good job.

If you want the item completly clean after - soap and water - air hose to blow it dry..

I generally use whatever's on sale or is cheaper.

I buy carb cleaner by the case and use it on both carb/throttle bodies and brakes.

Tip: Don't use chlorinated brake cleaner as carb cleaner. It cleans fine, but when you start the engine and all that chlorinated brake cleaner gets burned, it's NOT a healthy combination to breathe.

:buddies:

Type-2, we're dealing with brakes. And I don't want to use anything that's less effective on them. Very little goes a long way.

As diesel pointed out the chlorinated solvents will convert to nasty compounds if it is drawn into the combustion chambers, specifically you will make chlorine gas which fortunately is heavier than air and will cover the floor and if it encounters plain old water it will boil off the water on contact, the other product produced is sulfuric acid mixing with the engine lubricating oil, the oil loses its ability to lubricate and all surfaces in contact with the oil tarnish or etch and not having lube to bearings and cylinder walls heats up those moving surfaces and metal fatigue or deterioration takes place with in 24 hours of ingesting the chlorinated solvent. We had to rebuild 23 engines due to this before we figured out the problem and convinced them to find alternate solvents.

The chlorinated is much better. Since they switched (and I didn't know it) I was using a can, and wondered why it wasn't working well at all. I read the back label, and then compared to my old can I just threw out.

Some of the really nasty old-time chemicals are the ones that work the best. I ended up having to use the whole can to clean the part I was working on!!!

They did this with the carb-cleaner I use too (not the gum out brand, that leaves a residue, I don't ever use that).

I never heard of brake cleaner. What would I do with it?

VWTim said:

I generally use whatever's on sale or is cheaper.

Click to expand...

They're usually sold side by side and the cost almost the same.

Some stuff just has to be nasty to work.

JimmyM said:

Some stuff just has to be nasty to work.

Click to expand...

Not necessarily, but that might just happen when EPA bans stuff. Type 3 was less toxic than either, while being effective as chlorinated type and non flammable.

eluminator said:

I never heard of brake cleaner. What would I do with it?

Click to expand...

Seriously?

It's good stuff. I use the non-chlorinated stuff. Spray it on brakes, nasty oil oil pans, dirty racks, pretty much anything dirty and nasty under your car. You could do it on wheels if you have the galls to do so. It likes to eat paint too, it'll dissolve it. Softens plastic. Might eat rubber or other natural substances.

Otherwise, it's great. Every garage should have some brake cleaner and WD40 on hand. Works great for cleaning up machinery like brake lathes and so forth. Gonna swap a rack in? Bring some brake cleaner and clean up under there. Massive oil leak? Bring a can or too and it'll look all fresh and new again. Best used while wet—it evaporates fast so quick action is neccessary for maximum effectiveness.

I've never given much thought to it, but I do know this...

I buy name brand brake, carb and electrical parts cleaner. It lasts WAY longer than the budget stuff!

Also the tougher the better for my needs. The burner assembly from a pressure washer can be NASTY after a year or two!

I've heard of parts cleaner and carburetor cleaner, but somehow brake cleaner doesn't ring a bell.

Well I work on my car in a friend's shop. He has shop air. Air at 150 PSI shooting out a nozzle gets rid of the dirt. He also has a power washer that shoots a stream of hot water. That does a good job of removing oil and grease. Then there's the parts cleaner machine.

In the end though I like the bottom of my car nasty. They put a lot of salt on the roads here and the best antidote to rust is a good coat of oil.

Two months ago I paid $65 to have the bottom of my car sprayed with used crankcase oil. It's messy but it works. He also drills small holes in the bottom of the doors and other places and squirts in some oil.

They say the best thing to do after spraying with oil is to drive on a dirt road and build up a layer of oily dirt. But it's getting hard to find dirt roads any more.

You can find all the dirt you'd EVER need around here (SE Texas)...

Of course it would need to stop raining for a few days, as right now it's all the MUD you'd ever need!!!

Yep, it would take a lot of tar to pave over Texas. I once drove to California via Texas. Route 66 I think, before the interstates. I drove for two days and two nights and I was still in Texas.

Yeah, this state is nearly 1000 miles across the widest point and a pretty good percentage of that from south to north!

And we have everything from swamp to desert snd from flat to mountain with the only thing you can't do in Texas is snow ski!

I make my own:

1 part acetone
1 part xylene

Works great. Keep off paint and plastics. Use good ventalation.

Dan