Date:         Thu, 23 Apr 2015 21:24:13 -0400
Reply-To:     Eric Caron <ecaron1@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Caron <ecaron1@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Throttle Switch and Failure to Start.
In-Reply-To:  <vanagon%2015042009485588@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi david and others,

        In a pinch WD40 must still work as at a VW gathering last year I donated mine to a no start problem with damp wires and the van fired up after being sprayed.
come to think of it I still need to replace that for my travel kit.

Eric Caron 
85 GL Auto Westfalia 



> On Apr 20, 2015, at 9:48 AM, David Beierl <dbeierl@ATTGLOBAL.NET> wrote:
> 
> At 09:03 AM 4/20/2015, Larry Alofs wrote:
>> IMO alcohol cleans and dries up the moisture and does not leave any residue
>> of its own.  WD40 however, leaves a film of lubricant which will collect
>> dust and eventually form a conductive film when it gets damp again.  I find
>> alcohol works well in damp weather if applied carefully and wiped off
>> completely.  Of course a new set of ignition wires can help a lot.   :-)
> 
> Alcohol is miscible with the water and carries it away by making it a
> small fraction of the volume present; Path labs use multiple changes
> of 190 ETOH with a final one or two of absolute alcohol to dehydrate
> tissue prior to saturating it with wax and embedding it in wax blocks
> for slicing a few microns thick and staining.  WD40 in smaller
> amounts preferentially attaches to many surfaces and shoves the water
> out of the way.  I haven't used it for wire drying since it was
> reformulated a few years ago, taking out the Stoddard solvent that
> was the main component and adding some actual lubricating oil; so I
> have no opinion on its relative effectiveness since the change.  I
> discovered it by accident looking at MSDSs.
> 
> Yours,
> David