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I've been using various brands of break cleaner to aid in gun cleaning for years. I buy the cheapest stuff I can find by the case; usually under $3/can. I've been running an experiment with Ed's Red for months now, but that was covered in another post, so I won't repeat it here.

As part of the cleaning process, I use the break cleaner at the beginning and end of the process. Currently, I'm using Prestone Break Cleaner and it works fine. However, after all of the cleaning is done, I spray everything with break cleaner to remove the Ed's Red. Unlike all other brands I've used, the Prestone is leaving small white specs on the gun. They don't wipe off with a towel, but a plastic straw or plastic pic removes them easily.

Has anyone seen this with Prestone or any other brand? Any ideas what it is?

Thanks,
Chas.

I'm not sure what those white specs are...It may be a chemical reaction between the two products that when they interact may develop these "specks"...

Are they more like smears, or are they tangeble like small "globs" of product...

You say they can be removed by scrapping them off with a tool???

But they only appear after you wipe the gun with a towel...Is that towel a deep ply bathroom towel, or is it more like a lesser "lint" producing "dish" type towel???

I'm thinking somethings coming off the towel maybe...Like fabric softener residue...But then again you shouldn't use fabric softener on towels anyway...But thats just me...Actually the wife got onto me about that...

If its a towel that is washed in the clotheswasher, then maybe somethings happening with the detergent "residues" left on the "clean" towel that maybe reacting to the products you are using on the gun...

I'm a little weak on the chemistry involved with all of the combinations of things you are using in this process...

But its sounding like to me thats whats happening...My first reaction would be that if you are able to clean it all off, and still get the firearm to a condition where you are happy with its function after cleaning...

I'd be happy with the process you have...

There may be a chemist amoung us who could take what you say, and tell me I'm full of it...

And come up with some sort of explanation why you get those smears or globs of stuff on your guns...

I do recall a discussion a few years ago on PDO about a product called "Dunk It", I heard a lot of pros and cons with that resusable bucket full of this CLP kinda stuff...You just dunked the gun whole, and not dissasembled (if you prefer) and pull it out after a period of time, wipe it down, and voila...Clean gun...

I didn't like the concept, because it produced lazyness in keeping people from getting too dirty when cleaning a piece of hardware...Plus there's no guarantee that all the internal nooks and crannies inside the firearm got cleared out of all the gook the "Dunk It" loosened and thus get wiped or blown out afterwards...

But then again, I don't know who all here does or doesn't use that product, and how well know it is...

I do have another idea for a Texas CHL Forum seminar...

A basic armorers or firearm maintenance class...

Keeping the focus on basic maintenance principles, and not so much on cleaning or lubricating products...

Just an idea...

I like your idea for another seminar. Marc and I talked about having either quarterly seminars, or perhaps three times a year. I think the reloading one will be next, then this is an excellent one. I know a very good pistolsmith that might be willing to do a seminar for us. I'll talk to him and let everyone know. Keep the seminary ideas coming.

Back to the break cleaner. The specs occur before any towel is used on the gun. After the cleaning, the gun still has a good bit of Ed's Red on it, so I spray it with the break cleaner and then use my compressor to blow it dry. That's when the specs appear, although they will also appear if I let it dry naturally.

The specs are small, white, hard flakes about 2/3 the size of a flake of Unique powder.

Regards,
Chas.

would they blow out with compressed air?

I'm wondering if the brake cleaner doesn't dry and turn solid when reacted with another chemical involved in the cleaning process?

what are the ingredients on the can? Its probably some chemical that was dissolved until the alcohol evaporated leaving it behind.

Prestone Brake Clean has never done that on any of my guns, it must be a reaction with it and the Ed's Red.
Tomcat

gigag04 wrote:would they blow out with compressed air?

Nope, they're tough little buggers!

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:The specs are small, white, hard flakes about 2/3 the size of a flake of Unique powder.

Regards,
Chas.

Do the specs appear (or congeal/form up) when you actually spray the brake cleaner on the pistol?

Or do they form up "after" you finish spraying, in a short period of time?

There's something about chemical reactions in regards to (liquid) surface tensions and viscosity that make me wonder what is actually happening here...Like I said chemistry was not a strong point with me...

When it comes to some liquids; lubricants and solvents when intermixed tend to do some funny things...They sometimes do exactly the opposite of what you intend them to do as a single application or purpose...

I'm not saying you have a problem, its just that what you describe makes me think it may have the potential to be a problem if you didn't wipe it all down as good as I know you do...Some of those globules may become an attractant for dust and other grit obviously...

But figuring out why this is happening is whats fun, and challenging at the same time...

Charles L. Cotton wrote:

gigag04 wrote:would they blow out with compressed air?

Nope, they're tough little buggers!

Chas.

See...Now I have a concern...They are either congealing then hardening over a short period of time before you wipe the surfaces down, removing them...

Or the intermixing causes them to congeal and form adhiesive qualities, forming their own inhierant challenges...

ElGato wrote:Prestone Brake Clean has never done that on any of my guns, it must be a reaction with it and the Ed's Red.
Tomcat

Tom:
That's a good thought. I'll try #9, just as a test. Ed's Red works too good to go back to #9, so I guess I'll have to stay away from Prestone Break Cleaner. I would like find out what this is. Next time I think I'll try to get a digital photo of it and post it.

Regards,
Chas.

SJRTX wrote:what are the ingredients on the can? Its probably some chemical that was dissolved until the alcohol evaporated leaving it behind.

That's another good point. I'm going to spray it on some other metal and see what happens.

Chas.

Charles L. Cotton wrote:The specs are small, white, hard flakes about 2/3 the size of a flake of Unique powder.

Regards,
Chas.

Something else that hit me...

That sounds like the reaction is forming crystals of some chemical composition...Which may have the ability to "etch" or marr some forms of finishing on metal surfaces...

But you have a Stainless semi-auto right???

stevie_d_64 wrote:But you have a Stainless semi-auto right???

I do, but this is happening on my blue guns as well.

I'm going to experiment a little tonight by spraying some metal has Ed's Red on it, some that is bear metal and some that has #9. I think SJRTX's comment about the ingredients is on point, since it has happened only with Prestone Break Cleaner. Maybe their secret sauce is the problem.

Chas.

I am going to reveal my age, to some extent anyway.

I used to be a Teletype repairman...

We used to clean some of our equipment in a dunk tank that agitated it and shot air bubbles through it (you did not want to leave the cover open unless you wanted to "volunteer' to stay after hours and clean up, with no overtime pay.) I don't remember the stuff that was in the tank, but it seems to me that it was somewhat similar to brake cleaner, smelled similar anyway, and it would take off just about any form of corruption that a Teletype could obtain.

Anyway, we discovered that some lubricants had a slight reaction with the stuff in the tank and little "white" flakes would precipitate out of the solution if a TTY that had been lubed with them was dipped in the tank. It didn't seem to harm anything, but it did take a little more work to get off, almost like glue or paint.

The stuff in the tank came in drums, about ten gallons IIRC.

I believe the we found that WD-40 (which was NOT, repeat NOT, a TTY approved lubricant) was one of the culprits. We never user the stuff, but some of our customers, instead of calling us, which was free, would try their own repairs and maintenance and sometimes they really messed our stuff up.

Jim:
That sure sounds like my situation, even down to the description of the deposits.

Chas.