I was under my ol truck and dropped my Snap on 3/8's battery powered impact in the oil pan which was full of oil I just drained. The oil was only run for a few miles so it is relatively clean. I did not take it apart, just cleaned it the best I could and sprayed it with electronic cleaner. It still leaks a little but it runs and sounds like it does not rev up like it used to. I don't think it has as much power as it used to as it will not break loose lugnuts anymore. Is there something else I should do to clean it. I am glad it still works
Dropped impact into oil pan
- Thread starter uppster
- Start date
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Yeah, take it apart and clean it properly.
engineer2
Well-known member
Oil on the brushes and commutator will reduce current draw and power. Clean them with electronics cleaner and see if it makes a difference. You may need to replace the brushes if they soaked up oil.
anndel
Well-known member
Ditto, the brushed, commutator, stator are probably soaked with oil.
Having OCD this is what I'd do.
Take the electronics out and spray the hard to reach parts down with WD40 to flush them out (its non-conductive) and then bathe the whole thing in warm soapy water giving the whole thing a good quick scrub with a tooth brush. Dunk it in a high content alcohol to remove the water and spray it out real good with air. Spray the contacts and boards with contact cleaner. Maybe a drop of light oil into the motor bushings if you can get to them but that's not as critical since they're just sintered bronze. What is critical is to make sure all the water is displaced everywhere in the alcohol bath or it will flash rust.
Cases-warm soapy water followed by a WD40 wipe then soapy water or general purpose surface cleaner again to remove the residue.
Impact housing I would probably just clean out with WD40 then use an impact grease and re-coat everything.
Take the electronics out and spray the hard to reach parts down with WD40 to flush them out (its non-conductive) and then bathe the whole thing in warm soapy water giving the whole thing a good quick scrub with a tooth brush. Dunk it in a high content alcohol to remove the water and spray it out real good with air. Spray the contacts and boards with contact cleaner. Maybe a drop of light oil into the motor bushings if you can get to them but that's not as critical since they're just sintered bronze. What is critical is to make sure all the water is displaced everywhere in the alcohol bath or it will flash rust.
Cases-warm soapy water followed by a WD40 wipe then soapy water or general purpose surface cleaner again to remove the residue.
Impact housing I would probably just clean out with WD40 then use an impact grease and re-coat everything.
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DFB
Well-known member
I like the WD idea though I think the alcohol alone will be enough to degrease the boards and its all we used to use certain gov't solder components instead of a tri chlor degreaser. Compressed air and or lightly warm oven and dries quick.
And save the soapy water just for the plastic and rubber
And save the soapy water just for the plastic and rubber
submariner
Well-known member
Mildly off topic but is a brushed motor more water/oil resistant that a brushless one?
No, oil will foul the brush to motor contact and the brush to sleeve contact, and the heat of brush arcing will turn the oil to a varnish/ash/sludge.
It needs taken apart. Get two buckets of gasoline, just a few inches deep to immerse the tool components. Gasoline, because it's inexpensive and great at rinsing away oil. Dip the parts in bucket 1, agitate them around good, remove and thoroughly shake excess off.
Dip in bucket two, thoroughly shake off. Do the motor, brush assembly, and switch assembly first so your 2nd bucket is clean still. Any minor oil residue remaining behind on the rest won't matter, except do a final scrub of the rubber overmolding with hot very strong detergent solution.
Let air dry. Once dry, re-grease the gearbox, re-grease the motor bearings if not sealed, or oil them if bushings, and don't forget the impact mechanism. Any metal on metal must be regreased or oiled.
Do not use WD40, that alone is contamination. Alcohol (most if not all types?) does not dissolve oil. If you want something effective, nasty, and expensive, brake cleaner will work except I don't know if it's safe for rubber overmoldings. You would likely still need to relube everything mentioned above.
Use your oily gas in your 2 cycle equipment, still needing to add more oil to hit the mix ratio correct for the equipment. Strain it first if there's particles in it.
Dip in bucket two, thoroughly shake off. Do the motor, brush assembly, and switch assembly first so your 2nd bucket is clean still. Any minor oil residue remaining behind on the rest won't matter, except do a final scrub of the rubber overmolding with hot very strong detergent solution.
Let air dry. Once dry, re-grease the gearbox, re-grease the motor bearings if not sealed, or oil them if bushings, and don't forget the impact mechanism. Any metal on metal must be regreased or oiled.
Do not use WD40, that alone is contamination. Alcohol (most if not all types?) does not dissolve oil. If you want something effective, nasty, and expensive, brake cleaner will work except I don't know if it's safe for rubber overmoldings. You would likely still need to relube everything mentioned above.
Use your oily gas in your 2 cycle equipment, still needing to add more oil to hit the mix ratio correct for the equipment. Strain it first if there's particles in it.
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JRC3
Well-known member
Hmm, sounds like a reason why air might be better for under car work or fluid changes. If I dropped my pneumatic impact or ratchet in a tub of oil or antifreeze I'd just get out the blow gun and then maybe spray it down with mineral spirits or something.
What you wrote, won't clean the oil off enough so why bother? The WD-40 will thin the oil and leave WD-40 diluted oil all over it, then you will need the same cleaners to get that off as you would for the oil alone. That's okay for cleaning a metal manual or air tool "most" of the way, but not so much the inside of an electric tool.
Do you not even realize that the solvent in WD40 will damage most materials that gasoline will, but also leave the oily film behind that you were trying to get rid of? So yes, WD40 is safe to use too (see below) but doesn't leave the tool clean which was the point. If you filled two buckets with WD40 instead of gasoline, you'd have similar to the much greater dilution you'd get with the gasoline method I proposed, but at a much higher cost with no benefit over gas.
Epoxy is impervious to almost all chemicals. Wire enamel (now a polymer film not really enamel) is not damaged by gasoline, nor is the PVC wire insulation. If it were damaged by petroleum solvents, far more damage would have already been done by the oil soaking in than a few seconds in gasoline.
Computer chips aren't effected either, are usually an epoxy thermoset plastic, if not old and exotic high heat ceramic chips that still are.
The main risk is the (synthetic faux-rubber) overmolding. Since it and the rest of the plastic housing don't have excessive nooks and crannies (that you can get clean enough with a toothbrush if you're worried about cosmetics) and won't rust, you can use your water in a strong, hot detergent solution to clean the oil off that portion if you prefer. However, it may have already been damaged by soaking in oil if the vast majority wasn't wiped off right away... depends on what it's made of.
I recommend that you consult chemical compatibility charts before assuming an incompatibility.
Brake cleaner is more anecdotal, that lots of mechanics clean everything and the kitchen sink with it and you can find reports all over the 'net about using without any negative consequences mentioned, including on this forum, random example:
https://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showpost.php?p=60250&postcount=13
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I did not say to use only wd40 and leave it on. I said to use it as a flush for hard to reach areas like windings.
You're worried about contamination but tell someone to use pump gas? Makes literally no sense. There are all kinds of additives in that. If you want an alternative to alcohol it would be naphtha.
I've destroyed plenty of plastics and coatings with brake clean. Wouldn't recommend it for electronics ever.
You're worried about contamination but tell someone to use pump gas? Makes literally no sense. There are all kinds of additives in that. If you want an alternative to alcohol it would be naphtha.
I've destroyed plenty of plastics and coatings with brake clean. Wouldn't recommend it for electronics ever.
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Dude, you're just wrong. Accept it and move on.
Pump gas is pretty darn clean, compared to what you'd flush out of a tool. Additives?
Again, consult material compatibility charts to see what material resistance is to the solvent. This is a real thing to do and trillions of dollars ride upon doing it in the world.
Everything would go to he11 if we just relied upon best guesses that one thing destroyed another. Testing, data, science, yeah!
I do agree that brake cleaner isn't as safe as gasoline, but the moment that you wrote epoxy, it was clear you had no idea WTF.
Pump gas is pretty darn clean, compared to what you'd flush out of a tool. Additives?
Again, consult material compatibility charts to see what material resistance is to the solvent. This is a real thing to do and trillions of dollars ride upon doing it in the world.
Everything would go to he11 if we just relied upon best guesses that one thing destroyed another. Testing, data, science, yeah!
I do agree that brake cleaner isn't as safe as gasoline, but the moment that you wrote epoxy, it was clear you had no idea WTF.
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JRC3
Well-known member
Pump gas? 
Even if it works who wants to smell that for the next year? There are better choices.
My choice would be 90% alcohol. And or some electric cleaner like CRC.
Even if it works who wants to smell that for the next year? There are better choices.
My choice would be 90% alcohol. And or some electric cleaner like CRC.
BajaScout
Well-known member
Another reason to use pneumatic tools.
They LIKE oil...
They LIKE oil...
Farmall450
Well-known member
Pump gas?
Even if it works who wants to smell that for the next year? There are better choices.
My choice would be 90% alcohol. And or some electric cleaner like CRC.
Gas doesn't take that long to evaporate lol. Especially with sparking brushes.
Back in the day that's all everyone used for solvent.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
Or, throw that Snap-On garbage away and buy Milwaukee Fuel. Sorry, I was being a smart *** there, the devil made me do it, I couldn't help myself. But there is some truth to that point of view. With Milwaukee's extremely good 5 year warrantee you just send it in and they would either do all the work to make it right or send you a new one.