CAn you soak chains in petrol?

[dransy]

Hi all as my rs has been stood for like a lot of months my chains well rusty and dirty as hell. I was going to soak it in a bowl of oil for a few days but im skint and have no oil.

Would i be able to use cooking oil lol?

Or petrol?
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[lilredmachine]

petrol would work.
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[Drew]

I belive i have read not to use petrol as it damages the o rings

Also believe ive read to use kerosene

edit

https://bikechatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=97187&highlight=kerosene

this is where i read the above

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would be dubious about using petrol on an O ring chain, but a normal chain I doubt it would cause any problems. However it will remove all the lubricant so you would need to oil it thoroughly afterwards. And probably the best way to get oil into the rollers again would be to soak it in oil.

If a chain is coming off for a while I normally leave them to soak in a can of used engine oil.

All the best

Keith
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[hmmmnz]

petrol and rubber are not normally a good mix,(presuming you have a o ring chain) i would do the hard yards with oil. (any sort of oil is fine, even cooking oil ) and lube it up and try and free the sticky bits on the chain. if you have a standard chain with no orings petrol will be fine on it to clean it up initially then spend a bit of time with the oil freeing up the tight links
have fun
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[lilredmachine]

TBH, if it's that bad you should probably get a new chain. If you have left it long enough for seized links and rust to appear, then there is no guarantee that even when 'restored' the chain will be effective. Power loss from a knackered chain can be considerable, as well as the safety issues.
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[doggone]

Diesel will work similar to kerosene and may be easier to source.
Or just use some engine oil.

[mchaggis]

Petrol and rubber is a big no-no. A chain without o-rings in would be fine with petrol, but think of the fire risks involved too. I'd recommend paraffin as it's just as good at dissolving the crap but won't ignite given a mere hint of a spark or flame. It won't evaporate away nearly so quickly and hasn't got half the same things in it which do nasty things to your insides.

This also a reason why fuel lines are not bog standard rubber - petrol perishes it in no time. Instead you use fluoro-elastomers which will not react with petrol. Set these alight with an underbonnet fire and they release Fluorine everywhere, which leaches the Calcium from your bones.

It's not really my job to know about which elastomers are suitable for which chemicals, but it helps to know a little.
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[buster]

Petrol will damage your O, or X rings.

If it's an O, or X, ring chain soaking it in oil wont loosen up the seized links as the oil can't get past the seal. Unless you've got an ordinary chain I'm afraid that buying a new one is the only sensible, safe, option.

One of my mates had a chain snap on him at abut 50 MPH, smashed his crank cases up lovely, cost him hundreds to repair, all for a 50 quid chain.
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