Tip:fixing oil swollen rubber

[budgie14]

Another tip for dealing with oil swollen O rings or rubber parts ie bellows,shrouds,etc is to wash them in warm to hot water [as hot as yr hand can stand] and soap,then rinsing off in cold water..great if you are reassembling O rings[if you cant get new ones readily] or putting things back together,and the rubber has stretched or swollen.Obviously remove all the excess oil,then wipe the rest off,then just wash in soap and water,then rinse off in cold water,which seems to shrink the rubber back to its original size.Obviously this method wont fix broken or damaged rubber,but could help in getting it ready for regluing with superglue or rubber glue,until new parts arrive etcInvaluable when trying to refit say a diesel or petrol fuel filter,and the sealing ring has expanded,making it impossible to refit canister or bowl

 

[j cat]

Another tip for dealing with oil swollen O rings or rubber parts ie bellows,shrouds,etc is to wash them in warm to hot water [as hot as yr hand can stand] and soap,then rinsing off in cold water..great if you are reassembling O rings[if you cant get new ones readily] or putting things back together,and the rubber has stretched or swollen.Obviously remove all the excess oil,then wipe the rest off,then just wash in soap and water,then rinse off in cold water,which seems to shrink the rubber back to its original size.Obviously this method wont fix broken or damaged rubber,but could help in getting it ready for regluing with superglue or rubber glue,until new parts arrive etcInvaluable when trying to refit say a diesel or petrol fuel filter,and the sealing ring has expanded,making it impossible to refit canister or bowl

My opinion , when the rubber parts are distorted/changed in size/ brittle/hard its time to replace.

question is why did they do this just very old ? contact with solvents like carb cleaner etc...

 

[budgie14]

I did say"if you cant get new ones readily",I didnt suggest soap and water for "hard and brittle".Lots of rubber shrouds,bellows and strips around outboards,and inboards will swell when in contact with oil.They are not always easy to replace,sometimes out of stock and discontinued.Please read it for what it is.A tip.It works.Some people will find it usefull

 

[j cat]

I did say"if you cant get new ones readily",I didnt suggest soap and water for "hard and brittle".Lots of rubber shrouds,bellows and strips around outboards,and inboards will swell when in contact with oil.They are not always easy to replace,sometimes out of stock and discontinued.Please read it for what it is.A tip.It works.Some people will find it usefull

like I said thats my opinion . you have your opinion. using rubber parts that have distorted is asking for failures .