life expectancy of chem dip carb cleaner in 1 gal bucket?

[wazzabie]

I have some old chem dip. Maybe 10+yrs old. It looks rather murky. I've used it many times. I see the new chem dip uses a plastic parts holder. This old one has the metal parts holder strainer. Anyways how much life can I get out of a one gallon can before I need to replace it?

 

[diesel4me]

Chem Dip expiration? | Berryman Products

This may provide some info..

I'd say if the amount of chem-dip in the can is about the same as when you bought it,its still effective enough to work OK--after it has had enough of the volatile solvents in it evaporate,it gets thicker and wont work as well..

That said,we used to take a gallon can of it at the auto parts store for the machine shop section and cleaned a LOT of carbs and other parts with it a long time,and it didn't seem to lose any cleaning power..

After about 4 years,the metal can began leaking at the seam on the bottom,we just poured it into another new gallon paint can..we also mixed auto paints there and had plenty of new cans on hand..

My friend had bought a can of Chem-Dip not too long ago,and to me it did not smell like the same stuff we had back in the 80's,and he said it doesn't seem as effective as it used to be...probably a more "environmentally friendly" formula no doubt now..

 

[imiceman44]

I have some old chem dip. Maybe 10+yrs old. It looks rather murky. I've used it many times. I see the new chem dip uses a plastic parts holder. This old one has the metal parts holder strainer. Anyways how much life can I get out of a one gallon can before I need to replace it?

If the new one has a plastic strainer it explains why it doesn't work well

 

[ktmoutfront]

My dad's was 20+ years old and still worked great. Of course that was when leaded gas was normal. So who knows what was in it. And a plastic basket would have dissolved in 1 minute or less.

 

[trukman1]

If it smells bad it's probably good!

ETA: You can always try it to see if it works. If not your not out anything since you were going to buy some anyway and if it works well you've saved a fair chunk of change since that stuff isn't cheap. Just my opinion.