Gunk = Junk?

[Kingdom Isambard Brunel]

I have used Gunk for decades. Nastily odorous brown degreaser. Worked really well.

I need to clean under the engine so I bought some Gunk Ultra.  It came, pink, like Jizer, but not the same smell.

 

Absolutely useless waste of money. Washing up liquid, the cheapest I could find, is far better at degreasing. 

So don't be misled, Gunk is not what it was though they still sell it in the tin can but not Ultra so its not the same stuff.

[jonesthenuke]

Same problem as Creosote. Ban the nasty chemicals and the product becomes useless (e.g Creosote vs Crecote et al)

[bizzard]

Paraffin is as good as Gunk was.

[David Mack]

Panel Wipe is far better than Gunk or Jizer or any of the similar brands which used to work, but now don't.

[MtB]

31 minutes ago, bizzard said:

Paraffin is as good as Gunk was.

 

My experience too. Gunk was probably paraffin at ten times the price, with colouring and scent in it. 

[Hudds Lad]

1 hour ago, jonesthenuke said:

Same problem as Creosote. Ban the nasty chemicals and the product becomes useless (e.g Creosote vs Crecote et al)

 

Ahh yes, whither the Nitromors of yesteryear  

[MrsM]

You can still buy  'proper' paint remover containing dichloromethane but have to be registered with the HSE to purchase and use it as a tradesperson. 

[Wafi]

I bought a pack of "Ultragrime Pro" wipes from B&Q to clean underneath my engine. I didn't expect much, but they turned out to be brilliant. As effective as paraffin, but far easier to use.

[Lily Rose]

28 minutes ago, Wafi said:

I bought a pack of "Ultragrime Pro" wipes from B&Q to clean underneath my engine. I didn't expect much, but they turned out to be brilliant. As effective as paraffin, but far easier to use.

 

Which of these was it?

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B072K3XYQR/?coliid=IF33DXR552AVT&colid=1MPSKA67E9V0E&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

 

 

OR

 

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08VW93JDP/?coliid=I3LR7XMJ8R0VCO&colid=1MPSKA67E9V0E&psc=1&ref_=list_c_wl_lv_ov_lig_dp_it

[Wafi]

52 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

Which of these was it?

The first one (blue pack). I ended up cleaning all sorts of other things too, but still only used half the pack.

[Lily Rose]

6 minutes ago, Wafi said:

The first one (blue pack). I ended up cleaning all sorts of other things too, but still only used half the pack.

 

Thanks, that one appears to offer better value but it wasn't clear what the difference was or whether the red one was better in some way.

[blackrose]

4 hours ago, Kingdom Isambard Brunel said:

I have used Gunk for decades. Nastily odorous brown degreaser. Worked really well.

I need to clean under the engine so I bought some Gunk Ultra.  It came, pink, like Jizer, but not the same smell.

 

Absolutely useless waste of money. Washing up liquid, the cheapest I could find, is far better at degreasing. 

So don't be misled, Gunk is not what it was though they still sell it in the tin can but not Ultra so its not the same stuff.

 

I've never really understood why so many boat engines are covered in oil and dirt? Oil leaks, clumsy topping up or changing of oil, or just years of neglect?

 

A BSS inspector was once visibly relieved when I lifted my deckboards to reveal a clean, dry engine room. "You've no idea the amount of filthy crap I have up deal with" he said.

 

2 hours ago, Wafi said:

I bought a pack of "Ultragrime Pro" wipes from B&Q to clean underneath my engine. I didn't expect much, but they turned out to be brilliant. As effective as paraffin, but far easier to use.

 

So were they "tough on grime, tough on the causes of grime"?

 

I bought some similar wipes from Screwfix to clean up after a recent battery explosion. I used some old towels first and then went over everything with the wipes. Expensive but much easier than using cloths and rinsing them out.

Edited May 9 by blackrose

[Wafi]

26 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

 

Thanks, that one appears to offer better value but it wasn't clear what the difference was or whether the red one was better in some way.

I think the red ones claim to have some sort of textured surface. The blue ones feel like normal wet wipes, just thicker and more robust.

12 minutes ago, blackrose said:

So were they "tough on grime, tough on the causes of grime"?

Not much good on the cause; I needed a spanner for that.

[Mike Tee]

Diesel works, just remember to wear rubber gloves

[Lily Rose]

 

 

Bought a pack of the blue ones to try out. £10.61 on Amazon after ticking the 15% discount box, 6 month subscribe and save although I'm sure I'll be deferring it for some time to come.

[jonesthenuke]

4 hours ago, Hudds Lad said:

 

Ahh yes, whither the Nitromors of yesteryear  

Thats why you see 205L blue drums of Methylene Chloride  behind the sheds at Braunston. It was the active content of Nitromors and used neat I would think it would be excellent for removing any number of layers of paint

[jonesthenuke]

4 hours ago, MtB said:

 

My experience too. Gunk was probably paraffin at ten times the price, with colouring and scent in it. 

I believe Gunk was based on a coal distillate (so smelt a bit like creosote) but was water soluble unlike paraffin.

[ditchcrawler]

When I started Offshore we used barrels of Jizzer for deck cleaning etc. later we changed to Citraclean, that smelt lovely 

[Tacet]

18 hours ago, bizzard said:

Paraffin is as good as Gunk was.

Indeed.  Heating oil is cheaper - and essentially the same hydrocarbon.

[MtB]

13 hours ago, jonesthenuke said:

I believe Gunk was based on a coal distillate (so smelt a bit like creosote) but was water soluble unlike paraffin.

 

Good point, I think you're right! I vaguely remember it being claimed to be water soluble on the tin, but finding it not so when actually used. 

 

Unlike the supposedly water-soluble cutting fluid we used in the machine shop when I was an engineering apprentice and looked like milk once mixed with water, and which I always thought was forming an emulsion rather than dissolving. I gave up arguing about it with my boss at the time though, as he always knew better than me.  

 

 

[jonesthenuke]

1 hour ago, MtB said:

Unlike the supposedly water-soluble cutting fluid we used in the machine shop when I was an engineering apprentice and looked like milk once mixed with water, and which I always thought was forming an emulsion rather than dissolving. I gave up arguing about it with my boss at the time though, as he always knew better than me.  

 

Cutting fluid is certainly an emulsion, what do Bosses know.....

[BEngo]

Useless fact of the day:

 

Cutting fluid is a  really odd emulsion.

 

Emulsions are an oil and water mixture.  In most emulsions the tiny drops of oil are surrounded by the watery substance.  In cutting oil it is the other way around.  Tiny drops of water ( and corrosion  inhibitors and other stuff) are surrounded by the oil.

N

 

 

[Ronaldo47]

On 09/05/2025 at 15:07, MrsM said:

You can still buy  'proper' paint remover containing dichloromethane but have to be registered with the HSE to purchase and use it as a tradesperson. 

You can buy pure dichloromethane without a licence for use as a solvent for welding plastics. It is sold under the brand name "plasweld" and is available in small (57ml) bottles from shops that sell plastic model kits, and larger bottles on-line. I think the regulations only prohibit its use in paint strippers for non-commercial users.

Edited May 10 by Ronaldo47
Typo

[Onewheeler]

18 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

When I started Offshore we used barrels of Jizzer for deck cleaning etc. later we changed to Citraclean, that smelt lovely 

We used that for degreasing in the nuclear industry. Smelt lovely and made the mechanics smell good. Well, better than normal but one didn't go around sniffing them.