Uncle Tony - you are doing a service for those of us who love our old cars, who want a car that is just a car and not a media center/movie theatre/telephone/personality substitute… thanks man, keep it going!
One of my old friends said he had been drinking brake fluid to get a buzz. I told him "Scotty, that stuff will kill you if you keep doing that". He said, "Don't worry, I can STOP any time". 😁
@@mikekokomomike I know, I know. I just wanted to point out that brake fluid is surprisingly "healthy". The LD50 is at about 100ml/kg. That means that a 200 pound man has to drink more than a gallon of Dot4 to have a 50% chance of dying. Disclaimer: Please don't drink brake fluid, folks!
Excellent, the desire to learn is the second most important thing to mastering this skill, more important even than mechanical ability. But the most important thing to have though: Patience...and perseverance.
take it from a younger kid who tried the brake fluid trick on a 350 turbo chevy trans in a truck i owned back in the day. i had a small leak at the front and rear seals, and dumped in about 2 shots of brake fluid. after about 3 days the leak stopped, but the brake fluid NEVER stops! lol,,,,i got by with it for about a year, and the trans gave up all at once. pulled it out to have it rebuilt and it had completely ruined every rubber item in the trans, and had even softened up the clutch disc linings enough to start coming off. 20 dollars in seals and a couple of hours labor would have saved me a lot of money down the road. there is no quick fix, only band-aids,,,,lol,,,,
@@mikem5475 my truck was a 74 chevey 3/4 ton 2wd. i could drop the tranny out with a floor jack and only hand tools in under 30 minutes. it was back in the day where you still had room to work on a vehicle! lol,,,,
This reminds me of when the guy stopped out at the dealership to service the waste oil heater and said "Don't put brake fluid in the oil drains, its glycol based and not petroleum!" The also reminds me of our issues with Mercedes-Benz cars that would leak antifreeze into the transmission fluid via the cooler and make all the clutches shudder, especially the torque converter. Glycol is bad stuff when its somewhere its not supposed to be.
Many cars and trucks with "extended Life Coolant" end up with the famous Pink Milkshake from the trans cooler being perforated. Hey,most are only thinwall aluminum. That's when you need Uber's number and another trans and a nice bank loan Does not apply to coolers outside the antifreeze circuit or a manual trans,but does include Flood Cars In the MB Dealer I've seen trans fluid in the wiring harnesses I've also seen waste oil pumps chewed up from drain plug washers and screws,I install two pre filter screens on them- way cheaper than a pump
My dad worked as a mechanic decades ago and I remember his coworker loved doing the ATF treatment. So much so the fire department was called one day they told him he was creating a traffic hazard from all the smoke :)
The bad fuel line issue caused my son to be involved in an accident with a powered parachute. The pulse line for the fuel pump (2-stroke) was the wrong kind of rubber and failed right when they were coming in for a touch and go. The engine quit right at the worst possible time. Right as they were climbing back out at about 50ft off the ground they lost power. It caused the airframe to swing backwards under the chute and then nosedive into the ground. The pilot broke both legs and my son got a minor back injury but, both made a full recovery. Thank God.
- recovered for now, but about 50 he'll likely be wanting an Advil pill with morning coffee. Been there. Also why FAA certified aircraft are so expensive to own and operate, there's a log entry and paper trail for everything that goes into them. No grabbing "stuff" out of your tractor garage bins, and saying "good enough".
Uncle Tony, I worked in a junk yard back in the early 1980's. I used to swap, engines, transmissions, etc then my boss would sell the vehicles out front. He used the brake fluid "trick", also saw dust and banana peels for noisy rear axles.
Trans fluid through the carb is something I haven't seen in 25-30 years. I'm 42, and I still remember the stench of the exhaust from that. I didn't know they were doing it for varnish though. I was a kid just trying to stay in the garage with the big boys😅.
The mechanics at the Chrysler Plymouth dealer I worked at (50 years ago) said if you had a transmission leak bad enough to use brake fluid (say to get home late at night from a long trip), expect to find in the morning all the seals blown out and a tow job to the shop to have the transmission rebuilt. BTW, I was in the parts department.
A buddy of mine many years ago had a 68 Chrysler Newport with a 383 & 727 transmission and one day heading back from a girl he was seeing he lost drive & it was because the transmission was low on fluid and he had no transmission fluid and we were miles away from the nearest local gas station on a back road & all we had was a case of Schlitz Malt liquor beer and he dumped in 2 cans of beer and the transmission worked good enough to get us back home so he could pull the pan & change the transmission filter and fluid . He was a body guy & the body & interior was in nice shape and he ended up painting it and putting mags on it & drove the car for a number of years then sold it and bought another project car to fix & drive to eventually sell it . I'm not even sure if Schlitz Malt liquor is even being made anymore because I never see it on the shelves anymore but man talk about the best bang for the buck because that stuff packed a punch lol but back in the late 70s early 80s that beer was super popular back then .
Yes sir! Back in the 80's i bought a 77 camaro with a 305 and when we took the engine apart, we had to grab the lifters with vise grips and twist them back and forth while pulling upward to remove them from from the lifter bores
- Now thats a case where a pre-treat of the motor oil with Marvel or ATF might have actually helped, since you were tearing it down anyway. I expect there were alot of chunks to scrape in the valley also, uuuch. I had a used '82 Camaro 305 with the short lived Crossfire TBI manifold, pretty sure it died from the "soft cam disease", and brake fluid trick to the tranny.
I'm always hearing people talk about putting ATF in fucking EVERYTHING...in the throttle body, in the crankcase, in the fuel tank, using it as cutting or threading oil, as a parts cleaner, staining their deck with it...but show them an automatic transmission and suddenly they want to pour brake fluid in it!
My favorite roadside fix hack has to do with the radiator. If you spring leak in your radiator, you can put egg whites in your radiator and seal the leak. I also heard that Peper works in a pinch.
Have used AT205 on a Toyota 22R and a Ford Ranger with over 360,000 miles and 480,000 miles. Both leaked oil bad and it sealed up the Toyota and the Ford still drips about a quart a month. The Ford would drip a quart a week. I have also fixed leaky jacks in 3 to 4 days. Put it in and raise and lower a couple of times a day. I am a customer for life it works. Have tried other oil stop leak products but AT205 is the one that always works.
That old brake fluid trick is right up there with driving the ol' tailshaft bushing into the tailshaft housing, as long as there is enough room for it to go in there.
I have heard of the water down the carb bit but have never done it myself but I have done a quart of ATF into the crankcase to help clean the lifters and oil galleys a hundred miles before the oil change.
Never heard of the brake fluid trick before, but I have come across fine sawdust in the gearbox (manual box, obvs) to quiet it and temporarily give the synchro rings a little more bite - and even heard tell of banana skins in the diff to quiet a noisy crown gear/pinion that's maybe not meshing all that well any more.
My former Boss who was a mechanic and also was a First Sargeant in the Army during World War II had told me the engines they had would run 24 hours a day they would drip water into the carburetors on those engines to keep them running and they only time they were shut down was to change oil and points and condenser and check the water level in the radiator other than that he said they very seldom had internal engine issues
Diesel in the carb is an old school VW trick. Two stroke synthetic oil mixed proper ratio with gasoline for my weed whacker runs perfect in my 4 stroke Briggs and even occasionally in my fuel injected Harley. Done it forever. Brake fluid in the power steering works but it's not a permanent fix.
I use atf as an engine flush I put about half a quart in the crank case and drive easy for 2 or 3 days then do an oil change. Does an excellent job on old sludgy motors.
I have one. A guy back in the 80;s told me that back in the 70's he would put brake fluid on his tires to keep them shiny and make them last longer. Never tried it myself, but never forgot that either.
For the transmission leaks, try that AT205 reseal, one of Scotty Kilmer’s favorite products. I used it on a leaking hydraulic jack and it stopped leaking!
I too did this (AT-205) on my son's 2008 Mustang. Last ditch before puling the tranny. Scotty Kilmer raved about it (he raves as a general way of speaking, but he's informed). Two years and 30,000 miles ago and no leaks. I was actually shocked. For all that time we have been waiting for Trans disaster. Nope. He just recently drove the thing from Nevada to Ohio for grad school. Drove perfectly no leaks of any kind. Just my one experience, but there it is.
I personally wouldn't put anything like that in an automatic trans because of how much potential there is to do unintended damage. However, I have used AT-205 to help with engine oil leaks and wouldn't hesitate to use it again on an older car.
There’s a product called AT205. Scotty Kilmer endorsed it years ago. It is not like the other store bought “seal swellers”. It is the only product I’ve heard actually works on seals especially advertised for transmission seals. I have never used it personally but the results I’ve read about are amazing. I use the Lucas clutches in a bottle as vice grip calls it. It helps bump viscosity and slow/stop seal leaks.
Spot on Tony, water for carbon, ATF for sticky valves. The detergents work great to remove anything causing sticky valves, where water had no effect on that but did great with carbon, steaming it off as it rapidly boiled in the chamber. Brake fluid would/might stop or slow a leak temporarily, then suddenly it gets worse. Don't do that. All rubber is different, for brakes, trans, oil, air conditioning, although some interchange, not all do. :)
Water works to clean carbon build up universally because it’s the universal solvent! To the gasoline composition today, I agree with what you’re saying. Gas will still turn to varnish over time, but at a much much lower rate. Idk what the ratios are now or were then, but instead of say a gallon of old gas turning into a pint of varnish, it now turns into maybe a couple ounces of varnish and also takes a lot longer to turn bad like that. Fuel is still cheaper to evacuate and replace than a bunch of fuel system components like the pump, filter, and fuel injectors.
it will evaporate completely if you leave it sitting open. If it's inside a vented gas tank or carb bowl, it'll evaporate much slower, and in the process start degrading and polymerizing, mainly from contact with oxygen in the air. It's why it lasts much longer in a sealed gas jug or tank. If it has ethanol, the ethanol will absorb water from the air and make it much more nasty and start corroding metal. Ethanol in fuel is the killer of gas tanks, carbs, hoses... ethanol free or E5 at most for classic cars! If it doesn't have a plastic tank and all-nylon fuel lines, don't put ethanol in it!
It's been many years ago I was a student at Lincoln Tech in Indianapolis. My instructor in the fuel and tune up phase said to spray water into the engine to reduce carbon build up and if you want your customer to see a lot of smoke use brake fluid,, i thought was kind of funny and never forgot it. Great video... keep it up. TMD
AT-205 It works without swelling the seals, or at least that was in their sales pitch way back when. When I had my garage, I had customers that wanted every service because they couldn't afford to pull the trans, but they could afford this every 30k miles. My 94 suburban started dripping at the rear main seal at 85k miles and I been using this stuff ever other oil change, and it drip free with 255k now
excellent video Tony. Same premise for sealing a leak in the power steering gearbox. I used a little brake fluid in there and it stopped the leak. Maybe long term damage is on the way?
I used the water in the intake to decarbonize the piston and cylinder head. Worked great, IF, you knew how to do it !!! Transmission fluid mixed with acetone does even better, and smokes like hell, so customers thing something really good is going on. Tim
Old school used car salesman trick, that always damaged car's. Putting 90 weight gear oil in the engine to quieten a noisy lifter, or to stop a car from smoking. One of my bosses son's did that just to get a car through the auto auction.
Been doing the brake fluid thing forever. Yes it does work, the transmission in one of my cars has been leak free because of it for about 25 years now. Never had any kind of problems with it, though, it does only get about 5,000 miles a year. Most stop leaks that are sold, mainly the Blue Devil brand, are just brake fluid. It may not say it on the bottle, but it looks like it, smells like it, and feels like it.
That’s not how I heard it. Natural rubber is tan, but that kinda looks gross so back in the day they bleached with sulphur. That was before WW1. Almost all tires were white then, and that’s why the Michelin man is white. Then the war started and they needed all the sulphur for munitions. After the war, people had gotten used to black tires, but fancy cars got white walls as a call back to the classic era. White walls were very common in cars through the 70s into the 80s. What finally killed the white wall was the “Euro” styling movement of the late 80’s.
Most of these seals are not 'rubber' as in latex based - they are more correctly called elastomers (eg fluoropolymer, EPDM, polyurethane,). But, yes, they are naturally white and have various fillers added (such as carbon black) usually to increase durability or UV resistance. Brown and green are also common colours used in food/pharma industries where they can't risk carbon leaching into the product.
My 1965 Barracuda Formula S is also leaking at the front and rear seals of the automatic transmission (and this is after a local guy "rebuilt" it for me).
Never heard of people dumping atf in the carb. Definitely heard of and done the water trick to steam clean but I was told you add a quart of ATF to your oil just before you do an oil change, run the car around the block a time or two and the detergents in the atf will help clean out some of the dirt build up left over.
I will not even put High Mileage fluids in my vehicles, if something is leaking, I replace the leaking seal. I can't afford tow bills or to be stranded somewhere because I decided to be lazy and band-aid "fix" an issue. It is a lot cheaper in the long term to repair something correctly the first time instead of using band-aids, cheap tricks and voodoo.
Not true at all, If you are driving a car that is not worth the cost of jobs like pulling the heads to replace a head gasket that is bad. That head gasket repair worked great for me, I had the car for three more years and sold it with that repair still working fine. I told the new buyer about that fix in case he ever had head gasket leak.
I tend to agree with this idea. That said, not all high millage fluids have nasty swelling additives. Can't say for certain, but I believe high mile ATF is regarded as ok to use. Could be a viscosity thing or other friction additives. Maybe some do though - I always buy regular. AC stop leak is pretty nefarious and I'd never use it.
In the mechanical engineering game, as a plant mechanic there is such a thing as serviceability tolerance. Downtime or loss of production doesn't warrant repairs for low priority or cosmetic issues. Undue servicing kills with kindness.
scribbles=dribbles? those are external fluid level indicators. brake fluid on jeep hood *twitch* :) Tip for getting by in a pinch, a seal that's overly swollen can sometimes be brought back by boiling it in water with a dash of simple green for 30 minutes.
I remember when I was a little kid back in the 60s, my relatives pouring set called ValveEze down the carb. I was fascinated by the huge cloud of smoke.
Interesting information. As an owner of classics and somewhat modern cars, I avoid any quick fixes to be on the safe side. But I did use chevron techron to clean fuel systems. Anyone else use this? Thnx for the vid UTG !
Dana "60" Glass. Seafoam works to decarbonize an old motor. Used it for years with great results. Also takes away the corosive effects of ethynol fuels preventing drying out the insides of carbs and rubber fuel lines. Never use brake fluid for anything other than your brake system.
I knew a guy who filled his windshield washer reservoir with ATF and routed the washer tubes down into the carburetor in order to make a smoke screen. He called it the Spy Hunter. It worked great at a standstill but at freeway speeds the smoke dissapated too fast.
I had a 65 Ford with a slipping auto transmission. I poured brake fluid in it and it shifted great-for awhile, then it would stop. I just poured another can of brake fluid in it and was on my way. I did that for quite a while before it finally refused to move.
As a mechanic at a dealership I bought a 1978 Plymouth Fury cop car from used cars for $150. I had a severe engine knock. Following what my instructor at tech school told us. I got the engine hot and pulled the vacuum brake hose loose so it ran lean. I then poured a glass of water down the carb, just fast enough so the engine stayed running and also opened the throttle to speed it up. After doing this twice the engine ran quiet and I proceeded to lay to nice black stripes down the street. The used car manager came and wanted me to pay more money for the car, I reminded him it was sold 'As Is'. I knew the car had been sitting around idling a lot.
Scotty has many times recommended AT-205 for engine oil seal leaks. (not leaky gaskets!) The company claims the same for trans seals. With what Uncle T just explained, looks like it's not a good idea...
I had a 74 Subaru 1600DL, that wagon with the split tailgate, glass up and door down. That was fun to drive and I could fit a bunch of other guys(15) with lots of effort if we all wanted to go fishing. Anyway, it has a water cooled engine like a VW, which was nice, but the heads kept getting cracks in them, requiring the engine be pulled everytime heads needed changing. I decided to use pepper, egg, oatmeal and stopleak one time. Works, but it stinks, and the head will still crack.
Mix ratio is 3 to 4 ozs brake fluid, small vehicle use 3 ozs, larger vehicles that hold more transmission fluid use 4 ozs. My wifes van had lip seal in transmission not sealing on 3rd gear i did this 5 years ago still going strong . Transmission shop wanted 2800 to rebuild it,another shop told me about this. But dont use to much,or it will be corrosive.
You know, I still have an old can of General Motors Top Engine Cleaner out in the garage. You would pour that stuff down the carburetor while revving the engine so it wouldn't stall out, all while making clouds and clouds of white smoke. I can only guess it is pretty toxic stuff. GM had an official part number for it and it was sold at the dealer' parts counters. The top line of the can reads: "Gr. 8.800 1 # 1050002". I wonder if they still sell it?
Hey uncle tony, i have a 69 383 that the valves started sticking. It was popping and knocking and i thought it was going to need overhauled. I ran hightest pump gas. But it was built for leaded gas. I put some 100 low lead airplane gas in and it now runs like a hank. Have you ever had this problem ? If so what is a affordable fix ? Put newer model heads on it ?
once poured half a quart of ATF in a toyota inline 6 (7m-gte) to "get rid of any sludge or varnish".... got a rod knock weeks later. Not sure if that was the cause though.
I absolutely don't know if this is a legit old school trick but my dad used to add toluene to everything with a carb to "save the carbs" I still do it 😅
I used Seafoam to clean the intake.. Pouring or spraying into the air intake.. But I did hear people saying, that water works as well.. But never tried it.
Thx for the video , have to laugh cause back in the day my older brother would stop at a ditch with a bucket when the tranny was leaking an fill it up with water then when the tranny gave out go buy another fifty buck car , hard to believe how far you could drive an old mustang with water in the tranny , he demolished 15 of them one way or another 🤣
Rev up your transmission seals !!!! Speaking of swollen seal - Back when I knew everything I had a Willys P/U that I rebuilt from the frame up . Well everytime I parked it in a sunny spot the brakes would drag until I cracked open a bleeder to relieve the pressure. Cloudy days it didnt happen. Well it was a learning experience for me not to use kerosene as a parts cleaner for wheel cylinders . I washed it out with soap and water but the kerosene was imbedded into the metal enough to make the w/c seals swell when it sat in the sun. Another tip for beginners is dont forget to back off the parking brake adjuster before adjusting the shoes on a new brake job.
Uncle Tony, if you have an older muscle car like your 67 Charger you wouldn’t use marvel mystery oil to clean the valves if the engine has never been rebuilt?
Long ago, a transmission parts guy told me to help out my old 1985 Ford Tempo's "morning sickness" (run it 5+ minutes before it will shift to move the vehicle) his prescription was a small "Pepto Bismol" cup of brake fluid (probably a couple of table spoons or less than you were demonstrating. He said just use 1, not one per quart or 1 per gallon, just 1 for the whole transaxle, in this case. It seemed to work for me. I forget what happened after that. maybe it ran for another 40,000 miles.
Scotty has been on the brink of death for ten years now.
heroin and gasoline
never mix them up..,.
Has he made any actual repair videos in the last 5 years?
Aren’t we all? 😂
He's an overrated tosspot@@1marcelfilms
Word is the CIA keeps swapping Scotty out and replacing him every few months. :) entertaining and a few nice nuggets now and again.
Uncle Tony - you are doing a service for those of us who love our old cars, who want a car that is just a car and not a media center/movie theatre/telephone/personality substitute… thanks man, keep it going!
You're a very brave man to balance that brake fluid on the bonnet of the Jeep lol.
lpl
I was thinking the same thing. That stuff will eat through a paint job like a fat kid through a box of Twinkies!
He likes it,m he likes cars full of rust and burned paint,, look at all his cars,
, all need sever paint job....
In all likelihood it's something else other than brake fluid
It was all for the cameras there was a magnet in the bottle so it doesnt fall😂
One of my old friends said he had been drinking brake fluid to get a buzz. I told him "Scotty, that stuff will kill you if you keep doing that". He said, "Don't worry, I can STOP any time". 😁
Brake fluid is amazingly un-toxic. Look at the safety datasheets. The LD50 of Dot4 is shockingly high.
🥁 purrumpump
@@albinklein7680 it is a joke. He can stop. Like someone addicted
@@mikekokomomike I know, I know. I just wanted to point out that brake fluid is surprisingly "healthy". The LD50 is at about 100ml/kg. That means that a 200 pound man has to drink more than a gallon of Dot4 to have a 50% chance of dying.
Disclaimer:
Please don't drink brake fluid, folks!
That's because he drives Toyotas
Varnish is what holds my motor together !
If it is leaking oil, then there is oil in it.
Uncle Tony, you forgot to mention adding wood shavings to the differential, to quiet a howling ring and pinion!!
That's bananas...wood into trans...lol.
@@kenforu1531I'm sure Iv'e heard of banana skins in a gearbox also torn up bri nylon shirts.
Here in SC, ONLY Chiquita bananas work. Accept no substitutes! 🤣
Scotty Kilmer sleeps with a $5,000 dollar Scan Tool under his pillow.
I heard stories of ground beef being thrown in manual gearboxes, diffs also. The smell must've been horrendous. 😂😂😂
I hope you know how much your videos help young people like myself learn more about our old cars
Excellent, the desire to learn is the second most important thing to mastering this skill, more important even than mechanical ability. But the most important thing to have though: Patience...and perseverance.
@@robertmaybeth3434 as I’m currently working a smog pump truck, I do believe you’re right lol quiet a learning curve to all this
You can do much better than Scotty to help you out.
take it from a younger kid who tried the brake fluid trick on a 350 turbo chevy trans in a truck i owned back in the day. i had a small leak at the front and rear seals, and dumped in about 2 shots of brake fluid. after about 3 days the leak stopped, but the brake fluid NEVER stops! lol,,,,i got by with it for about a year, and the trans gave up all at once. pulled it out to have it rebuilt and it had completely ruined every rubber item in the trans, and had even softened up the clutch disc linings enough to start coming off. 20 dollars in seals and a couple of hours labor would have saved me a lot of money down the road. there is no quick fix, only band-aids,,,,lol,,,,
The pre brake fluid fix would've been a lot more than a couple hours
@@mikem5475 my truck was a 74 chevey 3/4 ton 2wd. i could drop the tranny out with a floor jack and only hand tools in under 30 minutes. it was back in the day where you still had room to work on a vehicle! lol,,,,
You could have also changed fluid shortly after and you wouldn't have had any problems.
@@EnlightenedSavage i wasnt that smart back then, lol,,,plus, i still would have had the fluid stuck in the torque converter,,,,,
Hmmm... I wonder how bad it is on a manual, not a lot of rubber in there..
This reminds me of when the guy stopped out at the dealership to service the waste oil heater and said "Don't put brake fluid in the oil drains, its glycol based and not petroleum!" The also reminds me of our issues with Mercedes-Benz cars that would leak antifreeze into the transmission fluid via the cooler and make all the clutches shudder, especially the torque converter. Glycol is bad stuff when its somewhere its not supposed to be.
Many cars and trucks with "extended Life Coolant" end up with the famous Pink Milkshake from the trans cooler being perforated.
Hey,most are only thinwall aluminum.
That's when you need Uber's number and another trans and a nice bank loan
Does not apply to coolers outside the antifreeze circuit or a manual trans,but does include Flood Cars
In the MB Dealer I've seen trans fluid in the wiring harnesses
I've also seen waste oil pumps chewed up from drain plug washers and screws,I install two pre filter screens on them- way cheaper than a pump
Took out my buddy's nice W212 station wagon
My dad worked as a mechanic decades ago and I remember his coworker loved doing the ATF treatment. So much so the fire department was called one day they told him he was creating a traffic hazard from all the smoke :)
I was hoping Uncle Tony was going to end the video with, "Remember to ring that bell!"
Rev up your engines !!!!
@@poireauer6517 dont crash
he always ends:
I see you tomorrow.
but tomorrow he wil not make any video...
And also admit that he owns a 94 Celica. 😁
The bad fuel line issue caused my son to be involved in an accident with a powered parachute.
The pulse line for the fuel pump (2-stroke) was the wrong kind of rubber and failed right when they were coming in for a touch and go.
The engine quit right at the worst possible time.
Right as they were climbing back out at about 50ft off the ground they lost power.
It caused the airframe to swing backwards under the chute and then nosedive into the ground.
The pilot broke both legs and my son got a minor back injury but, both made a full recovery. Thank God.
Ouch!!! I'm glad they recovered.
A drunk driver left me with back injuries that I won't recover from...
Modern pump gas in my Stihl chainsaw dissolved the fuel line inside the tank.
- recovered for now, but about 50 he'll likely be wanting an Advil pill with morning coffee. Been there.
Also why FAA certified aircraft are so expensive to own and operate, there's a log entry and paper trail for everything that goes into them. No grabbing "stuff" out of your tractor garage bins, and saying "good enough".
@@shespractical7272- yeah, seen that. On the bright side- the chainsaw becomes less hazarous, unlike the paraglider with no power!
Uncle Tony, I worked in a junk yard back in the early 1980's. I used to swap, engines, transmissions, etc then my boss would sell the vehicles out front. He used the brake fluid "trick", also saw dust and banana peels for noisy rear axles.
I have a friend that swears by the bananna peel trick, watched him do it and it was alot quieter.
ROLL UP YOUR WINDOWS, You're here at Uncle Tony's Garage!
There's someones whos been watching a while!
@@NSUGS Pretty much since the beginning, when Tony and Lambchop first started tearing down Bottle Rocket.
I heard this in Scotty Kilmer's voice
@@metaltrucker97 no you dont your delillusional..
Trans fluid through the carb is something I haven't seen in 25-30 years. I'm 42, and I still remember the stench of the exhaust from that. I didn't know they were doing it for varnish though. I was a kid just trying to stay in the garage with the big boys😅.
They used to add brake fluid to a slipping transmission to get it working long enough to get the car sold.
Lost reverse in a 1985 Chrysler Added brake fluid to my transmission to soften up the seals in it and it gave me back reverse.
Now they have lucas
The mechanics at the Chrysler Plymouth dealer I worked at (50 years ago) said if you had a transmission leak bad enough to use brake fluid (say to get home late at night from a long trip), expect to find in the morning all the seals blown out and a tow job to the shop to have the transmission rebuilt. BTW, I was in the parts department.
Had a customer add atf in master cylinder. Everything had to be replaced. About a year later he did same thing. He said cocaine was a hell of a drug.
A buddy of mine many years ago had a 68 Chrysler Newport with a 383 & 727 transmission and one day heading back from a girl he was seeing he lost drive & it was because the transmission was low on fluid and he had no transmission fluid and we were miles away from the nearest local gas station on a back road & all we had was a case of Schlitz Malt liquor beer and he dumped in 2 cans of beer and the transmission worked good enough to get us back home so he could pull the pan & change the transmission filter and fluid . He was a body guy & the body & interior was in nice shape and he ended up painting it and putting mags on it & drove the car for a number of years then sold it and bought another project car to fix & drive to eventually sell it . I'm not even sure if Schlitz Malt liquor is even being made anymore because I never see it on the shelves anymore but man talk about the best bang for the buck because that stuff packed a punch lol but back in the late 70s early 80s that beer was super popular back then .
Yes sir! Back in the 80's i bought a 77 camaro with a 305 and when we took the engine apart, we had to grab the lifters with vise grips and twist them back and forth while pulling upward to remove them from from the lifter bores
- Now thats a case where a pre-treat of the motor oil with Marvel or ATF might have actually helped, since you were tearing it down anyway. I expect there were alot of chunks to scrape in the valley also, uuuch. I had a used '82 Camaro 305 with the short lived Crossfire TBI manifold, pretty sure it died from the "soft cam disease", and brake fluid trick to the tranny.
all you had to do was pull the cam which was also bad and push the lifters down- the bottoms were mushroomed
I'm always hearing people talk about putting ATF in fucking EVERYTHING...in the throttle body, in the crankcase, in the fuel tank, using it as cutting or threading oil, as a parts cleaner, staining their deck with it...but show them an automatic transmission and suddenly they want to pour brake fluid in it!
Ug the smell of ATF. I was covered in it once putting a trans back on the rear mount and I despise it.
@bbb462cid I'd much rather smell ATF than heavy gear oil (MTF or diff oil). Sulfur!!
Like Frank's Red hot 😂
@@elektro3000 burned heavy weight
@@bbb462cid Gagged a little just imagining that smell.
My favorite roadside fix hack has to do with the radiator. If you spring leak in your radiator, you can put egg whites in your radiator and seal the leak. I also heard that Peper works in a pinch.
A mixture of flour and tobacco from cigarette butts in the ashtray got me home in a pinch
Pepper in radiator fixes great my heater core dripped on feet until i added 1/4 cup black pepper years ago still holds strong
Never done it, but I heard oatmeal works too.
@@rctopfueler2841I’ve done that also. Works good. Safer than radiator leak seal products.
And you're traveling with breakfast?😅
Have used AT205 on a Toyota 22R and a Ford Ranger with over 360,000 miles and 480,000 miles. Both leaked oil bad and it sealed up the Toyota and the Ford still drips about a quart a month. The Ford would drip a quart a week. I have also fixed leaky jacks in 3 to 4 days. Put it in and raise and lower a couple of times a day. I am a customer for life it works. Have tried other oil stop leak products but AT205 is the one that always works.
The price of it doubled
I love varnish. It reminds me where i stand in life.
i dont need condoms i varnished mydick.
That old brake fluid trick is right up there with driving the ol' tailshaft bushing into the tailshaft housing, as long as there is enough room for it to go in there.
I had a leaking pinion seat back in the 80s and put brake fluid in the rear. It worked for about a year.
I myself am an old-school tech and familiar with what your saying. But you explained it so well! Great video!
I have heard of the water down the carb bit but have never done it myself but I have done a quart of ATF into the crankcase to help clean the lifters and oil galleys a hundred miles before the oil change.
I love Scotty Kilmer too. I actually discovered your channel on accident from watching a bunch of his videos
Only boomers and soccer moms watch Scotty. Which one are you?
I’m glad that you pass your knowledge on to others. Thanks Tony.
Never heard of the brake fluid trick before, but I have come across fine sawdust in the gearbox (manual box, obvs) to quiet it and temporarily give the synchro rings a little more bite - and even heard tell of banana skins in the diff to quiet a noisy crown gear/pinion that's maybe not meshing all that well any more.
One old time hack I'd like to hear Tony's view on was replacing the Dextron II ATF in a Torqueflite with Type F ATF.
Mainly a viscosity change, old school (shift kit in a bottle). Another one is universal tractor/transmission fluid.
racing/performance still mainly uses type F...
@@throttlebottle5906 yep shift kits recommended it at least the ones I installed back in the day.
@@Numer1Polakhytran and atf are very similar
dexron
Marvel Mystery Oil & Rislone Oil treatment ftw
wow, I got taken by that transmission trick a few decades ago. I wish I had known that back then!
My '69 AMX's float bowls dry out in no time. But at least I got it running and it runs fairly well.
Pft, keep clickbaiting, the content is always worth it
Amen we love it all brother man!!!
Don't know if they still use it , but the gas refineries use to use heptane in the winter . Helps vaporazition in the cold . 1970's definitely ,,, !
My former Boss who was a mechanic and also was a First Sargeant in the Army during World War II had told me the engines they had would run 24 hours a day they would drip water into the carburetors on those engines to keep them running and they only time they were shut down was to change oil and points and condenser and check the water level in the radiator other than that he said they very seldom had internal engine issues
Diesel in the carb is an old school VW trick. Two stroke synthetic oil mixed proper ratio with gasoline for my weed whacker runs perfect in my 4 stroke Briggs and even occasionally in my fuel injected Harley. Done it forever. Brake fluid in the power steering works but it's not a permanent fix.
I love Scotty. He's awesome and honest.
I’ve actually poured Bon-ami down the carb to help reseat rings for about a few miles.
I was taught to fill fuel filters up with ATF on semi diesel engines to clean the injectors
Lol. Good luck getting it started.
yep heard that also and have done. starts no problem. does it actually clean who knows
@@tomfuelery2905 starts fine
I'm 67. Been turning wrenches since I was 4. Once again Uncle Tony is dead nuts right on.
I use atf as an engine flush I put about half a quart in the crank case and drive easy for 2 or 3 days then do an oil change. Does an excellent job on old sludgy motors.
I have one. A guy back in the 80;s told me that back in the 70's he would put brake fluid on his tires to keep them shiny and make them last longer. Never tried it myself, but never forgot that either.
Scotty got me hooked on 90’s Toyotas as daily drivers
Uncle Tony got me me hooked on G-bodies and driving ratty classics in the Ohio salt & snow
Yep salt eats em up. Im just east of Cincinnati
Your click bait is different because you actually have valid info to share in the video
Your click bait is legitimate.
Yea he never leaves us feeling like WTF 😂
Scotty is why im here haha, he said you knew carbs many years ago now.
That’s why you take an old school oil can squirter and squirt it around the slip yoke on rear seal only. That works
For the transmission leaks, try that AT205 reseal, one of Scotty Kilmer’s favorite products. I used it on a leaking hydraulic jack and it stopped leaking!
I too did this (AT-205) on my son's 2008 Mustang. Last ditch before puling the tranny. Scotty Kilmer raved about it (he raves as a general way of speaking, but he's informed). Two years and 30,000 miles ago and no leaks. I was actually shocked. For all that time we have been waiting for Trans disaster. Nope. He just recently drove the thing from Nevada to Ohio for grad school. Drove perfectly no leaks of any kind. Just my one experience, but there it is.
Funny I wrote that on a sticky note years ago after seeing on TV but never used it. Will it work on manual trans seals also?
I repair the leaks..
I personally wouldn't put anything like that in an automatic trans because of how much potential there is to do unintended damage. However, I have used AT-205 to help with engine oil leaks and wouldn't hesitate to use it again on an older car.
@@robertrio1164
Yes Sir, it will work on manual transmission seals also. Pretty amazing bottle of stuff.
My dad used to do this back in the day , until he was ready to change the seals. I however use AT-205 by ATP this works so much better in my opinion.
There’s a product called AT205. Scotty Kilmer endorsed it years ago. It is not like the other store bought “seal swellers”. It is the only product I’ve heard actually works on seals especially advertised for transmission seals. I have never used it personally but the results I’ve read about are amazing. I use the Lucas clutches in a bottle as vice grip calls it. It helps bump viscosity and slow/stop seal leaks.
Spot on Tony, water for carbon, ATF for sticky valves. The detergents work great to remove anything causing sticky valves, where water had no effect on that but did great with carbon, steaming it off as it rapidly boiled in the chamber.
Brake fluid would/might stop or slow a leak temporarily, then suddenly it gets worse. Don't do that. All rubber is different, for brakes, trans, oil, air conditioning, although some interchange, not all do.
:)
Water works to clean carbon build up universally because it’s the universal solvent!
To the gasoline composition today, I agree with what you’re saying. Gas will still turn to varnish over time, but at a much much lower rate. Idk what the ratios are now or were then, but instead of say a gallon of old gas turning into a pint of varnish, it now turns into maybe a couple ounces of varnish and also takes a lot longer to turn bad like that. Fuel is still cheaper to evacuate and replace than a bunch of fuel system components like the pump, filter, and fuel injectors.
it will evaporate completely if you leave it sitting open. If it's inside a vented gas tank or carb bowl, it'll evaporate much slower, and in the process start degrading and polymerizing, mainly from contact with oxygen in the air. It's why it lasts much longer in a sealed gas jug or tank. If it has ethanol, the ethanol will absorb water from the air and make it much more nasty and start corroding metal. Ethanol in fuel is the killer of gas tanks, carbs, hoses... ethanol free or E5 at most for classic cars! If it doesn't have a plastic tank and all-nylon fuel lines, don't put ethanol in it!
'Fly, stop! I'm makin a youtube!'
Awesome videos Tony!
The brake fluid thing used to be common. Personally, I make larger o-rings out of smaller ones by soaking them in B-12 Chemtool😂
Somebodydidthat to my master cylinder one time, I couldn’t believe how big those seals got
It's been many years ago I was a student at Lincoln Tech in Indianapolis. My instructor in the fuel and tune up phase said to spray water into the engine to reduce carbon build up and if you want your customer to see a lot of smoke use brake fluid,, i thought was kind of funny and never forgot it. Great video... keep it up. TMD
AT-205 It works without swelling the seals, or at least that was in their sales pitch way back when. When I had my garage, I had customers that wanted every service because they couldn't afford to pull the trans, but they could afford this every 30k miles. My 94 suburban started dripping at the rear main seal at 85k miles and I been using this stuff ever other oil change, and it drip free with 255k now
excellent video Tony. Same premise for sealing a leak in the power steering gearbox. I used a little brake fluid in there and it stopped the leak. Maybe long term damage is on the way?
I used the water in the intake to decarbonize the piston and cylinder head.
Worked great, IF, you knew how to do it !!!
Transmission fluid mixed with acetone does even better, and smokes like hell, so customers thing something really good is going on.
Tim
Old school used car salesman trick, that always damaged car's. Putting 90 weight gear oil in the engine to quieten a noisy lifter, or to stop a car from smoking. One of my bosses son's did that just to get a car through the auto auction.
I've done that to get a blown up jeep home, it made it remarkably
no damage done
I used a jet to allow a small flow of atf and mineral spirits, followed by water. It worked well and stopped a rear main leak from a 380 sl
Been doing the brake fluid thing forever. Yes it does work, the transmission in one of my cars has been leak free because of it for about 25 years now. Never had any kind of problems with it, though, it does only get about 5,000 miles a year. Most stop leaks that are sold, mainly the Blue Devil brand, are just brake fluid. It may not say it on the bottle, but it looks like it, smells like it, and feels like it.
Ya! The only time you use an oil( I was told marvel Mistry oil)is for a sticky valve, I was told this from my Grandfather .
Did the brake fluid trick an old VW Rabbit with an automatic transmission 30 some years ago, but only used a cap full in.
I remember putting pepper in the radiator of my 56 Chevy back in the 1970,s seemed like it worked for a little while great video Tony keep them coming
My brother has used atf for engine oil in his 94 chevy silverado with a 350 for years , It has a few hundred thousand kms on it now with no problems .
Uncle Tony rubber is white and the reason we had white wall. Tires rubber is died black so it helps with UV protection.
That's how it use to be but now everything is mostly synthetic rubber.
That’s not how I heard it. Natural rubber is tan, but that kinda looks gross so back in the day they bleached with sulphur. That was before WW1. Almost all tires were white then, and that’s why the Michelin man is white. Then the war started and they needed all the sulphur for munitions. After the war, people had gotten used to black tires, but fancy cars got white walls as a call back to the classic era. White walls were very common in cars through the 70s into the 80s. What finally killed the white wall was the “Euro” styling movement of the late 80’s.
Most of these seals are not 'rubber' as in latex based - they are more correctly called elastomers (eg fluoropolymer, EPDM, polyurethane,). But, yes, they are naturally white and have various fillers added (such as carbon black) usually to increase durability or UV resistance. Brown and green are also common colours used in food/pharma industries where they can't risk carbon leaching into the product.
My 1965 Barracuda Formula S is also leaking at the front and rear seals of the automatic transmission (and this is after a local guy "rebuilt" it for me).
find a better builder
Never heard of people dumping atf in the carb. Definitely heard of and done the water trick to steam clean but I was told you add a quart of ATF to your oil just before you do an oil change, run the car around the block a time or two and the detergents in the atf will help clean out some of the dirt build up left over.
Don't forget about the cayenne pepper in the radiator. Works great just don't ever let the coolant get low.
I will not even put High Mileage fluids in my vehicles, if something is leaking, I replace the leaking seal. I can't afford tow bills or to be stranded somewhere because I decided to be lazy and band-aid "fix" an issue. It is a lot cheaper in the long term to repair something correctly the first time instead of using band-aids, cheap tricks and voodoo.
Not true at all, If you are driving a car that is not worth the cost of jobs like pulling the heads to replace a head gasket that is bad. That head gasket repair worked great for me, I had the car for three more years and sold it with that repair still working fine. I told the new buyer about that fix in case he ever had head gasket leak.
I tend to agree with this idea. That said, not all high millage fluids have nasty swelling additives. Can't say for certain, but I believe high mile ATF is regarded as ok to use. Could be a viscosity thing or other friction additives. Maybe some do though - I always buy regular. AC stop leak is pretty nefarious and I'd never use it.
In the mechanical engineering game, as a plant mechanic there is such a thing as serviceability tolerance.
Downtime or loss of production doesn't warrant repairs for low priority or cosmetic issues. Undue servicing kills with kindness.
scribbles=dribbles? those are external fluid level indicators. brake fluid on jeep hood *twitch* :) Tip for getting by in a pinch, a seal that's overly swollen can sometimes be brought back by boiling it in water with a dash of simple green for 30 minutes.
I remember when I was a little kid back in the 60s, my relatives pouring set called ValveEze down the carb. I was fascinated by the huge cloud of smoke.
Interesting information. As an owner of classics and somewhat modern cars, I avoid any quick fixes to be on the safe side. But I did use chevron techron to clean fuel systems. Anyone else use this? Thnx for the vid UTG !
Cool vid Tony! Old school knowlege that is very interesting. I learn a little something every video! ✌
There are always principled exceptions, but most of the time if it's called a "hack" it means that word is an apt description of the mechanic doing it
Dana "60" Glass. Seafoam works to decarbonize an old motor. Used it for years with great results. Also takes away the corosive effects of ethynol fuels preventing drying out the insides of carbs and rubber fuel lines. Never use brake fluid for anything other than your brake system.
in the 60's & early 70's Dad taught us that new plugs, points and a can of gumout was "the ticket"
I knew a guy who filled his windshield washer reservoir with ATF and routed the washer tubes down into the carburetor in order to make a smoke screen. He called it the Spy Hunter. It worked great at a standstill but at freeway speeds the smoke dissapated too fast.
I had a 65 Ford with a slipping auto transmission. I poured brake fluid in it and it shifted great-for awhile, then it would stop. I just poured another can of brake fluid in it and was on my way. I did that for quite a while before it finally refused to move.
As a mechanic at a dealership I bought a 1978 Plymouth Fury cop car from used cars for $150. I had a severe engine knock. Following what my instructor at tech school told us. I got the engine hot and pulled the vacuum brake hose loose so it ran lean. I then poured a glass of water down the carb, just fast enough so the engine stayed running and also opened the throttle to speed it up. After doing this twice the engine ran quiet and I proceeded to lay to nice black stripes down the street. The used car manager came and wanted me to pay more money for the car, I reminded him it was sold 'As Is'. I knew the car had been sitting around idling a lot.
I got an XJ with stuck valves, thanks for the tip. Marine two stroke oil is the one I mentioned for carbon removal.
Excellent, another great video. Ride safe .
Scotty has many times recommended AT-205 for engine oil seal leaks. (not leaky gaskets!) The company claims the same for trans seals. With what Uncle T just explained, looks like it's not a good idea...
I had a 74 Subaru 1600DL, that wagon with the split tailgate, glass up and door down. That was fun to drive and I could fit a bunch of other guys(15) with lots of effort if we all wanted to go fishing.
Anyway, it has a water cooled engine like a VW, which was nice, but the heads kept getting cracks in them, requiring the engine be pulled everytime heads needed changing. I decided to use pepper, egg, oatmeal and stopleak one time. Works, but it stinks, and the head will still crack.
"My inner Scotty Kilmer" bait and switch lol. Fred Sanford did the same with "the big one."
Tony: "The older the rubber seal gets, the harder it gets"
Me: "I feel like a rubber seal; and this is why I dont need viagra!"
Mix ratio is 3 to 4 ozs brake fluid, small vehicle use 3 ozs, larger vehicles that hold more transmission fluid use 4 ozs. My wifes van had lip seal in transmission not sealing on 3rd gear i did this 5 years ago still going strong . Transmission shop wanted 2800 to rebuild it,another shop told me about this. But dont use to much,or it will be corrosive.
You know, I still have an old can of General Motors Top Engine Cleaner out in the garage. You would pour that stuff down the carburetor while revving the engine so it wouldn't stall out, all while making clouds and clouds of white smoke. I can only guess it is pretty toxic stuff. GM had an official part number for it and it was sold at the dealer' parts counters. The top line of the can reads: "Gr. 8.800 1 # 1050002". I wonder if they still sell it?
Hey uncle tony, i have a 69 383 that the valves started sticking. It was popping and knocking and i thought it was going to need overhauled. I ran hightest pump gas. But it was built for leaded gas. I put some 100 low lead airplane gas in and it now runs like a hank. Have you ever had this problem ? If so what is a affordable fix ? Put newer model heads on it ?
I didn't use to employ the water technique (although I knew about it), but rather I used GM's Top End Cleaner for the job. It worked! :-)
once poured half a quart of ATF in a toyota inline 6 (7m-gte) to "get rid of any sludge or varnish".... got a rod knock weeks later. Not sure if that was the cause though.
I absolutely don't know if this is a legit old school trick but my dad used to add toluene to everything with a carb to "save the carbs" I still do it 😅
I used Seafoam to clean the intake.. Pouring or spraying into the air intake.. But I did hear people saying, that water works as well.. But never tried it.
I think the ATF thing is half people getting their wires crossed between using it in the crank case and adding it to the intake stream.
Can you spray the outside of the seal ?
Physical barriers depend on each car.
Would that work ?
Will this break fluid thing work with engine oil? To seal any engine leaks?
Thx for the video , have to laugh cause back in the day my older brother would stop at a ditch with a bucket when the tranny was leaking an fill it up with water then when the tranny gave out go buy another fifty buck car , hard to believe how far you could drive an old mustang with water in the tranny , he demolished 15 of them one way or another 🤣
Rev up your transmission seals !!!! Speaking of swollen seal - Back when I knew everything I had a Willys P/U that I rebuilt from the frame up . Well everytime I parked it in a sunny spot the brakes would drag until I cracked open a bleeder to relieve the pressure. Cloudy days it didnt happen. Well it was a learning experience for me not to use kerosene as a parts cleaner for wheel cylinders . I washed it out with soap and water but the kerosene was imbedded into the metal enough to make the w/c seals swell when it sat in the sun. Another tip for beginners is dont forget to back off the parking brake adjuster before adjusting the shoes on a new brake job.
The real threat here is those Headers on the Chevy behind him ) :
Uncle Tony, if you have an older muscle car like your 67 Charger you wouldn’t use marvel mystery oil to clean the valves if the engine has never been rebuilt?
Long ago, a transmission parts guy told me to help out my old 1985 Ford Tempo's "morning sickness" (run it 5+ minutes before it will shift to move the vehicle) his prescription was a small "Pepto Bismol" cup of brake fluid (probably a couple of table spoons or less than you were demonstrating. He said just use 1, not one per quart or 1 per gallon, just 1 for the whole transaxle, in this case. It seemed to work for me. I forget what happened after that. maybe it ran for another 40,000 miles.