Does loctite actually “expire”?

B

BohnsBlades

Joined
Jan 13, 2021
Messages
25
Hey all!

I found out that Henkel’s Loctite has a shelf life of one year after opening per their fact sheet. I’m pretty sure it’s just to meet regulations for industry uses because my stick of 242 blue has been going strong since 2019. What’s your experience?

Thanks!
 
Yes, but the container of 680 I was using might of literally been 30 years old
 
As an industrial mechanic, I've used quite a few different examples of Loctite's various products.

The only one that seemed to lose its efficacy, when used about 2 months after the expiration date,
was a general purpose adhesive (AA 330), that required a spray activator (SF 7388).

I've used a lot of expired 221, 242, and 271, for personal use, with no noticeable loss of efficacy.
Typically 2-3 years old.
 
I had a container of 242 that took me about 5 years to use up. Subjectively, it still seemed as effective as new at the end of that time. I bought an unopened but expired (by about a year) bottle from ebay to replace it several months ago because the guy was selling them off dirt cheap and it too still seems fine. YMMV. I can't speak to other formulations.
 
jeronimo said:
As an industrial mechanic, I've used quite a few different examples of Loctite's various products.

The only one that seemed to lose its efficacy, when used about 2 months after the expiration date,
was a general purpose adhesive (AA 330), that required a spray activator (SF 7388).

I've used a lot of expired 221, 242, and 271, for personal use, with no noticeable loss of efficacy.
Typically 2-3 years old.
Click to expand...
Ah that’s what I’m kind’ve saying. On the official PDF it doesn’t mention any specific formulations, so I’m guessing it’s more of a blanket statement for general liability. Thanks for the insight!
 
Some of mine are over 20 years old and don't seem any different. They sit on the shelf in my shop so no special storage conditions. I have some super glues in the fridge that are that old and still fine too. Like most expiration/best by dates it is more so you throw it away and buy new vs it going bad.
 
BohnsBlades said:
I found out that Henkel’s Loctite has a shelf life of one year after opening per their fact sheet. I’m pretty sure it’s just to meet regulations for industry uses because my stick of 242 blue has been going strong since 2019. What’s your experience?
Click to expand...

If you're building nuclear power plants and the inspector sees your expired bottle of Loctite, you might have a problem. My shelf full of Loctite products has some that surely date back to the early 2000's. There might be some from the 90's. It's an anaerobic product, so it doesn't really degrade from sitting in the bottle. Just keep the nozzle and cap clean, and you'll be fine for a long, long time.
 
I here it will still work. A guy on YouTube who builds vintage racing motorcycles, when I told him the manufacturer says 1 year after opening it is considered expired. The builder said to me his bottle is over 30 years old and he thinks it works fine.
I say when it comes to a vital part coming loose why take a chance to save a few bucks. I buy small containers and toss them out after expiration date.
Have a flywheel bolt on a car come loose over $5-10 just doesn't make sense.
 
Diemaker said:
If you have doubts it's not too hard to test. Just use it on a bolt, wait a few days, and see how hard it is to take apart. It's not rocket science.
Click to expand...
Obviously it’s easy to test at home. I wanted to have a discussion about it, no need to be snarky.
 
Well fellers, I think I spoke too soon. I got my Benchmade back from Benchmade yesterday and after playing with it a while and carrying it to work last night/this morning, I noticed the pivot getting loose. So this evening I pulled the screw out and cleaned it all up. Benchmade didn’t loctite it when they re-bladed it. No biggie, have a bottle of 243 in the kitchen. Got the bottle down and went to put a drop on the screw then reassemble and the stuff has turned to a gel like consistency. It used to be a liquid obviously. Anyways I put some on the screw and tightened it to where I wanted and put it up till tomorrow. I’m going to use it and see if that gelled up blue still holds like it’s supposed to. I plan to report back on the effectiveness after a while.

To be fair, I’ve had that particular bottle since around 2005-2006 if that matters. It was always in a non heated, non cooled garage up until a couple years ago when I brought it inside for something and left it in the kitchen.
 
So two major things to keep in mind, the formulations on a lot of these products have changed over time, so while that super old bottle might still be good, it may not be the exact composition of what's on a store shelf today. The other is storage. Cyanoacrylates are very humidity sensitive, and so where I'm at in coastal Queensland, where a "dry" day is still 60-70%RH, loctite tends to not last very long at all once that cap is cracked. Adding to that, are you the kind of guy who leaves it open while working, or is it only open during that few seconds of application... I've also had different brands of loctite not grab due to unknown contamination on the materials, so I guess there are a few factors that might lead into it working or not.
 
It's like a lot of expiration dates I bet, wife of a buddy works for a Rx company, their expiration date is the length of time for the med to be 98% effective as new. However after 3x after the expiration date it might still be 95% effective..... The downside is unless you're the manufacturer you have no idea what the effectiveness decay is for a particular product.

I used to buy the big bottles of stuff like loctite because it's easy to get sucked into the volume discount, but the last few years I tend to get the small ones, that way it tends to ensure they don't last 10-20 years etc.

Honestly the biggest mistake I think most people make with loctite is using medium strength on little screws on knives/guns. It's massive overkill, the low strength purple stuff is all you need to keep a screw from backing out on it's own on a non-motorized (read vibration free) assembly, and you won't strip the heads when you want to remove them. Even low strength 222 is recommended for fasteners up to M12. 90% of the time if the loctite didn't hold it's because the fastener was not clean.

I suspect some gun/knife manufacturers use blue/red on tiny fasteners for 2 reasons. First it discourages people from taking them apart, and second odds are if you do take it apart, the fastener head will be damaged tipping them off that you've disassembled it should you try to return/warranty it.
 
If it's still liquid, use it.

I've used blue, red, and green on various stuff besides knives. Not purple though.

IMO blue works for most small stuff. Red and green are for big stuff and if you use it on knife screws you'll be in trouble.

If you do get in trouble Loc-Tite will loosen with heat. Hairdryer, propane torch, or Oxy-acetylene. Depending on color.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top