Loctite 243

[prv]

Needed to use some on the boat today, the half-full tube in the engine stores locker is a few years old. The stuff came out as a liquid (consistency of milk) whereas I was expecting a paste or gel. Has it gone off, or did I just misremember what it's like?

I'm assembling the part with it anyway, but I'm wondering if I'll need to come back and re-do it with a fresh tube.

Cheers,

Pete

 

[Poignard]

Probably the solids settled to the bottom. Take the nozzle off and stir it up

 

[VicS]

According to the datasheet it is a blue, medium viscosity, thixotropic liquid

It should be shaken thoroughly before use. This presumably is to reduce the viscosity

 

[Skylark]

Loctite 243 is a medium strength thread locker and it's a blue liquid. It has a shelf life of one year, unless otherwise indicted on the bottom of the bottle, according to their website. Like most other shelf lives, I imagine that it's fairly conservative but if it's a critical thread that you're locking then I'd probably buy fresh, especially given that it's cheap and widely available.

 

[RichardS]

I've used new tubes of Loctite red and loctite blue (can't remember the numbers) in the last few months and they both came out like water.

Richard

 

[savageseadog]

I've used old Loctite regularly, it works well enough to stop things from shaking apart which is all I needed it to do. I invert the tube and the gel comes out rather than liquid.