Boiling plastic parts to rejuvenate them

[getnpsi]

I can't stay 'frugal' long, i save $50 here and there to justify something dumb and ill advised. One grandfather was Jewish, Other side of my family is Russian AND Irish...and i don't drink...I cant quite commit to any of the stereotypes long

[Pu241]

All my zip ties are old. And snap the second i use them. Can i just soak the whole tube of them like im about to prepare spaghetti and they will come back to life? Not that a tube of zipties are going to kill my monthly budget to replace but cmon you brought this up!

Not all Zip ties are nylon, and crapy nylon is still going to be crappy nylon.
But you got nothing to lose trying it.
Just not for too long.
Might want to try a couple of batches and change how long they are in the water.

[Bert]

Plastics are gonna be the death of folks wishing to maintain old cars. The F150 I've owned for 27 years is gradually experiencing brittle plastic all over the place and I'm wondering if I can keep it alive for the rest of my days. And now that I'm working on a 47 Merc pickup truck which is mostly metal (with some Bakelite knobs here and there) I can sure see why new cars are going to have zero collectible value over the long run.

[scitzz]

Probably not, as old wiring tended to be vinyl, which I would soak in some of the stuff that supposed to renew vinyl.
They have small amounts of plasticizer which should help, but getting enough into a wire coating to make a difference might be tough.
Also, more recent wiring is likely polyethylene or copoly polypropylene which will not be affect at all.

So, what should I use on the wiring harness of a Festiva?

[Zanzer]

^^ Kentucky jelly :mrgreen:

[AlaskaFestivaGuy]

Moose dung. We use it for all sorts of things here in the Last Frontier.

[scitzz]

I hate you guys...