Cleaning wires with isopropyl alcohol?

Yes. It won't hurt the insulation. Wipe all the oil you can off the wires with a paper towel, spray the alcohol on and wipe again. Repeat the spray/wipe as needed to get all the oil off. It won't hurt the insulation or the copper wire itself.

Ed

Don't just ask in Usenet.... ;)

Northwest Fix

Isopropyl alcohol is a poor solvent for mineral oil.

And, mineral oil isn't particularly hard on most plastics. The only harm I've seen is when polyvinyl chloride plastic is immersed in mineral oil. It got stiff and brittle, but not quickly, the effect takes months.

I'd just wipe up the oil. If you want to be thorough, a good detergent and water wash might help and will do no harm. A good rinse will be the hardest problem.

If you could figure out what the insulation material is that would help a lot. Older PVC-insulated wiring is definitely sensitive to embrittlement. Modern insulation will be mostly or completely immune.

If your concern is the oil getting into other places you don't want it, that's a separate problem.

hth,

bob prohaska