Cleaning Engine Parts After Stripping Them Off

[Bliksem]

Hey guys, is there any tips for cleaning engine parts after stripping them off? I have been soaking them in degreaser and cleaning mine so far with good results, but is there anything else I can do to get them to come up like new? I was thinking of using CLR but it seems like a fairly general purpose product and not confident it wil do any better than degreaser. Thoughts??

[tridentt150v]

Use degreaser, it is the best bet. I usually wash my parts in hot soapy water and rinse in clean warm water and dry if I want/need to get the degreaser residue off. Most degreasers are either phenol, TCE, PCE, caustic or more commonly kerosene based. All derivatives are made up of what they call abrasive products - that it, they are not new engine friendly. You can use degreaser as a first clean, but I'd finish with another product that removes degreaser residue.

You could use a few products, but water etc is the cheapest. Don't leave any iron/steel exposed for too long though, get it dry and coated with a light oil.

BTW I have mates that use degreaser and nothing else, and it works for them, they generally use a light running in oil and then do an oil change early.

I wouldn't soak things in degreaser for too long [depending on the degreaser base type], it could affect certain alloys.

[PHaT MR30]

I just use Kerosene

[unarmed_skyline]

we've got a parts cleaner at work, duno what chemicals it uses thou

[djr81]

Don't use caustic based anything (paint stripper, degreaser, anything) on any part that is made of aluminium.

[Craved]

This is something that i have been looking into alot recently.. with little results

Cleaning off baked on oil under cam covers is the main reason i needed this info.

1st try - Kenco water based degreaser mixed 1 part to 20 parts water - worked but not well enough after soaking for 48 hours. These are cast alloy cam covers and at this mix, no corrosion present.

Trying to get a hold of parts cleaner fluid, but cannot find this in any retail store and my Mech has it for $60 for 20L (brand unknown to me)

Spoken with a polisher who is getting in some new stuff to try, but thats $150 per 20L - so will wait for results from them

Currently left the parts with my Machinist to run in his engine bath setup - get them back tomorrow and see how they turned out.

Carbie Cleaner worked awesome, but not very cost effective to use the cans of that @ about $20 a can. i think i recall someone telling me about getting tubs of this stuff, that they soak carbies in, but depending on the parts size and how often you use it, this might be overkill

Kero - kero and diesel works, MR 30 - how is the smell of the shop area you use this in? is it individual parts or setup in a parts washer?

[deant1]

citrus cleaner followed by penetrant oil to make sure it don't rust while you have things in the open.

[turboedsloth]

i use R55 solvent. it cleans really good and dries almost instantly and then you can pretty much eat off the product you've washed. if you get dermatitis or other skin irritations but DO NOT USE IT it'l f**k your hands up. then if its gona sit for a while light coat of oil

[Craved]

citrus cleaner followed by penetrant oil to make sure it don't rust while you have things in the open.

What type of citrus cleaner? and where from?

i use R55 solvent. it cleans really good and dries almost instantly and then you can pretty much eat off the product you've washed. if you get dermatitis or other skin irritations but DO NOT USE IT it'l f**k your hands up. then if its gona sit for a while light coat of oil

Where would you purchase this?

if it dries quick, then it will flash dry if kept in a parts washer ?

[rb26s13]

baked on oil.. the absolute best thing i have ever used is subaru upper engine cleaner.. however this stuff is abotu $20 a tin and it works great spray on baked on oil.. scrub with tooth brush or brush of somesort than wash it off with water and brings it up like new.

Edited October 4, 2007 by rb26s13

[tridentt150v]

I've heard of saoking in diesel, but I seem to remember that you had to be careful how long you soaked it for.......

Also soaking in...........molasses [or a water based mixture of] of all things. Apparently this works [i've never tried it] but rumour has it it will eat alloy=====NOTE: This is only a word of mouth method, I've never used it, it may come up on the www.

[1400r]

brake cleaner

[R338OY]

Mr Sheen that mofo!

[turboedsloth]

R55 solvent you can get from most oil companies. we buy it in 44 galon drums and it costs bout $4 a litre. we also have a parts washer at work an use a water an hvy duty soap to wash stuff an that comes up pretty clean also

[Craved]

R55 - seems to be a risk rating from the material safety data sheet of products... do you have a brand of the solvent?

[GeeTR]

R55 - seems to be a risk rating from the material safety data sheet of products... do you have a brand of the solvent?

You should know by now, all the best stuff is a risk to ones health! Hahah

[r33_racer]

toluene

[PHaT MR30]

Kero - kero and diesel works, MR 30 - how is the smell of the shop area you use this in? is it individual parts or setup in a parts washer?

I bought "Low Odour Kero", was about $18 for a 4 litre drum from Bunnings. I just cut a 20 Litre drum in half and soak larger parts in there and have some smaller cake tin size ones for smaller parts. Use a scouring pad to get the muck off.

Some good points of kero is: it doesn't evaporate, its not highly flamable, after use you can strain it and re-use it.

For larger aluminum parts which are stained and corroded (like say my inlet manifold), i couldn't really do much, took it round a few engine builders and none of them have a bath suitable for aluminium, tried another place, which from their ad in the yellow pages looked really good, however they have always been closed whenever I called or visited.

I resorted to then getting it bead blasted and plated, which originally I didn't want to do, but after speeking with them and seeing their work it was a good move. Costing rounghly $200 for manifold/plenum and fuel rail. This won't stain/corrode etc and it doesn't look half bad either. Will post pics when I get it back.

I had previously used brake cleaner and carby cleaner, but its not exactly practical for the price and I like my lungs the way they are.

[turboedsloth]

we buy it from leader lubricants or some business like that in perth. before that we bought it from fuchs. ive been using it for 5 years now all it does is dry your hands out but if your use that hand blocker cream or moisturiser or wash your hands with natural soap its ok. when its really dirty it makes my hands itchy. in winter its f**ked to use cos it just soaks in the cold and in summer it evaporates heaps quick. as i said in an above post DO NOT USE IF YOU GET SKIN IRRITATIONS EASILY..

[Craved]

we buy it from leader lubricants or some business like that in perth. before that we bought it from fuchs. ive been using it for 5 years now all it does is dry your hands out but if your use that hand blocker cream or moisturiser or wash your hands with natural soap its ok. when its really dirty it makes my hands itchy. in winter its f**ked to use cos it just soaks in the cold and in summer it evaporates heaps quick. as i said in an above post DO NOT USE IF YOU GET SKIN IRRITATIONS EASILY..

sweet cheers mate