Hi Folks,

I am wondering what people use to clean their engine parts with, specifically the cylinder heads? Long ago in a past life, while working at a boat yard, I remember dunking my oil caked, carbon fouled, nasty cylinder heads in this chemical bath over night. When I pulled them out in the morning and washed off the heads they looked as good as new! I don't remember the name of this stuff and it's probably not available to back yard hackers like myself but figured I would see what everyone else uses to clean their engine parts.

Thanks in advance!

-Rob

Berryman used to have a parts bath I sold in autoparts years ago.

Some of the wise folks around here used brake cleaner.

Brake cleaner and carb cleaner- lots of cans of the cheapest I can find

Too Nasty
Castrol Superclean, extreamly aggresive detergent.

Me too.

I like the brake and carb cleaners because they dry up quickly.

Easy off

I buy 5 gallon jugs of ZEP degreaser @ the home depot----I pay 24 bucks for it, and it is so concentrated you MUST cut it down with water---good for not using it up too fast.

NOTE>> be very carefull with Aluminum---cut it down to 1 part of ZEP to 4 parts water---but man it works the charm!!!

Mineral spirits and a parts washing brush.

The gallon cans of that parts cleaner from FLAPS is great for carbs and other engine parts with varnish or carbon deposits. But it is really nasty smelling. Just soak it for 15 min. in the little basket that comes in the can. I use hot detergent water, paint thinner, brake cleaner, Gunk, etc. for big greasy parts. My power washer does a good job too.

Good info.. Now a twist

How would you clean a longblock (no intake) that have nothing in th eintakes but rags? How can I seal the intakes to allow me to use a pressure washer?

FYI the engine is out of the car and loooking not so purty

Cheers

for you tree huggers out there, Simple Green works surprisingly well.


If you don't mind, I'd like to piggy another question along similar lines.

If I want to clean the engine/tranny while it is still in the car, what is the best way? Can you steam clean it? Pressure wash it? Anywhere in the SF/Bay Area to do something like this.

I hate it when I'm underneath the car on my back, spraying brake cleaner - trying to hold my breath and having little bits of engine goop land on my face!!!

Few things i found that work...

- 5 Gallon barrel of carb cleaner from the Kragen Pro-Shop ($240). Soak for 15mins to 24hrs and gunk/grease/charred pieces come right off.

- Hot water and tide detergent + scrubbing

- Hot water and tide in a1900-2700psi pressure washer.

- Soak in industrial solvent, rinse and scrub with hot water.

I like Walnut or Plastic media on cylinder heads. Factory new look.

Thanks for the info guys!

I'm gonna try and clean up some spare heads that have been sitting around in my garage for about 10 years...

Time to clean and inventory my spares....

I like to use Jon Dunn's guitar cleaning rag.




M

Finally made it to page #314 Miles?

The best media I have found thus far is gasoline and a match---guaranteed to clean everything off--leaves a little soot tho--but it washes off with a garden hose---

I agree with Castrol Super Clean and a 2500PSI pressure washer. If you don't intend to tear the engine down, make block off plates for the holes and ports.

The Berryman carb cleaner is still available (at least here) I use it to clean bolts and other smaller stuff. It is pretty effective for that. It'll eventually eat a hole in the can and leak out though...

Parts washer and a bead blasting booth.

QUOTE (Eric_Shea @ Feb 4 2005, 05:53 PM)

Finally made it to page #314 Miles?

A friend here (Sav) from Boston seems to be an old buddy of our club member Rob Barber.

My way of sayin' hi.


M

QUOTE (rhcb914 @ Dec 3 2004, 06:53 AM)

I am wondering what people use to clean their engine parts with

brake cleaner ...

Andy

QUOTE (Kerrys914 @ Dec 3 2004, 10:40 AM)

Good info.. Now a twist How would you clean a longblock (no intake) that have nothing in th eintakes but rags? How can I seal the intakes to allow me to use a pressure washer? FYI the engine is out of the car and loooking not so purty Cheers

How about using your intakes as patterns and making some block-off plates out of steel, alum, MDF, or whatever relatively rigid material you have readily available. Throw a little sealant between the plate and the head for good measure.

I would never pressure wash an engine unless you can start it right away...even then I still wouldn't do it.

Pressure washers can lift valve covers, oil breathers and even blow past seals.

Little story...A customer needed a cheap engine...another customer's friend had an engine (suppose to have been rebuilt) that he had bought at the swaps for $1200Can. He said $800 so I said bring it over and we'll check it out. It look real nice and clean, put it on a test stand, turned it over and water shot out the plug holes

The guy almost

Paid him $100 for the core.

I like to use lots and lots of carb cleaner. If you use it long enough in an enclosed room it's possible to flash back to 1965. (Or so they say).
Cheers, Elliot

for surprisingly little money ~$20 most machine shops will clean anything you bring them in their professional hot washing machines..
Worth every penny and much better for your health and the environment.

QUOTE (matt_o_70 @ Feb 4 2005, 09:58 PM)

for surprisingly little money ~$20 most machine shops will clean anything you bring them in their professional hot washing machines.. Worth every penny and much better for your health and the environment.

I just had a great experience with a local auto repair shop, Rusty's Honda and Mazda Repair in Santa Cruz. After breathing way too many solvent fumes while cleaning the engine tin I decided to see if I could avoid more fumes and get someone to clean the fan housing. I was looking for a machine shop that could dunk the thing into their tank. Well, to make a long story longer, I could not find the machine shop and on a whim gave Rusty's a try. Turns out it was Rusty himself that I asked about the possibiity of getting a pretty oily/greasy housing clean. He put it into his hot washing machine and for the next 45 min. flipped the pieces over to make sure every inch was washed. I left for an hour and came back to a beautifully clean fan housing. And Rusty wouldn't take a dime for it! Made me disappointed that I don't have a Mazda or Honda to give him some business. I am sure that he would not have been so accomodating if I showed up with all of the tin plus the fan housing, etc. I do think though if you make previous arrangements with a shop and offer to pay you could have the dirty work quickly behind you.

Sorry for rambling.

-Jeff

For small parts I usually drink a Guiness, eat a sprig or two of broccoli, some times even keep it down with some chilli. Watch SPEED channel for an hour to let the mixture percolate in my system, then drop the part on the drive way and pee on it. Not only does the part come out clean but I can leave it out there for days and NOBODY will touch it.

I cleaned my filthy caked trans in an hour with Gunk, solvent brush and a putty knife. Water rinse.
Brake cleaner and carb cleaner are good, too.

KT