My car is in the shop getting some work done on it, guy who is working on the car called and told me to come and get my tranny so I can clean it up, he knew I wanted to do this, so I have some good degreaser and gonna try and clean this baby up, any recommends on whats a good product for cleaning up a tranny?

brake cleaner. get a couple of bottles. sprays the grease & dirt right off the tranny.
the best you can find ...

Andy

Castrol super clean, big purple container. Stuff is very strong, and will damage/discolor some surfaces. It's easier and smells better than brake cleaner and will clean everthing... Ferg.

I just cleaned my second transmission in recent times and I had limited success with brake and carb cleaners. I guess it depends on how dirty your transmission is, but I found that two things seemed to work well;

1. Screwdriver/sharp object. (this removes large quantities of built-up gunk and hardened material. I found on both transmissions that there was a LOT of crap built up that needed to be chipped away becuase it was nearly rock hard.

2. Castrol Super Clean with a toothbrush. Just spraying something on doesn't work well, because you are relyingon the chemical to dissolve the surface that it touches. By using a toothbrush you can scratch away the top layer quickly and it really goes many many times faster.

If your transmission doesn't have 1/4 inch of caked on black gunk, go with brake cleaner, otherwise I reccomend the above.

-Tony

If you take some Simple Green and spray it on first (it gets rid of the big ugly chucks and then to the brake cleaner, you will use less brake cleaner.

you need to know how to handle the brake cleaner
brad used to make fun of me, cause i tried to use it like any other cleaner,
spray on a bit and try to wipe it off with a rag. would take forever.

how you do it:
spray on A LOT, like wash the s**t of with it.
do not hesitate, keep your finger on it. it'll take like 30 seconds and then all the stuff will just rinse off ...

and i love the smell too
just take a few asprin before you start and you'll get a great buzz without the headaches ...

later,
Andy

Take care with that stuff. It's a real brain-cell killer. I'm serious. Very harmful fumes.
-Ben M.

I used simple green and a pressure washer.

AirSix,

Cool Avatar!!!



Marc-André

Airsix...

Is that how you drive when you breathe in too many brake cleaner fumes?

Wheeeeeeeeeee!

Castrol Super Clean "SUCKS". I bought it because a few of you "raved" about it. Worthless. Back to brake cleaner for me. I use the Castrol to clean the floors now.

Seriously. I would rather waste 4 cans of brake cleaner in 5 minutes than deal with the Castrol over a 30 minute period. The brake cleaner is pressurized and therefore "blows" the crap off without even touching the tranny.

I use Simple Green also.. it does the same thing that Castrol does... except the Castrol eats into the mag cases and leaves a haze on everything.

I wouldnt suggest Castrol on the tranny... it seriously ate into the first box I tried it on. I thought something was wrong with the box... then I tried it on a spare 901 end cover and it did something to the Magnesium.

B

Castrol Super Clean and any other 'detergent' will certainly not work as well as brake cleaner or carb cleaner, because its not really a potent solvent. Its a totally different substance. But if you have a transmission where the gunk has turned into an extremely hard shell, its going to take more than spraying something on. I went through a can of B12 on a small part of my transmission and it didn't do anything. Sure it quickly dissolved things that were loose, but the really hard stuff has to come off with some mechanical effort. I would much rather use a detergent when I'm in there with a toothbrush than use a cocktail of carcinogenic solvents.

People have said that petroleum distilate based things such as Engine Bright will eat into the case as well. But I think any 'typical' chemical treatment would be hard pressed to eat through enough metal to cause any structural problems unless you leave it in a 55 gallon drum for a week. Other than that, its a matter of how much you care about the finish of the transmission. Both of mine came out fine

-Tony

I go thru 4-6 cans per gunked up tranny. The hard stuff becomes loose with enough blasting. I'm lazy. I dont want to scrub anything. I would rather buy brake cleaner by the case once a week.

I have most of my customers trained... semi clean your shit before your bring it to me.. otherwise your paying me 50-80$ an hour to clean...


B

I did the trans out of the 71 today. Used my son's shop teachers way. Solvent in a yard sprayer. Way cheap when you buy it by the gallon. Only thing I would add is wear a face shield and a Trevac (throwaway) suit and rubber boots when power washing after spraying.

how about the old fashioned way? Some "degreaser" detergent, a stiff brush, some elbow grease, and a water hose.

I used some of all of the above. Solvent & Greased Lightning, soaked over night. Used a parts cleaning brush & scotch brite pads to loosen the 30 year old baked on stuff. Took it to the car wash w/ about $10.00 in quarters; wish I would have thought about the face shield. I did't want an oil slick in my yard or I would have tried the power washer.

So, it is a nasty job and there is no easy solution.

Ok I got the tranny home,, painted all the engine tin, black satin, did the fan covering, same color as orginal gray, cleaned up the starer, tomorrow I will start on the tranny.

I think I'm going to go the brake cleaner route, the tranny isn't loaded with gunk, should be a walk in the park to clean up the transmission,, ahh another quick question, I have an oil cooler thermostat on its way, it should be mounted close to the engine correct?

Thanks everyone for all the replys,, this is a gr8 BBS.

DONT USE THAT! It WILL tarnish/oxidize alumn.
Try PS21 total auto wash (it comes in a white container with orange text) - Let it soak but dont let it dry.
Then use a high pressure and very hot water. Wash off, applie a second coat. Get a couple of good synthetic scrub brushes, go to town on it. You should get good results with out tarnishing your metal.

P21 works great!

Bartel's Harley Davidson in LA sells their line of products for cleaning.
I used that stuff and it works great! Made my boring ol stock wheels
look shiny and new. Make sure you realy, really rinse it all the way off.

I know my reply is too late... but I took my transmission (over lunch) to the local quarter wash with 3 cans of brake cleaner.

spray with 2 cans.
powerwash.
spray with last can.
powerwash again.

At least 15 years of crap just disappeared! Woohoo!

-Rusty