I finally acquired a set of SS heat exchangers to replace my rusty originals. With some Mother's, they are shining up beautifully.

One of them has thick, baked on oil stuck to it. What should I use to get this stuff off? Oven cleaner? Carb cleaner? Anyone have any words of wisdom? Thanks!

- Bryan

simplegreen works great too...

give it a try before you hit the nastyer solvents.... (carb cleaner/brake cleaner / acetone/ laqueur thinner / MEK etc...)

brake cleaner. get a few cans, spray generously, let sit for a few minutes and it'll come right off with a old shop-rag ...

and try not to sniff too much of that stuff ...
Andy

Thanks Aaron. I'll soak it with some Simple Green right now and check on it in the morning so see if it's softened up.

Alright... Simple Green for starters, and if that doesn't work, brake cleaner with the garage door wide open... Thank you!

What Mother's product were you using for this?

Wire brush on a polishing angle grinder.....

I took them and had them sandblasted which took care of the exterior stuff, then had them baked for ceramic prep.

They came out awsome, but this road I took to save time and elbow grease, not the road to take if your trying to save some $$$$

They look sweet though, here are some pictures:

Try Oven Off....cleans up most nasty stuff.....wear rubber gloves

I used the Bug & Tar remover that you can buy in the same section you get car wax at Walmart, worked great and I was comfortable knowing it was not too aggressive as it is the stuff you can use on your paint or chrome bumpers.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

I agree, oven cleaner worked best for me and was the quikest with minimal effort. If they are SS, you should have nothing to worry about.

--Jason

a cheap way to clean them is first coat liberally with Gunk. the use an SOS pad to remove the stubborn stains.
if you want the S/S to shine afterwards, use Mother, Flitz,Renol,or any metal polish and a XXX(extra fine) steel wool pad. it will take awhile,but can be made to shine like chrome..


Robin

don't forget to flush out the inner portion of the hes while you're at it.

All the products mentioned will work, particularly if you give some soak time. I'd use brake cleaner instead of carb cleaner, but that's just me, and after soaking for a while with Gunk. Very fine steel wool will wipe out any remaining stain, without scratching deeply, but I'd use it on the entire exchanger.

Then you can use whatever metal polishing compound you'r happy with - there are a number of good ones. I prefer Simichrome because it leaves a slight protective coating behind.
Pat

Thanks for all the suggestions.

I just gave them a shot of brake cleaner. Got off some crusty stuff, but those fumes, even outdoors, or scary. I think I'll hold off from using that again.

So now I'm letting them sit with Easy Off foam, the "no scent" type, which has a nice "lemony" scent. I'll try wiping them down in a few hours.

Once they're clean, I'll shine them with Mothers metal polish. I have a big tub of it in the garage.

I'll post 'before' and 'after' pics when it's all done.

Alright here's the "before" and "after" pics. The oil was really, really thick and rock-hard baked on, but after several applications of Easy Off, extra fine steel wool, wire wheel on drill and Dremel, and Mothers metal polish, here is the result:

- Bryan

Pretty.....

pretty crunked out...just like ma grill!

Those came out great.

Good job they came out great.
I need a set of those. Mine are super rusty and ugly