engine parts cleaning

sidepipe87 · Post by **sidepipe87** » Tue May 17, 2011 11:54 am

I'm looking for suggestions for what to use to clean my grimy and greasy engine and transmission. I need to find a good degreaser or something else people have had good luck with. I need to get everything as clean as possible so i can paint the stuff. Hopefully i get some good info. Im thinking simple green wont cut it.

thecause17 · Post by **thecause17** » Tue May 17, 2011 1:11 pm

You should be fine using any engine degreaser to get the major stuff off, such as Gunk engine degreaser or something like it. The only problem I've seen with that stuff is that it seems to leave a little bit of a residue behind and will cause issues with the paint. So if you use that, might want to use the simple green and plenty of water after that to get all the residual solutions off before you try and paint it. I had issues with fisheyes on an intake manifold once because of this, and I cleaned it in a parts washer, but didn't rinse it afterwards.

hybrid-Srt2001 · Post by **hybrid-Srt2001** » Tue May 17, 2011 2:21 pm

purple power is amazing....

simple green works ok...

Danteneon · Post by **Danteneon** » Tue May 17, 2011 2:37 pm

hybrid-Srt2001 wrote:purple power is amazing....

That's what I recomend.

sidepipe87 · Post by **sidepipe87** » Tue May 17, 2011 4:59 pm

Alright thanks guys. I'll give it a shot

NiteHawk · Post by **NiteHawk** » Tue May 17, 2011 5:31 pm

if that doesnt work..........i can get you some seriously nasty degreaser from work........just spray it on, let it sit, hose it off... i can get you one of our no-scratch scour pads too, called a dobie by 3m... i cleaned my entire store using just those 2 items

years of built up grease...............gone

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue May 17, 2011 6:30 pm

Purple power has it's limitations. It is a good start.

If you want a paintable surface, you need stronger stuff. Brake clean will do, just keep far away from flames/spark when soaking it.

It evaporates quicker tha carb cleaner, so the risk factor is shorter lived. Plus brake clean leaves no residue.

You may need about 15 cans do get both engine and trans spotless after doing what you can with Purple Power/Castrol SC.

Jenni · Post by **Jenni** » Wed May 18, 2011 1:09 am

i cleaned mine in the dishwasher.
perfect and easy!

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed May 18, 2011 9:46 am

Your dishwasher can fit the engine/transaxle into it?

sidepipe87 · Post by **sidepipe87** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:37 am

Hahaha i dont even have a dishwasher

15 cans?!

ffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Ill experiment

garfield3887 · Post by **garfield3887** » Wed May 18, 2011 10:49 am

occasional demons wrote:

Your dishwasher can fit the engine/transaxle into it?

That's gotta be one hell of a dishwasher!

Post by **occasional demons** » Wed May 18, 2011 12:24 pm

sidepipe87 wrote:Hahaha i dont even have a dishwasher

15 cans?! ffuuuuuuuuuuuuuu. Ill experiment

Wally world super tech is a little over $2 a can. It really depends on how bad the heavy grime is. Purple power will not cut that stuff without heavy scrubbing. But the small places a wire/stiff brush just won't get it all out, that's where blasting it with BK will come in, and as a final spray down. Maybe 15 cans was a little exaggerated, but it really depends on the amount of really nasty stuff.

Jenni · Post by **Jenni** » Thu May 19, 2011 5:39 am

valve cover and intake mani...
not the whole engine.
but - if you work somewhere where they got this:

but i guess boss would kill you...

Post by **occasional demons** » Thu May 19, 2011 8:34 am

Food service FTW!

heydockyle · Post by **heydockyle** » Fri May 20, 2011 10:13 am

I have a parts washer..

Post by **occasional demons** » Fri May 20, 2011 12:22 pm

I use the one at work, when I can sneak parts in.