Parts Washer Fluid

Great Idea & task. It looks great . That's what is used to clean up Oil Spills, so same thing , in my Book.

 

Wear those protective gloves at all times. The chemicals go right thru the skin to organs and blood. 77 years old fighting multiple myloma from to many exposures in my early years. We have learned a lot since the 60's so protect yourself. mike

 

As a child on the farm we had a 2 gas pumps. In ground, old school 1920s-50's style.. They had a warning sign on it that it contained tetraethyl lead.. I was taught to laugh at that sign and we used gasoline to thin paint and clean that paint off our bodies, clean parts and spray it on plants to kill them..

So, as a child I was exposed to lead in paint form and in gasoline by rubbing it on my hands... Don't make fun, I am positive that some of you had similar experience and even if you claim to not have, you still breathed in the lead dust from the tailpipe emissions..

I cant fully put into words how many ways this was incredibly stupid... And still, I used gasoline to clean parts until about 15 years ago when I realized it started to make me feel ill with less and less exposure to gasoline fumes.

As time has progressed, I have found that simple green and soap can clean as well as gasoline could with almost zero hazards.

The utter ignorance of my relatives who knew better than to use gasoline as a cleaner on children....

 

I had similar experience.

But I also imagine our descendents will be dumbfounded by what we do and continue doing to their legacy. Not always in ignorance.

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/leaded-gas-poison-invented-180961368/

 

And not only that, the SAME guy invented CFCs which destroy our ozone layer.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Midgley_Jr.

No doubt similar developments continue today. Teflon (PFC) may be just one. Glyphosates another... pthallates... on and on. We keep 'drinking the kool-aid' so to speak.

"Better living through chemistry." Maybe simpler living wasn't so bad.

 

We used to use Easy_Off oven cleaner on the big marine engines to remove oil residue that had carburized. We used to spray it on when the unit was hot, and it did a fantastic job removing the carbon while underway. Then one time, we were in a shipyard in South Korea and tried to use it on a cold engine while applying heat with a torch. We thought the fumes were going to kill us, but we all came in the following day with no fingernails cleaner took them off.

Years later learned a trick when were overhauling a big Sulzer diesel from some Swiss guys we just cut some 55-gallon drums in half and put water in them with a lot of dish soap. Rigged up a torch and heated brought everything up to a low simmer. After about a shift, it was amazing how clean the parts came out!

 

Have any of you tried ''Purple Power" cleaner/degreaser? works fairly well in you spray it on full strength, on a greasy part that has not been wet with any water. Keep wet with cleaner for several minutes to soak, do not let the cleaner get dry. Then power wash it. works well on tire side walls too.

 

I keep 5 gallons at the shop. It works pretty good imo. I had 15 gallons in my parts washer but it eventually stopped working and I started using diesel. I picked up some mineral spirits after reading this thread.

 

Yep, the purple power is a one time use item. Once water gets mixed with it-it looses it's grease cutting ability really quick.

 

I had a cousin used to put the car parts in his wife's oven and use the "self-clean" cycle....

 

.

 

I used my wife’s oven to bake my exhaust manifolds after I had them blasted and coated in POR. They turned out great.

wife came home too early while they were still in the oven.

that part didn’t turn out so great

 

For small parts an old crock pot works great. Will loosen paint, grease, etc. I used simple green in mine. Reminds me, I need to get another one. Just not sure where to store it…

 

Wow, I am getting some good ideas here.
Thanks

 

I've got a heated ultrasonic cleaner, that works great for small parts. Especially carburetors, I got one big enough that I can get a whole 4bbl in it, if I need to.

 

Where and what kind is it?

 

I got it off of amazon a few years back, lemme see if I can find it, or a similar one.

The 6L capacity version of this one is pretty close, but mine has a slightly wider basket, I think. (I'd go look for you, but its out in my shed, and it's cold and dark outside, and I'm lazy) I know I can put an entire AFB or 4100 Carb body in it, I *think* it'd fit in the tank on this one.


Duh, forgot the darn link. https://www.amazon.com/VEVOR-Commer...prefix=ultrasonic+cleaner,aps,141&sr=8-8&th=1