cleaning internal engine parts - suggestions?

Hi all,

Pretty basic question here but since this place is usually pretty amazing with innovative ideas, opinions caveats etc, I will pose it anyway.

Since I have the head off and am waiting for some time to get the head measured and then milled if necessary etc....I have a plastic bin full of labeled and baggied internal parts from head bolts to the valve gear and other sundries.

i want to clean them thoroughly but am unsure what the best approach is. When I used to play around with bicycles, the local shop had a grime sink that had a running stream of something that smelled a bit like gasoline.....cleaned the grime and crap off of anything. Sadly I do not have this at my disposal...

I was actually thinking of employing goop soap on the head bolts! Anyway, wondering what you guys use to clean this stuff up, seems like water base is not a good idea, but not sure. Thoughts?

 

The washer you are referring to is called a solvent tank or solvent parts washer. It uses Stoddard solvent typically for cleaning. You can use paint thinner which is very similar and works well. I use it in my parts washer. You can put some in a container and soak your parts in it and use a nylon scrub brush to help clean. Scrape as much of the thick stuff off as possible first.
There are other products that work well also. Castrol super clean, greased lightning, and others. Some use oven cleaner. While effective I don't like the fumes or that it typically is not biodegradable.
I also have an old used crock pot I heat up water and some water based parts cleaner and soak my parts in it. Works pretty well on steel parts. Not sure I'd do it with aluminum parts though unless you know the cleaner is aluminum safe.
Another method is a wire wheel on a drill or bench grinder. Very messy but effective on harder stuff.


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I have found after using various cleaners that I like regular mineral spirits.....the real kind, not that enviornmentally friendly, milk looking stuff.

I did my whole jeep with probably 3 or 4 gallons. It gets real dirty, but you can use it over and over. I like it because it cuts anything, doesn't dry out your hands, and evaporates almost as fast as acetone. You can put a completely packed axle hub full of grease submerged in that with about 3 or swipes with your fingers, it comes out squeeky clean...and your hands. I like it also because it won't hurt rubber and won't take off old paint so you can see what the parts used to look like

I bought a regular storage tub and filled it up and clean in it. I put the cover on it and kept it covered untill the next part. I kept a red shop rag and a paint brush in there to wipe with too.

The only down side is mineral spirits costs at least $10/gallon

 

White spirits, mineral spirits, paint thinner, Stoddard's solvent, naptha, white gas - all are basically the same thing: raw petroleum distillate. You might find that one or the other has a slightly different odor or oiliness depending on how pure the distillate is and where in the column it comes from. The milky stuff is ... something else.

I too have a solvent tank full of paint thinner. Very handy. But you can use a pan and a gallon can. Get a parts brush. I'd use gloves rather than dunk my hands in the stuff. Direct skin contact can't be good for you.

 

Mineral spirits, lacquer thinner and a pedestal mounted wire wheel are the things you must have if do that kind of work. I use them a lot.

 

just remember most of these have very flammable fumes so dont leave em open and never around open flames.

 

Yep,one of the best things a guy can get....

 

GOOD POINT Chuck.

 

I mean use common sense, but the flash point of the mineral spirits you can buy now isn't that great.

 

I do all of the above to clean the parts, and just before reassembly put Laquer Thinner into a siphon paint sprayer, then spray the parts down at around 90psi. The laquer thinner gets the parts super clean, and the 90psi gets all the little dust specs away from the parts that might otherwise just sort of get smeared around the part using other methods.

 

I have one of those parts washers. Got it for Fathers day a few years ago. One of my greatest gifts. I use the solvent you get at TSC. I like it. It works but it does not burn. It feels good on the skin. And the parts washer from TSC or HF or where ever has a little pump. Mine went out. I found it was exactly the same pump you can get for fountains at Lowes. Same part number on the side and everything.

I'd say that sucker changed the way I work on stuff. Now i always work on clean parts.

 

I use a parts washer and use kerosene. Rinse the parts with water then blow dry with an air compressor. Use rubber gloves because the kero makes your skin tingle. Not sure if the kerosene will damage the pump in the long run, but it's been working pretty good. I may try using Marine Clean from Por-15. I have some in a small spray bottle and use it to do small jobs. Takes a little more elbow grease but also works pretty good.

 

regular diesel would be just the same only cheaper

 

I keep three small buckets of Kerosene; clean, dirty and real dirty. I get all the major stuff off in the real dirty bucket, wipe down and move the part to the dirty bucket and continue cleaning. I then wipe them and just dip them in the clean bucket and give them a final wipe down. The idea is to move the used fluid from the clean to dirty to the real dirty bucket and periodically add to the clean bucket only. You need to use a different cleaning brush in each bucket. When I've collected allot of real dirty Kerosene you can burn it or clean up oil spills on the driveway or filter it out for less critical cleaning jobs. Because most of the nasty stuff sinks to the bottom it works nice as-is to clean small spots on my garage floor.

Why all this trouble you may ask? I don't trust the filter on a parts cleaner for my engine parts and bearings.

Use gloves and cover buckets when done.

 

I agree with Chuck Diesel works very well.

 

I'd expect diesel (or even kerosene) would be oily - I only have experience with fuel oil, which is close to the same stuff. But it's still going to remove all of the grimy stuff from the parts. A little oily residue is likely a good thing if you aren't going to paint the parts. I like paint thinner because it's volatile enough so that it eventually evaporates, and (when not contaminated by cleaning parts) it does not leave an oily film. It also does not produce explosive vapors - diesel and/or fuel oil are similarly good in this respect. Still, I would only use any of these in the open, or in a solvent tank. The solvent tank has a lid that both prevents (most) evaporation, and more importantly will slam shut if the solvent catches on fire.

Hotter solvents like lacquer thinner, denatured alcohol, acetone or (gasp) gasoline will produce explosive vapors. All except gasoline have their uses for cleaning. Don't be tempted to pour out a little gasoline and clean your parts in it.

 

In the model airplane field you can use anti-freeze in a crock-pot to clean baked on castor oil off aluminum parts with no bad side effects, affects. Use common sense and don't leave the parts in longer than necessary and be especially careful with your rare aluminum parts. Also keep the pot so no animals can get to it. If I spill any anti-freeze I clean it up immediately with brake parts cleaner or something smelly so the household critters and others won't get into it.