My engine is of course apart.

I made a little trip to the 99c store today haha, got 4$ in "supplies"... a set of dish scrubbers, plastic scrubbing pads, and a big bowl to do it in.

I also have a 5 gal parts washer... little dinky thing, but I figure the pump will come in handy as a stream is usefull... hopefully it doesn't clog haha.

What have you guys used to remove carbon buildup?

And most importantly, what should I AVOID using that might damage the parts... like I have this cleaner stuff and it says "do not use on aluminum"? Does this include the cast aluminum oil pump housing and such things? I could hardly see this stuff being harsh... it smells like dish soap lol. Says it contains Surficants or something... Anyone know if this will be safe to use?

--Gary

 

dont bother with chemicals, just use the good ol' fashioned handy dandy steam cleaner
duno bout all the stuff u mentioned, but on the exterior of the block, engine bay, and other little parts it works great
i do auto detailing and have had a few requests for the engine and bay to be cleaned, it was hard work, but i got it done and made it shine with only a steam cleaner and a beach towel

 

Outside of the engine is a piece of cake man... especially with the whole thing apart.. lol.

But you try your little steam cleaner on these carbon caked rotors... you'll be working on it for days. ;P hehe

Although I have heard PRESSURE washing works pretty well, gotta have a shop do it... and I'm not really up for spending more money... except for the fact that I'm spending a bunch of money on chemicals and supplies... haha... oh well.

--Gary

 

haha yeah, took me like 3 hours for the engine alone, but it was worth it i made $100 from that engine and bay cleaning alone i had some fun with that money....
yea get some good chemicals for the rotors and stuff and dont do anything unneccesary, thats bout all i can give you
oh and for the pressure washer thing, dont let it get too cold and keep the pressure down, dont damage anything....now thats about it lol

 

Bump this, morning crowd I want some answers! ;P

--Gary

 

Use Simple Green. You can use it on everything, it doesn't hurt to breathe in, and it'll get all that **** off. Be sure to clean the rotors meticulously though. Use whatever you need to scrape off the carbon on the rotor face, then use a pick to clean the corner seal passage. For the apex and side-seal passages, use old apex and side seals to clean. Make sure you scrub every piece of dirt out of those passages. For the rotor housings, use a soft towel with Simple Green.

 

^ Ah, yes, another simple beliver

Simple green is great for just about anything, and it also likes to eat carbon buildup. We use it on the exhaust valves on our race cars (I know, valves, right?) and they clean up great if you just let them soak over night (sometimes two if it's bad). The nice part, its cheap stuff (~$4 a gallon IIRC) and works great in any environment. I can't use it in a closed room any more because I get a headache from one of the fruit juices in the stuff (Still not sure which), so be careful of that.

 

I use Castrol Super Clean for everything that isn't painted. It eats carbon and grease like none other... it's more powerful then Simple Green. I used Simple Green until I found this stuff (thanks to this board.)

 

I used Super Clean before switching to Simpl Green. Super Clean gives off a bad odor, and leads to a quick headache for me. It may not be a good idea to use Super Clean on the face of the rotor housings though...

 

Simple green is corrosive to aluminum after continued exposure. Only use it for SURFACE or short time exposure.

 

Castrol super clean eats aluminum if left on there too long or not rinsed off well enough. I use castrol superclean for stuff that simple green wont work on (ex: caked on brake dust that looks like cancer spots). Just dont leave it on too long.

 

Simple green took caked on **** off my TII wheels. Thanks simple green!

 

Go to any detail shop and have them use a non acidic rim cleaner. Dont even have to scrub, just disolves the **** :-D.

 

seafoam at your NAPPA store

 

The cheapest can of engine degreaser i can find. Two or three cans usually does a nice job.

 

Simple Green is the ****

 

Simple green will rock your world!

That Castrol Super CLean **** will **** you off. It took me longer to get the white film off that it caused then it did to clean the engine. I still, 4 months and 2 cleanings later have a white powder leftover from Castrol...thanks a lot...
It would be good to use if engine is apart or out of car so you could scrub all the residue off but dont spray it on with engine in car, you'll be sorry.

 

Acetone and MEK are the best solvents IMHO, and I've been "playing" with different solvents for years on the job. Used acetone exclusively for the dirty work during the rebuild, she still looks good almost 10,000 miles later. Just don't breathe the stuff too much, and try not to bathe in it too often, or your liver and kidneys will hate you

 

Well Simple Green seems to be the concensus...

Is it ok to soak in it? I left one side of a rotor soaking in engine degreaser (petrolium based) and it did jack **** haha...

And engine degreaser is a POWERFUL smell, it's leaking into the house from the garage (attached) stinking... =/ Definately gonna stop using that in the closed garage. (I have a respirator, not killing myself haha)

--Gary

 

Soaking the rotors and irons in Simple Green should be fine. I would soak for about 1 hour then slosh the bucket around and keep doing this for half a day.

Rotor housings just take a towel soaked in diluted Simple Green and wipe down the surface of the rotor housing. Then rinse.

 

BTW Just to clarify to some people that didn't read.. cleaning the OUTSIDE of the engine is easy... lol, the inside with lots of carbon is the bitch...

Thanks Infini IV, I'll take that advice on soaking the rotors for an hour and sloshing around, etc... I'll do it tomorrow... er today? yeah.

--Gary