The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Cleaning Options

As I'm trying to clean the years of grease and grime from the leaky brake cylinders and other fluids. What cleaners, rags, steel wool, etc. have you found to work the best. Granted I don't have the bead and sandblasters so we are talking budget cleaners.

I start off with paint thinner and finish with simple green.

Don't clean those leaky brake cylinders. Toss them out and replace them with new ones. Much safer....

Household "Dawn" cuts grease.
You can clean the engine grease and the cooking kettle all with one product.

Check out this story from a 1998 Newspaper:
* Along I-74 near Cincinnati where an overturned tanker truck spilled 20,000 gallons of animal fat on the pavement, NOTHING could get up the 2-inch-thick layer of congealed waste until Cincinnati-based Procoer & Gamble Co., came through by donating 3 tons of Dawn, the grease-fighting dish-washing liquid. "This was by far our most extreme case of grease buildup," said a company spokesman.

i mix a strong dose of tide and hot water together, then let the parts sit anywhere from overnight to 2 weeks, then i rinse with water.

I've used EasyOff oven cleaner with good results on the grease/grime on the engine. Spray it on, let it sit for an hour or so and spray it off with the hose (spray attachment on Jet setting).

Or you could drive that baby over to my place and we could play with the 3000 psi steam cleaner. Just don't look into the chimney when you pull the trigger like Rugo did, people look a lot different without eyebrows :p

We've had excellent results with a product from POR 15. It's called Marine Clean--we just dilute it a little and use a paint brush or stiff brush to agitate the crud. Also kind to the environment. It made a believer out of my non-believing, college educated, civil engineer son--and he knows everything.

Just remember to fully rinse then with alcohol or brake cleaner when you're done or the rubber seals
will fail from petrochemical cleaner residue .

I just put a drain pan under neath and wet it down with Gunk engine de-greaser , work it 'round with a stiff bristle bush (solvent brush) and then rise off with aerosol brake cleaner .