Cleaning oil stained parts........ ?

[oldcorollas]

not residue.. corrosion?....

[jeffro ra28]

alkaline based perhaps?

[DeftAnesthetik]

my guess is that its just loose material getting oxidized. buffs right off with a soft cloth.

[abently]

brake clean....best stuff ever

and there is no need to hose it off.

try it

Ok, so I got the MSDS of Brendix Brake & Parts Cleaner.

Petroleum Hydrocarbon (CAS# 64742-89-8) : > 60%
Aliphatic alcohol (CAS# 67-63-0) : 10-30 %
Critical non-hazardous ingredients : Balance to 100%

They ask $80 for 5L of this stuff........

How much is Isopropyl Alcohol per the litre ?

Edit: Wonder why they use Isopropyl when its less polar then Methanol and ethanol.........

[mrshin]

If you just want to clean engine parts, go visit your local reconditioner and get them to hot tank it. Otherwise, Subaru engine cleaner - costs a bit, but spray some into a container and soak a piston etc. in it, and watch the carbon disappear.

[DeftAnesthetik]

the AB-50 I mentioned earlier is Sodium Hydrochloride its most common purpose is in pressure washers (ie a car wash) its the same stuff used for tire and engine cleaning (if you've ever been to a "hands on" car wash where youve got a pressure nozzle with different settings on the dial) car washes mix it 50-1. 4 litre bottle only cost me $11.

[abently]

Ok, forget about the brake Cleaner solvent. The only thing which worked well, too well in fact, was Caustic Soda. Aka Sodium Hydroxide, the only thing I would recommend people do differently is use a ratio of about 2-3% in whatever amount of water you have. As any more then that will clean your parts too fast and then leave a residue on them which seems fine, but will colour your Oil I suspect once the parts become exposed to hot Engine oil.

Also, worthy to note, once rinsed out in pure water, spray them in WD-40/RP7.

[oldcorollas]

LOL...

caustic soda dissolves aluminoum oxide and then reacts with the aluminium below. (ie, dissolves it)

the residue would be residue from the dissolving mess..or sodium hydroxide that is left as the water evaporates.

colour your oil? how did you come to that conclusion?

[abently]

LOL, lucky I didn't let it sit in it overnight then.

It's used by many re-conditioning Workshops, but I'm assuming they know what concentration level to set it at. The residue, isn't exactly residue either, just more a change in colour obviously.

But anyway, yes it definitely works, but maybe play around with the ratio accurately measuring out the 2 parts. Obviously a low-concentrated solution will work slower but still achieve the desired result without any negatives, assuming you don't let it sit in the solution for longer then needed.

[jeffro ra28]

mag wheel cleaner.... does a very similar job.............

[oldcorollas]

mag wheel cleaner often has hydroflouric acid. (metal brightener)
again, this can react with alloy and with alloy oxide...

it can also get into your system and disrupt cellular activity, and at worst, cause death... wear gloves

[driftedmz20]

LOL you idiot..........casutic soda.....thats fukn gold ahhahahaha

that shit burns ya clothes of if you get it on you in powder form......LOL found that out the hard way

[abently]

Caustic soda isn't dangerous unless you swallow it... , breathe any of the possible fumes caused... Or spill highly concentrated liquid form on yourself.....

Common-sense when using it would avoid all three possible health issues.

[thechuckster]

problem with caustic soda and oven cleaners is that they attack aluminum - using it on the engine head or pistons may/will result in a change in object dimensions... No point having clean, shiny pistons if they're now to small.

a lot of stuff (expecially magwheel cleaner) uses alkaline salts.

A guy in our club had excellent results cleaning a cast iron engine block, crank and rods with Mr Sheen oven cleaner - it seemed to not attack the hardened surfaces on the crank.

One method of cleaning aluminium parts is to soak them in brake fluid - anything painted will obviously need repainting, but it doesn't corrode the metal ... this is also a good way of removing crap paint from rare plastic parts (e.g. lights/lenses).

Otherwise, setup a soaking tank loaded with petrol and then leave parts soaking in it for days at a time, make sure it is air-tight otherwise the petrol will evaporate leaving an even hardier coating on the parts to remove with a hot bath.

[abently]

problem with caustic soda and oven cleaners is that they attack aluminum - using it on the engine head or pistons may/will result in a change in object dimensions... No point having clean, shiny pistons if they're now to small.

I agree 100%. I guess if it doesn't change the colour, then you can safely say the dimensions have not been altered.

On the parts I used, there was this point where machining marks were obvious. These marks did not disappear or become more prominent so I am confident to re-use the parts, but I would not recommend anyone run the 5% ratio of caustic soda to water mix I did. I'ld say 2% at the max if the parts are completely stained and covered in carbon deposits but probably 0.5-1% is ideal/enough for a quick 15min soak.