I've got a lot of engine parts to degrease and paint and then get back to the shop in a short time frame. What is the best degreaser or way to degrease parts. Note: No parts wasser.
I like Castrol's purple stuff but it's harsh on aluminum and pot metal and will etch any polished surfaces. Simple Green works pretty well too. Brake cleaner has been very effective for my needs as well, but it can get expensive in a hurry, so I usualy use that last for final cleanup.
I've had good luck with $1 cans of oven cleaner from the dollar store. Lemony fresh, too! Be careful using it, pretty harsh stuff. Also, keep it away from aluminum.
Go to walmart and buy 5 gallons of Simple green. Works great and its cheap! It works really good and its safe for the enviornment.. Neal0o
Purple stuff!! Also, if you watch for those 'tool truck' sales like Harbor Freight, etc. you can buy a parts washer for $30-$35 bucks. I don't normally buy cheap tools but it's basically just a tub with a pump & nozzle. It's well worth the money I think.
simple green. i like to use it straight. put it in a squirt bottle and apply directly to soiled area. let soak. use a wire bristled brush and/or a high pressure washer to help removal of said crud.
Get them all wired together in logical groups and drop them off at your local machine shop/engine builder. Anybody who has a hot tank or spraywash should be able to do the parts for a reasonable amount of money. One day turn around is normal.....which leaves you free to make progress on other areas of the project. -Bigchief.
I like Simple Green a lot better than Purple Stuff. It seems to cut grease more effectively (using is straight like alterdpilot says). But it doesn't seem to be as mean to your skin if you get it on it. (I even use it to wash my hands with after getting particularly greasy!) It even works good as laundry detergent for washing oily/greasy "garage clothes". (I also recommend using it to wash you clothes after going into Wal-Mart to purchase it. You need to de-contaminate your clothes from all the Wal-Mart evil.)
Wal-Mart's the only place I've found Super Clean out here. Works great, but like said, keep it off your skin...if not, you'll have to explain why it looks like you have early-onset leprosy. Bryan
mineral spirits work well as an alternative to solvent parts washing fluids. I also use it from time to time for working on large parts outside the washer. you'll have to make an effort to keep the fluid contained since you can't really hose it away like a water based cleaner solvent. you also have to wear gloves and stay in a well ventilated area. It does cut great like a bitch though and leaves no residue.
I've used cheap oven cleaner. allowing it to soak into the parts while baking in the hot sun. A pressure wash from the garden hose usually cleans the parts. If not, a second application certainly will do the trick!
ZepPunch engine degreaser, self emulsifying spray on/ wash off makes your tough jobs easy..#0307-902F...Cleans your driveway at the same time...H
I always bought super clean at an auto parts store... I used to like Simple Green, but I have so many negative associations with it from the various minimum wage dead end jobs I had through high school and college that the smell not only makes me want to vomit, but hunt down my last asshole boss and beat the hell out of him. That prick.
I got a 5 gallon bucket of some cleaner degreaser from NAPA, wit worked great and didn't stain or leave any residue on the carbs I left soaking in it. I also ran it through my pressure washer when the oven cleaner/plain water rinse didn't work on a particularly grungy rear end. Simple TECH: The metal framed bed springs that they make bunk bed frames out of makes a dandy place to pressure was stuff without putting it on your driveway
For hardcore grime , the kind that's been there for over 60 years that would take a chisel to knock loose...use Zep's Driveway Concrete & Masonry Cleaner. Will make the oldest nastiest stuff look like new and stripped to bare metal. Will strip paint though, so watch out.
Simple green is all I use. Biodegradable so it's not evil to use out in the yard. Great for degreasing yourself after working on the car as well. Available at the grocery store or any hardware store. bryan
I have used Red Devil Lye and it works great. It is like draino but without the aluminum chips in it. It is sodium hydroxide. Mix with water, use rubber gloves and full eye protection, and paint it on slow with a paint brush. Do not spray it on, it will get everwhere. be careful. Mike...
For smaller jobs where you don't care about finish (paint), I use Berryman's Chemtool B-12 carb cleaner. It's nasty stuff though, and you need to ventilate well. But it cleans the deepest crud better than anything I've used. Like I said, it strips paint though. They also have a B9 product called Chem dip cleaner. Comes in a gallon or so bucket with a parts cleaning tray inside. Never used it, but if it works anything like B12 it's good.
I second or third Castrol's Super Clean. I swear my Old Man drinks this shit. We bought a cheap garden sprayer, you know, the kind you use to spray weed killer etc... Thats the only way to go. With the sprayer, its easy to get into thight spots. I think its enviro safe as well. It will eat skin and carwax. Wal-Mart has it as well as a few autoparts and farmer type stores around here.
You know, I've always been curious about Simple Green's relationship with Pine-Sol. They work really similarly, by the way, with the latter being a little more aggressive. In fact, Pine-Sol took dried on latex house paint off of a Western Electric 302 telephone I was re-doing, and it was the only thing that would. ~Jason
I like the cold oven cleaners that was suggested above, Lestoil too. But no matter how environmentally friendly your cleaner is it still kills as soon as you mix it with grease.
Thats cutting right to the chase, using pure sodium hydroxide (NaOH). That the ingredient in all those oven cleaners, castrol superclean, zep engine degreaser AND what is used in the hot tank at the machine shop. Superclean and some others use an organic solvent in addition to the NaOH, with both polar and non-polar ends, like a soap to allow water to dissolve the grease. Just be aware that NaOH dissolves skin, paint, aluminium and all sorts of shit, and depending on which product you use will be accordingly dangerous.
Dawn dish soap and a pressure washer go together like two things that go together really really well. Remember, Dawn takes grease out of your way
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