My Pine Sol cleaning experiment
 

I read somewhere that using Pine Sol to clean aluminum is a good alternative to solvents because it will not corrode aluminum, magnesium, etc. but is good at removing grease - so I had to try.

So, I read you soak over night (the key to this working great!) and of course scrub and rinse the next as you would normally.

I soaked over night but used ZERO scrubbing. These results are from only rinsing with a water hose.

The results on the cylinders were not so great, the hard baked/coked on carbon would not budge but expected. The top row in both are cleaned while the bottom are untouched.

The cam towers were pretty impressive IMO. When I rinsed it off, the thick grease just blew right off with the water hose! You can see where I only submerged exactly half of the tower in the bucket. This was not intentional because it would not fit all the way inside but gives a perfect contrast for observation. The last two pics shows one side fairly clean and the other really covered in grease.

**Of course, I would not assemble this being this dirty - only for observation and comparison!!!***

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1281368428.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1281368442.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1281368458.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1281368475.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1281368490.jpg

Hmmm....I might have to try this! Pin Sol also makes non 'hospital smell' versions of their product now so you don't have to put up with the noxious Pine scent.

Thanks for sharing Tippy.

You should buy the non-smelly stuff, this stuff smells horrible!

This stuff will make your nose run and your throat sore.

Someone said it is caustic but I cant confirm this but at work where I know we have caustic vats (alkaline solution), I get the same exact symptoms in my respiratory system.

I use Lestoil. It works great on dissolving grease. I have never left it on aluminum overnight, but I usually apply it full strength with a brush, let it sit a few hours and hose it off. Works great.
I also use it to clean the gum and pitch off my table and circular saw blades. They come out looking like new.

Nice, never heard of this stuff.

MSDS says it has ******** solvent, pine oil (like Pine Sol), fatty acids, and sodium hydroxide.

Funny, both made by the Clorox company.