Dishwasher for cleaning parts?

[shbop]

Anyone tried this? I remember Jerry Woods talking about this during class. My neighbor replaced his working dishwasher, and has offered the old one. Who's tried it? Did you connect to hot and cold? What did you use for detergent ??

[Scott R]

It works, I've not done it personally but I've seen it done. The user used simple green in the bottom for the first pass. The concern I had when he did this was that he simply placed the drain hose into a sink drain in his garage. That has to violate a few local environmental laws right there.

[CCM911]

I like the idea. And I wouldn't worry too much about the drain setup.

Why has this world turned so PC?

[zippy_gg]

A typical dishwasher only has one water connection, hot.

The other kind of dishwasher in my neighborhood (Winnetka) only speaks Spanish...

[shbop]

I'll run the drain into yard. Thinking about using Dawn. Has anyone actually done this??

[Craig_D]

Originally Posted by CCM911

I like the idea. And I wouldn't worry too much about the drain setup.

Why has this world turned so PC?

I think you mean Environmentally Correct, but I don't think the amount of "toxic" wash off would be much of an issue, given that road run off has a lot more of the same. I guess it depends on how much use it would get. All of my parts grime (toxic run off) gets put onto rags which get tossed in the bin. Six of one way, half a dozen of the other, but when possible it's a good idea to send any of this waste to a proper facility to handle the separation of toxic material from mother earth. Just my $.02

[zotman72]

As long as you are not married, you can away with this behavior. Greenie issues aside of course.
When I rebuilt a race 2.7 engine about 8 years ago I put my heads, cam towers, etc. in the dishwasher. I think I even posted it here.
I did get serious rust on the all steel studs though. Did a reasonable job on the embedded grease. Alternatively, make friends with your local Porsche wrench and use his parts washer instead. At the time of my dishwasher parts washer episode, I had been chased out of every major Porsche shop in Denver.
YMMV

[Scott R]

On the other side it's about $25 to drop off a box of parts and have them hot tanked around here.

[trak ratt]

I've used ours many times. But more for final cleaning than to remove crude buildup. Works well on wheels too if you keep up on your dust removal. As a kid I was taught to scrap and rinse before putting anything into washer. Still good advice, and goes a long way to keeping the better half on your side.

[kidrock]

Originally Posted by Scott R

On the other side it's about $25 to drop off a box of parts and have them hot tanked around here.

^^^^great advice.

[SchnellSchweitz]

I purchased a big can of WD40 and a large tub from Home Depot. WD40 is the best cleaning solution I have ever used for grease and oil build up.

It's also a great reminder to never use WD40 on areas where you want grease and oil to stay - like locks. It just washes petroleum products right off.

[DaddyGlenn]

I may consider this when we remodel our kitchen. But I will set it up to cycle fluid through my parts washer. How, you ask?

I installed a heater in my parts washer so I will use it to heat the cleaning solution (water based & biodegradable), I'll run a line from the parts washer to the intake on the dish washer and run the dishwasher drain line back to the parts washer. Sure, once the dishwasher has finished, the parts will need a good rinse but I can live with that. Plus I'll still have my parts washer for the off item I need to clean quickly.

Then again, maybe I won't since my garage space is limited.

[McLaren-TAG]

Originally Posted by CCM911

I like the idea. And I wouldn't worry too much about the drain setup.

Why has this world turned so PC?

Because we know more today about our impact on the environment than we did in the 50's and 60's. Is it PC to go back to using DDT as a pesticide, asbestos as insulation and dumping mercury into the water supply?

[NY65912]

I used my mom's years ago to clean a VW engine case, BTW she was away on vacation.

[jhelgesen]

Don't use dawn, it will foam up and starve the pump for water. Regular dish detergent should be fine. Use the heavy duty pots and pan cycle, it will get the water hotter during the wash cycles.

[2porscheguy]

Similar story as NY65912....I used ours to clean my valve covers about 3 years ago. It did a great job with plain dishwashing detergent.....my wife was out of town at the time!

[zippy_gg]

I bought a long and flat storage container from Target and use it to clean the engine tin and larger parts with Oil Eater in a 50% mix with water. Oil Eater is environmentally safe but I didn't think of all the grease and road grime and how to dispose of it...

[Chuck.H]

We used to have a running joke going with our more gullible friends about a recipe we called 'dishwasher chicken' where we got the water good and hot, stacked chickens in the racks and put spices in the detergent cup...

That said, many shop-related tasks are accomplished in my kitchen when the SO is not around.

Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 346k miles

[shbop]

Originally Posted by jhelgesen

Don't use dawn, it will foam up and starve the pump for water. Regular dish detergent should be fine. Use the heavy duty pots and pan cycle, it will get the water hotter during the wash cycles.

Thanks for that. I have a regular parts washer. The dishwasher idea came-up only due to my neighbor getting rid of a perfectly good one, and I remembered Woods leveling praise on the merits of the kitchen unit. I"ll hook it up in my shop, and run the drain outside. Most parts I clean go through a sort of triage, depending on how much crap they have on them. I'm thinking of using this for cam towers and chain cases. The soda cabinet works well on the chain case, but if the dishwasher works as well as Woods claimed, I can wash 2 chain cases, and two cam towers at one time. When I get it hooked-up, I'll report back..................

[mossguy]

1982 Volvo Parts