parts cleaner

[drystack]

I need to remove road grime and oil spray from my gearbox, etc. and don't have a parts washer. I was planning to use brake cleaner, elbow grease and a water rinse unless anyone can recommend a less caustic solution.

Thanks
Matt

[nhromyak]

SimpleGreen has worked well for me.

[RWebb]

scrape first - can use wood or plastic if surface appearance critical

next use a brass or stiff plastic brush and Gunk or something like that

3rd - use rags to finish up from above

4th strong detergent in water and brush &/or rags

Last - use the brake cleaner & more rags for final finish


make tools from wood scraps to get in to the small areas between fins if you care re that

dip cleaning the case halves always best & fastest if thing is apart

[jluetjen]

I would recommend avoiding all water based detergents -- I've found that they tend to oxide the aluminum or magnesium. Especially Simple Green or Castrol Super Clean. I recommend that you get a 5-Gallon bucket from Home Depot and about 4 gallons of mineral spirits. Then you can dip the parts into the spirits. A sheet pan or drop pan works well for those parts that don't fit in the bucket. When done, pour the leftover spirits back into the bucket for storage or taking to your local hazmat drop-off. You can reuse the spirits for quite some time. The gunk will come off pretty quickly with a wire brush. Use a screw driver for the nooks and crannies as well as anything really tough. See this thread for some before/after pictures of my gear box after I used this method.

[jluetjen]

Doing a little more research, Simple Green has a pH of 9.5, or slightly caustic. Castrol Super Clean has a pH of 13 which is pretty caustic. I haven't delved into chemistry much since high school 25 years ago. Castrol Super Clean contains both Sodium Hydroxide - which reacts with aluminum, and Silicic Acid at upwards to 5% of each.

Magnesium on the other hand reacts quickly with water, and according to Wikipedia...

Magnesium also reacts exothermically with most acids, such as hydrochloric acid (HCl). As with aluminum, zinc and many other metals, the reaction with hydrochloric acid produces the chloride of the metal and releases hydrogen gas.

Using mineral spirits sidesteps all of these chemical reactions. Spirits also do a great job of dissolving the grease without turning the remaining solids into cement which is something that I've noticed.

Maybe someone with a better chemical understanding then I can describe why detergents seem to oxidize our light-alloy parts.

[RWebb]

maybe they remove a surface layer of MgOx??

One wants to be very protective of Mg gear boxes. Grady said to use Tectyl, but It only seems to come in 55 gal drums. I use protective oils* in the mild Orygun climate and renew them frequently.

Gibbs, T-9, Corrosion Block

[Danimal16]

Kerosene is good at this as well.

[RWebb]

good point - and it is a lot cheaper than a purpose made solvent, it IS flammable but does not flash like gas does.

do NOT use gas - yeh, I know many of us have gotten away with it over the years, incl..me. But DON'T..

[Pete000]

Originally Posted by Danimal16

Kerosene is good at this as well.

+1

[ZAMIRZ]

I use Xenit. Huge thread with before/after pics on rennlist. Been super happy thus far.

[Fishcop]

+2 for Kerosene (and a selection of stiff brushes)

Tectyl 506 comes in a pressure can over here in Oz...

[pjh69911]

Tectyl 846 is the mil spec of 506 and for sale at smaller quantities f & l petroleum 562 432-1301. 1 quart is $30. Hope this helps. Paul.

[real550A]

I use a mixture of 60-70% Mineral Spirits (paint thinner) and the other 30-40%
kerosene/diesel fuel in my parts washer. The thinner is a great solvent and the
diesel retards evaporation, plus that slight oil coat on mag buffs out nicely.
It's a poor man's recipe for Stoddard Solvent.