Crank Case in the Dishwasher?

[SonomaPete]

Just cracked the case in my rebuild of a '69 911E, and am getting the parts ready for the machine shop. I took the Bruce Anderson / Jerry Woods rebuilding class in December, and at one point Jerry recommended just putting the case halves in a dishwasher and running a cycle to get all the crud off.

Has anyone tried this? Detergent or no detergent? (am guessing no...) And what did the dishwasher look like afterwards? (I am already ploughing new grounds maritally with this project, an oily coating for the interior of the dishwasher could cause wife to defenestrate engine and / or husband)

Any suggestions much appreciated!

--p

[Jim Richards]

I take it Jerry isn't married.

[pwd72s]

Hoot! In the interest of marital harmony, I'm going to suggest taking the case to a machine shop & pay them for the cleaning....

[Jadams1]

Or recently divorced? Use cascade, it wont leave any spots.

[maxnine11]

click above on 'Engine Building Forum' ..then see thread 'How to clean the engine case' good info on cases, dishwashers and marriage there!!.(sorry, not sharp enough to know how to link a thread) max

[ChrisBennet]

Originally posted by SonomaPete
(I am already ploughing new grounds maritally with this project, an oily coating for the interior of the dishwasher could cause wife to defenestrate engine and / or husband)
--p

She's more likely to fenestrate than de-fenestrate you and your case I think.
Even though you can I wouldn't want to clean engine parts (or Glocks) in the dishwasher for health reasons.
-Chris

[scottb]

Everything you ever wanted to know about cleaing your case is right here: Crankcase Cleaning

Good luck.

[efhughes3]

I'd be careful of detergents. Selling commercial dishwashers is a portion of my living, and I know aluminum and some alloys actually blacken from some detergents. Commercial applications use different formulations, but I'd still be wary on this.

[DonDavis]

There's no way I would put car parts in my dishwasher. Wife or no wife. Time and elbow grease is the avenue I would take.
Or, contact the local high school and see if their Auto Shop can help you out. I'm sure the front office would say no way so try and go straight to the teacher. I imagine the students would love to see a 911 engine to contrast the traditional V-8s and 4 cyl they probably see a lot of.

Let us know.

[Oldporsche]

I do engine parts in the dishwasher when I can. (The wife thing, you know!) I make sure that they are very clean first. I've never done an engine case there. However, I do the cylinder heads though. I do them after the degerease, then the bead blast, then the dishwash. The dishwasher helps get rid of any remaning bead that has embeded itself where I might miss it. It also does a good job on the aluminum. I know of several engine-machine shops that have washers that are similar to dishwashing machines. Thats where I would do the case. On the case, I wouldn't do any bead blasting.

Good luck,
David Duffield

[JEB]

"an oily coating for the interior of the dishwasher could cause wife to defenestrate engine and / or husband) "

"defenestate" Hmmm how would she take a window out of you or your engine?

[RickM]

Go to your local garage and ask then to go over the pieces in the parts washer. Shouldn't cost you much.

[Randy Webb]

defenest[r]ate -- she would plug up the holes in his skull....

And, no, JW told me he wasn't married when he mentined the dishwasher trick in the engine class I took. It works well on cyl. head Al parts.

[pbs911]

No dishwasher experience, put I have used the oven to bake paint on parts. Just make sure the significant other is not home.

[rstoll]

Run a little citric acid through the dishwasher afterwards to remove any film in the washer. DO NOT use citric acid while cleaning the cases.