Parts cleaner?

Ron in AZ

Ron in AZ

Senior Member
What do you guys use for parts cleaner on oiley parts like inside motor or rear end parts?
Thinner? Gas?
Thanks Ron
 
Ron in AZ said:
What do you guys use for parts cleaner on oiley parts like inside motor or rear end parts?
Thinner? Gas?
Thanks Ron
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Ron, I use a place called Nor Cal Metal stripping, to clean axle housings, torque tube, backing plates, druns, trans cases, engine blocks, springs, pedals, ect. I drop it off and two days later pick it up, and the parts are spotless inside and out. The parts look like there all NOS, and are ready to reassemble, and paint......Ed
 
For over 45 years I have exclusively used Kerosene for parts cleaning. It is easy on the skin, dries well enough for painting and effective removes oil and grease and will not promote rust on cleaned parts.
Pure Kerosene is low odor and does not evaporate away like other solvents.
 
Ross in East Texas said:
dries well enough for painting and effective removes oil and grease and will not promote rust on cleaned parts.
Pure Kerosene is low odor and does not evaporate away like other solvents.
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I always thought Kerosene was oily. How can you prep for paint with it?
 
Mineral spirits or kerosene if not painting. Denatured alchol for varnish in tanks and fuel system. G.M.
 
After washing with Kerosene they will dry to a surface that can be painted very satisfactorily. Putting them in the sun will speed up the drying time. All the engines that I build leave my shop painted this way.
I am not saying that you should clean body parts and try to paint without prepping but engine parts work very well.
 
Way back in the good old days every machine shop or engine building shop had a "hot tank" this was hot water and caustic soda (lye). dip your baked on greasy nasty parts, let them soak, sometimes over night and pull them out clean. not for aluminum or non ferrous metals. it's hard to find lye now days. no more hot tanks either.
 
I never thought about using Kerosene, it is cheaper than Laq thinner. Thank you for the help every one!
Ron in AZ
 
Try Simple Green Pro HD from Home Depot. Works great and is non-toxic and non-flamable
 
For really tough grease, etc., use oven cleaner, but be careful, it'll burn you ! Use goggles.
Anything that is cleaned in gasoline, kerosene, etc., should be washed with a detergent, before painting.
MIKE :)
 
I keep hearing mention of using gasoline for cleaning parts. This is a very dangerous practice and should not be done. I remember chasing a firetruck as a youth to find it was dispatched to a house on the next street from mine. A couple of adults that I knew were overhauling the engine in a car and were using gasoline for cleaning parts. There was a gas water heater in a closet off of this garage and the gasoline fumes being heavier than air and fell to the floor and migrated to the pilot on the water heater and "BOOM". Both of these men were burned very badly and the damage to the house was terrible. Fortunately they both lived with few permanent injuries but I have will never forget the scene of this accident. I never use gasoline, lacquer thinner or any of the light volatile solvents for cleaning.
I would hate to lose any Fardbarn friends from this practice. Please be careful.
 
ROSS ......................
You are absolutely correct ! But, you know, people DO use it for cleaning parts, etc. It should NEVER be used indoors. Fumes are very dangerous !
I saw a demonstration once, where a fireman poured about a cup of gasoline into a coffee can, poured it out, poured the empty can (fumes only) into another coffee can, poured that empty can into another empty can and lit the third can. It flashed !
MIKE :)
 
Reminds me of an incident in my youth. I was sitting in the living room watching TV one evening, when I suddenly saw a bright flash outside the adjoining glass door. I went outside to find my dad all red faced, lacking eyebrows or eye lashes, and his hair was all curley on the ends. He was washing parts in the garage sink with Gasoline, right next to the water heater. BOOM!
 
Gasoline is a big NO NO!!!!!!:mad: Never wash parts in gasoline if you value your life. Use either kerosene or preferably solvent that is available from any auto parts house. Gas only goes in the cars fuel tank, not the parts washer.:mad: Your life is too valuable to risk it with gasoline.
 
I forgot about the oven cleaner. The stuff in oven cleaner is what the automotive machine shops had in the hot tanks back in the day......The days before EPA ! Caustic soda (not sure how to spell it)
I looked at the parts stores and saw some stuff that I think was called Purple ....something, can't remember now but it said on the back to wear gloves and use out doors and don't breath it! Sound strong enough for me to try.
Any one heard of it or tried it?
Gona stop and get some on the way home tonight.
Ron in Az
 
Hey Ron, If you are thinking of "PURPLE POWER" I wouldn't use it. I have and it's not that great on this old V-8 grease. O'Reilly Automotive recommended "SUPER CLEAN" which is packaged in a purple jug. They also carry "Purple Power" and said "Super Clean" is a superior product, no question about it. I bought a jug but haven't used yet. It seems to be as "nasty" as the stuff you mentioned with all of the attendent warnings. Please see attached photo. Before I begin my next degreasing procedure I must tell you that I am a bachelor. I had some heavily greased up backing plates and grease shields that I needed to degrease. Being the lazy person I am, I scraped off the heavy grease wiyh a putty knife. I then stuck the parts in an electric self-cleaning oven on aluminum foil. I then started the cleaning cycle. When the parts were finished, the old grease was a dusty powder that came off easily with a hand held wire brush. The oven was no worse for the wear! Dennis/Arkansas
Ron in AZ said:
I forgot about the oven cleaner. The stuff in oven cleaner is what the automotive machine shops had in the hot tanks back in the day......The days before EPA ! Caustic soda (not sure how to spell it)
I looked at the parts stores and saw some stuff that I think was called Purple ....something, can't remember now but it said on the back to wear gloves and use out doors and don't breath it! Sound strong enough for me to try.
Any one heard of it or tried it?
Gona stop and get some on the way home tonight.
Ron in Az
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Hey Dennis, Purple Power is the stuff I was going to get....Glad I read this ,I am on my way out the door right now.
As for the oven trick... The guy at the auto machine shop has a machine that does that on motor blocks and heads. After the "bake" he puts them in another machine that turns it around and around while it pours steel shot over it...doesn't really shoot it with the steel but its like a tumbler. The parts come out looking like they were just made.
I'll look for the stuff you told me about!
Thanks Ron
 
I got some of the ZEP brand Purple at Home Cheepo. $9.99 per gallon. I mixed it up a little heavy at three gallons of water to a gallon of Purple in a metal parts washing tank. Using long rubber gloves and a parts brush the stuff really did a great job on a bell housing and starter plate. 50 years of grease melted off. Then washed with water. Container dosen't say what's in it but Googling it came up with all of the usual warnings. It's main ingredient is sodium hydroxide, AKA Caustic Soda, AKA Lye!! Does a great job but when I came back to the covered parts washer three days later to do head bolts and other small flathead parts it all had evaporated. $10.00 up in the air. It is great stuff. i'm going to mix a gallon of water and a quart of the stuff in a three gallon covered glass container and see if I can seal it better so it dose't disappear.
 
Thats a great point Mike/Franklin. About the evaporation of water based products.
Here in Sunny Tucson AZ it has been over a hundred ever day for the past few weeks or more....out here you can spray water on the concrete and watch it evap in minutes!
I dont have a parts cleaner machine tho, just a pan to wash them in for now.
Thanks ............ Ron in AZ
 
yep, i used the purple stuff and the oven cleaner. well my whole engine and suspension parts had gunk 1 to 2 inch thick or dirt and grease. 1. i scrape off old gunk with wire brush, flat screw driver ( get in that cracks ). 2. i used oven cleaner, make sure you use the one that does not need to pre-heat oven. 3. spray and let the oven cleaner sit for a while on the part ( wear a mask and gloves) , the longer the better. 4. i used pressure washer to get that gunk off. 5. look at the gunk come off, in some places it took of the paint and took of the rust to bare metal. keep in mind how clean do you need your part.
 
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