ENGINE CLEANING/PRODUCTS

[johnnyc]

I have finally got my 75 registered and home. gearbox, sump, diff etc are grotty and need a good de-grease. does anyone have any suggestions or experience with a particular product. thanks

[ANG156]

I've heard aluminium cleaner is great on the engines.

I also know of someone who buys this product from coburg truck parts that comes in a 20 litre drum that is also supposed to be very good.

I normally use a few cans of aerosol degreaser with a high pressure machine and really get stuck in there. Don't be afraid to get under the car, its the only way to get it clean.

[colcol]

Kerosene or parrafin as they call it in England is the best degreaser for really thick caked on oil, diesel is as good as kero, because it doesn't dry like kero, so it penetrates better, BUT, it leaves your place smelling like a truck depot, for normal cleaning, say every year, Truck wash is fine, applied with a degreaser gun, or as its known in the trade as a 'kero gun' hooked up to a compressor, spray it on, leave for a few minutes and hose off with water, Colin.

[dehne]

supercheap, 6 can degreaser that $12 and just spray spray spray, 1st coat let sit for a few mins then give it another go, rinse it of with as high pressure as you have, if still dirty give it another go get a still brush and hit the dirty parts another soaking then rinse off again and repeat as needed

[johnnyc]

col, dehne,ang, thanks;  i wasnt sure if any one product was better than another; i have the supercheap product so will hit it with the pressure cleaner and steel brush and see how it comes up. 

[Rigi]

Unfortunately it is indicative of too much time spent on doing this task ... I haven't purchased a can of aersol degreaser in years ... because I have found the only economic way of tackling this subject is to buy degrease as a concentrate and usually in 20 litre drum.

I have used 'Motogard' which is a Repco product and the latest I am using is 'Premier Black' which is produced by Premier One Products.

The 'Premier Black' is a stronger product, and you pay for it (around $120/20L), but the results are very good.

Also used it in the engine bay with scotchbrite to prepare the surface for respraying.

When you calculate how many 500ml aersol cans you can make out of a 20L drum it makes sense ... it's just the heavy outlay to start with.

Don't know the Vic distribution of 'Premier Black' - their website is premieroneproducts.com.au

[Darryl]

On a less "industrial" scale the Motogard in 5L bottle is less than $20 retail and as you say is equivalent to an awful lot of cans. A small amount diluted an placed in one of those pressure pump garden spray things is pretty effective and easier to get onto hard to reach places than a spray can.

[colcol]

The petroleum based products are the best for degreasing, but are the most expensive, years ago i used a cheap harsh soap based degreaser and it was not very good at removing oil from the engine, but did a good job of removing the paint of the engine, so what i am saying is there are degreasers and there are degreasers, Colin.