mxaexm

Is there any way to clean an engine so it will be silver again instead of brown/amber?

thx

Jetdesign

My Feedback: (8)

There are a few methods to cleaning an engine - some include using Dawn Power Dissolver or a crock pot filled with antifreeze. Personally I have no experience with either of those methods, but what I have done to clean the outside of my engines is use 'dirty' fuel and a soft wire brush. When you fuel your plane, do you let the overflow come out and land on the ground? Great stuff to use for cleaning engine parts. Or, when my refillable bottle gets near the end I dump out the last oz or so (look inside, there's usually crap in it!) Again, great for cleaning engines.

da Rock

What he said............

And I've used Dawn. Even took it to the field and let everyone give it a shot. It works great.

I bought a brand new crock pot at Target for $8. Used straight anti-freeze I had in the garage. It works great. It's better suited to engines that're gummed up inside too. But both work great.


BTW, I bought a new crock pot at Target after turning down a used one at GoodWill for $10 that looked like someone had cleaned automobile engines in it. Wasn't even going to swing over to the Kitchenware aisle at Target after leaving GoodWill and seeing the price there. Figured a new one would cost more than I'd care to pay, and was planning to borrow a buddy's on the way home. But the wife wanted to look at pots and pans.

mxaexm

as far as that anti-freeze methond goes....

so do I just put some anti freeze in the crock pot and keep the engine in it for as long as...???

da Rock

Depends on how gummy the engine is inside. I let the first batch go overnight. It was a couple of engines I'd flown in competition that'd been stored for years.... and years.

da Rock

Truth is, if the engine isn't on the plane and all I wanted to do was clean off the outside, I'd still use the Dawn.

I had one that was black and it took a couple of treatments. But it was less trouble and cheaper than the pot.

You do have to rinse the Dawn off. One guy at the field squirted some fuel on his. Didn't seem too sensible, but he wiped it down too. Another guy just flew the engine and the heat seemed to work.

Roguedog

There are several methods. I use four different ways depending on how dirty or corroded the engine is.

1. I start with a overnight soak in prestone green antifreeze in a small crockpot. This is an amazing way to get that brown or black gunk off the engine. Pretty much washes right off under water.

Two things about the crockpot method.
First don't use a crockpot you intend to later use for food. Once the antifreeze is in it, it's ruined for food.

Second do not use the crockpot method to free up a stuck engine. The water in the antifreeze caused an ABC liner, between the alum piston and liner wall, to rust or corrode on one of my engines. The liner could have been trashed already, but my point is to completely disassemble the engine before using the crockpot method.
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2. I ususally wash off the antifreeze with Dawn dish detergent and a firm toothbrush

3. Brasso does a great job of making old looking aluminum look better. Use with frim toothbrush as well

4. Wright's Copper creme.

I use both Brasso and Wright's mainly for polishing up the aluminum. Both of these will make your headers and pipes shine.

Don't use any wire brush on these engines unless you want serious scratches on the engine. Tried this with a mini brass and stainless wire brush. Both scared the aluminun.

There is another method that I might try in the future. It's the parts cleaner that you use to clean aluminum automobile carbs. Should work fine for this application.

Don't use the spray on aluminum wheel cleaner either. I tried this and turned one of my crankcases black. Brasso fixed it.

I also tried using my sandblaster at a low pressure. This was a fast way to get the gunk off, but I would not recommend this either. This method pitts the alum really bad, ever with a low pressure and fine grain sand.

I did research what some of the Engine mfg's do right after the case has come out of the casting. It looks like they do an electropolishing of the case. I sure would like to get more info on this cause I have a 40 amp 12 volt DC power supply i could use for it.

Look at a new engine an you'll be able to see what looks like a satin finish. I think this is the result of the electropolishing, IMHO.

Bryan

da Rock

Don't mix the antifreeze with water. We're not putting the antifreeze into a radiator, we're cleaning up a model airplane engine. The components in anti-freeze are just about perfect for the task. Adding water may be what is expected to use the stuff in an automobile radiator, but water adds nothing of value for our use, and as mentioned, makes the mix harmful for our use.

Use the antifreeze as it comes from the container.

Roguedog

Hehe! You thought I put water in the antifreeze. I didn't add water to the antifreeze. I was speculating as to the source of the what caused the corrosion on the liner. The antifreeze sits in a covered crockpot out in the garage. Figured it absorbed some mosture while sitting there. Don't know for sure about the water.

The the point was take apart the engine completely before submersion in the antifreeze and use a combination of lubricant and heat to free up a seized engine, not the heated antifreeze.

Hope that clarifies what I was trying to say.

Bryan