Brian W.

My Feedback: (6)

Hi guys, I was just wondering if anyone has a good solution for cleaning the cooked fuel/oil off the muffler? I want to get mine nice and shiny again.

Thanks,
Brian

Galifrey

oven cleaner..

Brian W.

My Feedback: (6)

Great, I'll give it a shot!

Thanks,
Brian

burnsie90

If that doesn't work, try this.

Get an old deep-fat frier (hint: don't use your wifes). Put some anitfreeze in it and cook your muffler around 120 - 150 degrees in the antifreeze. The black stuff will come right off.

I have done this to some old engines of mine. Works great.

Kevin

Lynx

Carefull with oven cleaner! Make sure you take it off the helli (of course) and don't get that stuff all over, it's extremely caustic. Causes chemical burns pretty easily, and the fumes are toxic. However nothing on earth cleans metal better ('pumped up' versions of that kind of stuff is used in industry to clean anything off metal) It's basically just lye.

extremeflying

My Feedback: (7)

so ? what should i use ?

ShempHoward

My Feedback: (3)

elbow grease.

Funny, neither my R30 or R60 mufflers ever get any baked on crud on them. Maybe because I use all synthetic lube fuel??
Occasionally I polish them with
a metal polish and always use an exhaust diverter as well.
If you are using castor in your fuel then that is probably the culprit.

extremeflying

My Feedback: (7)

what is elbow grease ?

Lynx

No sense of humour some people.. I tell ya =>
Most of the crud does come from Castor Oil.

BIGRCR

My Feedback: (1)

Boil the muffler on the stove in water and a couple of tablespoons of automiatic dishwashing detergent. This is the kind you put in an automatic dishwasher. It only takes a few minutes and only very light scrubbing on the really bad spots is needed with a toothbrush or similar.
This is also much safer to use than antifreeze or oven cleaner and will not hurt the metal.

Later,

geoff_nwt

I have used niteromorse paint stripper on a badly baked four stroke exhaust it came up sparkling........

WillMac795

Get some eye of newt and mix it together with the strongest garlic. Say the Lords Prayer backwards and bury your muffler exactly 3.56 feet below the ground in a small coffin made of beechwood . Next time there is a full moon borrow the local armadillo to dig it up for you. There you go - Looks brand new

CafeenMan

This is the method I use and it works great. Only takes a couple seconds once you drop the muffler in.

For times when this doesn't work, then you may have to resort to the newt and armadillo. Just keep them separated or your house will be trashed in a few short seconds.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

"Low Odor" Aircraft Stripper; formulated especially for aluminum. Scrub with a ScotchBrite pad.

I did my old KSJ heli muffler a while back, and my YS 91 FX muffler is soaking as we speak.

Wear kitchen gloves, though; the stuff is caustic.

This doesn't do as good a job as the crock pot/anti-freeze trick, but it suffices...

One of these days, I'm going to get an old crock pot.

Steve

CafeenMan

Umm... maybe this is really bad, but I use the automatic dishwasher detergent and cook in the same pot. I wouldn't do that if I used anti-freeze though.

I have photos of the process on my website and you can see how it actually comes out (engine, not a muffler, but same results).

http://www.airfieldmodels.com/engines.htm

look at the maintenance link. I don't remember the url off the top of my head.

w.pasman

Standard washing powder (for the laundry) works fine too. Dissolve it in COLD water (otherwise it goes WAY too fast) and put muffler in for half an hour. Then use toothbrush to wipe off the brown stuff. Muffler however will be a bit dull afterwards, not shiny (or maybe that's just my muffler?)

ShempHoward

My Feedback: (3)

Scotch Brite Pads seem to scratch the aluminum too much and make the final polishing a lot more work.

If you put a good exhaust diverter on properly and pay attention to how its oriented and wipe off your muffler frequently then you should have lttle to worry about in the way of the "browns" developing. Also you wil need to have a leak free
joint where the muffler attaches to the engine. Its the small details that count here.

LSP972

My Feedback: (13)

You're correct regarding the scotchbrite pad; but I would say it is more of a scuffed, as opposed to scratched, appearance. It certainly doesn't bother me. The scothbrite pad works much quicker than a toothbrush, etc.

Leak-free joints are as much of a manufacturing consideration as one of installation. My YS 91 muffler/header was secured so tight that I needed a cheater pipe to get it loose for cleaning. But the muffler was well-stained. It was a semi-inverted installation (the jug was at forty-five degrees down, putting the muffler straight down), so whatever fuel was spilled, etc., went right on the muffler. It is now going to a side mount, so we'll see.

My upright-mounted YS 63's muffler is still stain-free. But that 91 muffler was a mess. Hard to believe that a lousy ONE OUNCE of castor per gallon in otherwise all-synthetic fuel did that.

Still, I'll put up with it for the peace of mind that my bearings aren't rusting during the week. Even my helicopters only have a few brown specks.

Steve