Hi All;

Being new to this hobby I was wondering if there is a liquid that I can soak a IC engine in that will clean it inside and out. Thanks

Bob..

This is a question that comes up a lot. There are a couple of different methods that are reputed to work well. Personally I have only used the boiling it in anti-freeze method. It worked very well but has since been brought to my attention that it is not very good for the environment, & it can also be a fire hazard if you aren't carefull. I did it in the back yard on the side burner of my gas Bar-B-Q in an old coffee can. It was a 30yr. old+ OS .60 engine that was completely froze up, couldn't turn it over at all. It came loose & in a fairly short time came out looking like it was brand new inside & out. I have also been told since then that it may eat up the rubber o-rings. So far everything still looks like new but we will see.

piper chuck has a method using rubbing alcohol & the oven I believe, that sounded much safer & cleaner to me. I will let him tell it though as I don't want to mis-quote him.

Antifreeze in an old crock pot set to "simmer" works quite well. Don't boil the antifreeze because it'll etch the metal on the engine, inside and out.

And the cheaper the antifreeze, the better it seems to work.

Make sure you clearly mark the crock pot for use only with antifreeze, not Beef Stew!

Cooking on low in a crock pot with true ethelene glycol works wonders but if its just looks you are after just leave it be unless you have a compelling reason to take apart the engine its best to follow the "if its not broke don't fix it" theory.

You have to remove the carb, and any paper gaskets or o-rings to do it correctly.

Also stay away from the fumes and don't eat out of the crock ever again, I bought a 5 dollar yard sale special just for this.

Antifreeze.

Bill

I want to thank everyone that has guided me in the right direction on cleaning up a old IC engine. I shall try the crock pot method as soon as I find one at a yard sale. Thanks again.

Bob...

Even new, they cost about $10 so it's not a show stopper. Simmer on the lowest setting for a day, then wash off parts with cold water while using a brush. Extremely varnished parts might then need a second day.

An ultrasonic cleaner is also a very useful accessory for cleaning engine parts.

Make sure you do this outside. The fumes that will come off of the anti-freeze are toxic and will cause lots of health problems for anybody in the house.

Ken

The antifreeze required to clean your engine is extremely toxic to the environment. You need to dispose of it properly as it is considered toxic waste. I would recommend that before you use it check with your local landfill or a quickie oil change station to see if you can dispose of it there. Dogs also absolutely love it, so if you leave it where a dog can get to it he will be deadly poisoned with no good antidote. It is bad stuff and I personally wouldn't recommend it's use.
Dawn power dissolver is a better alternative, check the glow engine forum as there is discussion about it there.
Regards,
doubledee

I had a muffler that was gunked up pretty good. I put the muffler in zip lock bag with about 1/4 cup of househould amonia and let it set overnight or longer, then just washed it off with dish soup and a brush. It came out looking pretty good. It doesn't have to sit in the amonia just be enclosed with the amonia vapors.
I used this alot in the military when moving out of housing and had to clean the oven racks and drip pans on burners and it saved me alot of elbow grease not to mention many brillo pads. I figured since the fuel uses alot of mineral oil for lubication that this was the same all the grease used on a stove. I not sure what the amonia will do to the internal components of the engine, probably nothing.
Hope this helps.

Wal*Mart has Crock Pots for under $10.00

saw a crock pot cook book for less than $10 but also saw this
http://www.walmart.com/catalog/produ...uct_id=3957091