I have been using carburator cleaner and it works very very slowly. Will oven cleaner/degreaser work to take off all that caked crud off my engine? Has anybody had any experience with it?

If you are referring to removing the varnish that builds up on the outside, I don't know about oven cleaner but there was a review in Model Airplane News about a product called Dawn Power Disolver. A club member went to Kroger and bought a bottle and tried it on a 20+ year old engine. He says he sprayed it on, waited a few minutes, then scrubbed the engine using an old toothbrush and the varnish came right off.

Do not use oven cleaner. It will turn the engine black. Don't ask me how I know.

Yup, i'm talking about the outside, this stuff is almost dark brown/black now. The carb cleaner is hardly working, i spray it on and then use an old toohbrush to clean it off...should i just leave the carb cleaner on there for the night. it'll probably evaporate. i doubt the dawn power dissolver is available in our market but i'll check for it.

That sounds good enogh for me to not try oven cleaner

If you want the engine to look like new, use the crockpot method with an old crockpot YOU WILL NEVER USE FOR FOOD AGAIN.

Disassemble the engine as far as you are able (at a minimum, remove the carb, glo plug and backplate and associated gaskets ).

Put in a crockpot.

Cover with permanent type antifreeze (I use the green stuff - Prestone ?? )

Make sure the crockpot is outside, then turn the crockpot on low and leave on overnite.

Remove the engine/parts the next day and thoroughly wash AND RINSE with dish soap and water.

Put the parts in a 200 degree oven for about 30 minutes.

When the parts are cool, lubericate with afterrun oil (or airtool oil ) and reassemble.

The engine will come out looking like new.

Do no rely on carb cleaner, it's mostly carbon Tet. and may disolve something you may not want disolved....

Here's my thread on Crockpot cleaning my K&B. It works great.

http://www.rcuniverse.com/forum/m_46...tm.htm#4699477

I've always found after disassembly, a nice overnight soaking in MEK does the trick - and sometimes only a couple of hours does it. Just don't drop in the glass filled nylon parts, but the aluminum, steel and brass do OK. And make sure you wear proper PPE when working with any cleaning chemicals with engines.

Hogflyer

There are two types of spray on "oven cleaner", one is for steel and the other is for aluminium saucepans. You have to read the labels to make certain it's suitable for aluminium because the one for steel will turn aluminium a very dark grey.

For whatever reason the aluminium safe spray cans were taken off the shelves some years ago here in Australia but they might still be available in other countries. When we could still get them it was fantastic. Spray it all over, wait about 30 seconds, give a light rub with a toothbrush then rinse with water. Job done. Actually I'd do it in two goes, one at the top of the engine then after that was rinsed do the bottom so you had somewhere to hold the engine. You don't want to get it on your skin because it burns quite badly (and is probably the reason it got taken off the shelves). Wear rubber gloves to be on the safe side.

Cheap anti freeze and a cheap Wal-Mart crock pot will work wonders on your gunked up engine, you can reuse the antifreeze over and over too.
Check out the link someone posted above.

DO NOT let your pets drink from that antifreeze..in pot outside..it will kill them!!

Highly poisonous to animals.

bobzilla

drkiljoy, It didn't work for me. It ruined the finish on an OS 40. Crock pot was good.