Is there any way to clean an engine that has turned dark from gum and etc? Is there any solvent tarnish remover or what ever that will clean them up?

Thanks for what ever advise you can give

I use rubbing alcohol. I've heard others suggest brake cleaner, boiling in antifreeze, and many others. They all probably work the same. I figure if they use rubbing alcohol in hospitals and doctor's offices, it can't be too hazardous. Soak the engine for a little while and use toothbrush, pipe cleaners, etc to get into small areas. Once done, heat the engine a bit in the oven to evaporate the alcohol and then oil it up.

It's not boiling in anti freeze, but it is in heated (warm ) anti freeze, and for a few hours. It works wonders. Ther eis anotehr trehad abouts, dealing with this very same subject.

As for the others, I beleive they all work as well, but Oven cleaner can turn it black, as well Acetone... Never tried Alcohol, but I woud bet it would work..

Go to the thrift store and buy an old crockpot. Heat the antifreeze after you put the dissassembled engine in and leave it for hours or overnight. Cleans aluminum and steel spotless. Ruins the crockpot--very poisonous--do it outside--bad fumes.

I'll probably get flamed for this, but what the hell... I avoid the dirty engine by simply not using any Castor Oil in my fuel, only synthetics ! That crud on your engine is cooked on Castor ![:@] All I do is dust off my engine after flying ! LOL !
If the syn oils are good enough for the Indy cars.....

Ugo

I'll probably get flamed for this, but what the hell... I avoid the dirty engine by simply not using any Castor Oil in my fuel, only synthetics ! That crud on your engine is cooked on Castor ![:@] All I do is dust off my engine after flying ! LOL ! If the syn oils are good enough for the Indy cars.....

Ugo

Actually, engines run with synthetics will get baked on crud as well. (Also will sucumb to lean runs).

The anti freese method removes both synthetic and castor- just remember it is VERY toxic.

OK here is the correct way and you do not have to kill the pets with antifreeze. Go get you a can of Demon clean. Use an old baking pan or line one with foil. Brush on the demon clean, let sit for about an hour and rinse with water. WALAH... clean engine.
Put this on an old supertiger 90 and she looks brand new. Frank Tiano gave a can to each of us participants at Top gun this year because he was so impressed with this product. I am now hooked also.
Gary

Actually, I was reading a thread on RCU on this topic. I tried it and it worked AWESOME!!! The secret is armor all wheel cleaner for you car. Spray it on, let it sit for 60 seconds and EVERYTHING wipes off!!

Mike

WHAT THE HELL IS DEMON CLEAN AND WHERE DO YOU GET IT. THANKS

If you do use the anti freeze method don't toss the carb in there,clean it with carb cleaner,anti freeze is not to cool for the carb.

Demon Clean is an engine cleaner distributed by Dave Gierke(SP?). Its sold in better hobby shops. Its expensive if you just have one engine to clean.

Hi Tucker,
Another way not mentioned so far is to use a chemical called Methylene Chloride, which is the primary ingedient in most good paint strippers. It is sometimes a bit difficult to find, but it works wonders. It is kind of "goopy", brush it on, wrap parts in foil or saran wrap and leave overnite, then wash off with hot water and a brush.
Spud8939

I'll probably gonna get flamed for this... But pls try this method before getting nasty. Avoid anti-freeze if u can. If u can't, then don't use it too frequently. It causes corrosion to metals no matter what the instructions claim. If u don't believe, just try this experiment... Leave a scrap piece of aluminium in it for a month and see. Of course, no one would be leaving their engines in it for that long, but if there is a less harmful alternative to cleaning our precious engines, wouldn't u want to try it?

I clean my internals (glow engines) with glow fuel and use a steaming machine to steam-off the baked on stuff on the outside. Its more effective than engine degreasers, anti-freeze, thinners etc and less harmful since the maximum temperature that super-heated steam reaches in these machines is 130 - 140deg centigrade (not sure what this works out to in Farenheit). I've even used this method on full-sized engines and they always gleam with that brand new look. It may be expensive to invest in one of these machines so just try borrowing one from a friend. They're quite cheap in Australia and u can usually get them for A$100+ on sale. The other method to getting one is to convince the Missus that it'll cut the effort in household cleaning by half...