Engine Cleaning Tips

[KevinE]

I need to give my engine a bathe, does anybody have any tips to help or is this something for a detailer? Seems to me I need a steam cleaner with a very small nozzle so that I can get into the nooks and crannies very carefully.


I also have some rust on the engine from the previous owner from a bad seal on the heat exchanger that dripped salt water down one side of the engine - I'm looking at it and thinking this is going to take an age to remove the rust and re-paint it if I want to do a proper job.

Kevin

[Alan Wheeler]

I presume the engine is still in the boat??
A good degreaser and high pressure wash will do the trick. But you don't want to be doing that while in the water. The bilge is going to pump oily crap out into the marina.
As for the rust streak, a rust remover product will soon take care of that.

[Wukong]

My suggestion is to:

1. Run the engine until it is warm and then coat the entire engine good with oven cleaner.
2. Go have one or two beers
3. Hose down with water. The gunky crap should come off as a water soluble liquid that should not leave much of a scum on whatever water your boat is floating.
4. If you have any grease remaining on the engine, scrape it off the best you can and then repeat steps 1 to 3.
5. Step 2 can be repeated as often as you desire in this process

[Alan Wheeler]

Yikes, you'd want to be careful with Oven cleaner wouldn't you?? It is very caustic and will wreck paint and cause corrosion.

[Wukong]

There is a possibility of removing paint, but he needs to remove rust and repaint anyway. This process will definitely degrease for a good painting base.

[CaptainK]

Alan.

You be really surprised how well oven cleaner really works.

I've used it before when I used to ride dirt bikes, as a teenager. And it works great.

[Starbuck]

I need to do this too: clean engine and especially the bilge. But my engine is still pretty. What should I do?

[Wukong]

Captain Jeff,

If your engine has a good coat of enamel on it, the oven cleaner should not affect it. The oven cleaner attacks oils. If the oily grease on your engine has not attacked the paint, the oven cleaner should not. You only need to let it remain on the engine for about 15 or so minutes. If it does remove the enamel, the coating has already been compromised and needs a touch up. The oven cleaner will degrease the surface and leave you a clean surface for your touch up. This is just good maintenance. Warming the engine allows the chemical reaction between the oven cleaner and grease to accelerate. Generally speaking for every 10 degrees of temperature increase the reaction time is cut by one-half. If you don't touchup the exposed surfaces, you can expect rust to form.

[hellosailor]

Oven cleaner generally is LYE and that is also a good paint and varnish stripper and harsh on some hoses and belts. And, it will soften or discolor fiberglass. Good for bare metal and surfaces it is known not to attack BUT:

Better just NOT TO USE IT and use a product designed only to CLEAN the surfaces you may be getting it on. Including any that splashes into your eyes, lye can and will blind and burn.

Personally I like liquid Tide laundry detergent, when used with hot water it will readily dissolve old Cosmoline and that's packing grease which is famously hard to remove.

Scrub pads, scrub brushes, hot water or a steam cleaner and liquid tide is all you need. Solvent cleaners or "engine spray cleaners" may work better, certainly will be more expensive, but the brushes and scrubbers (and some good work gloves) are the trick. Followed by a thorough drying and then immediately coating or painting as needed to prevent rust, which forms very quickly on the cleaned surfaces.

[CaptainK]

I have another alternative to the oven cleaner situation?

You could go to your local hardware store or Wal-mart and buy this product called "Simple Green." Get a one or two gallon bottle. It's not too expensive.

I used it to clean my car engine last year. And it works.

You spray the "Simple Green" onto the engine block. Don't be cheap with the stuff. Spray alot on the block where it's the most dirtist at. And let it soak for 5 to 10 minutes.

Then you get a bucket of very hot water. Make sure it's so hot you could practically scald yourself with it. The hotter the better. And pour it all over the engine where you sprayed the "Simple Green" at.

You may have to repeat the cycle again. And maybe you'll get lucky with only doing it once. But it does work. "Simple Green" is a household degreaser. And I stand behind it. My friends used it. They told me about it. And I remember one of my tech school instructors informing us about this product.

I cleaned my automobiles' engine last year. And it is still nice and clean. So if you're not sure about the oven cleaner idea. Try the "Simple Green" approach.

[hellosailor]

I like Simple Green. Also CitrusSolve (an orange "organic" jelly cleaner) and CitrusStrip (aerosol rocket fuel, removes everything including skin) but my definition of "tough grease" is Cosmoline and the overall cheapest and most effective...was the Liquid Tide. Which is only cheap in comparison to the others.

[CaptainK]

Hmmmm?

I never heard of those products HS. Do they sell that at hardware stores & at Wal-Mart too?

[hellosailor]

Both at Home Depot, don't know about WallyWorld. My oops, the rocket fuel is called KleanStrip, both from Wm. Barr & Co at 1-800-533-5025. It will even do a reasonably good job of dissolving silicone sealer and polyurethane foam sprays.

[DeepFrz]

I wonder how well these cleaners work at removing the seals/impellers/diagphrams of bilge pumps or if they attack electrical insulation, etc.

Make sure when using any of these cleaners that the alternator is protected. Inspect very carefully the hoses and electrical cables and connectors at frequent intervals to make sure they are not prematuraly ageing.

Hah, and sometimes I laugh at the way other people make spelling misteaks...

Deep

[CaptainK]

So like the oven cleaner. When using Kleanstrip, use rubber gloves for protection.

Since you mentioned it can take the skin off? Does it also contain lye in it?

DeepFrz.

I can say that Simple Green won't hurt rubber products. From my understanding of the product. And I have not heard my friends who have used it longer than I complained about their rubber parts on their engines.

But that other stuff HS has mentioned might do some harm though?