John_AZ

Cleaning and Cancer warning from Bruce Arnn Arnnworx.com.
Taken from his power steering rack rebuild DIY.

ditch68

Good info, John.

I know my cam tower still has the original "cosmoline" or whatever it is giving ot an almost gold hue.. It has been hard, but I have somehow resisted cleaning it off and making it look pretty.

I actually have a gallon can of military cosmoline (British military surplus). I'll never go through all of that, I use ot more for gun stuff.

Steam cleaning is probably the best option for engine cleaning, if you follow up with a corrosion preventative compound (CPC) on certain parts afterward.

Jeff

Sentinelist

Can you clarifiy what and which please? I think I may tackle this in the fall.

Because who wants to steam clean for hours in a Texas garage in the summer?

F18Rep

Ha, yea when you start passing protein, the doctors have ya fill out a 40 question survey... question number 3 was "Do you remember having incidental contact with cadmium?" Doh!

PS...I avoid the brake cleaner too, because one of the Pelican 911 guys tells a story about enhaling it and having nose problems for ever after. As far as cleaners, everyone gets to choose what they like, I tried SuperClean after some of the 928 guys suggested it. Spray it on, wait 10 minutes, scrub a little, hose it off. Elbow grease is the real accelerator. Thats all I ever use now, superclean diluted with elbow grease. Its for the serious and my Marine buddies always told me... Don't step up if you can't keep up..:]....Bruce

Here are some before and afters...

944Ross

So are the Purple Cleaner and Formula 409 in the same class as Simple Green? i.e., is the prohibition against all ammonium chloride-based cleaners or is there something special in Simple Green?

PS -- a sobering story about brake cleaner that gets combusted below

http://www.brewracingframes.com/id75.htm

ditch68

I only have info specific to Simple Green that I recall, I will find the bulletin next week that specifies. You are likely correct that it has the same negative effect. The military doesn't use Formula 409 or Purple, so it was not mentioned by name. We use a lot of Simple Green for lots of uses, however. Great stuff otherwise.

Chris, I'll do a more comprehensive post this weekend on corrosion and it's prevention, and try to suggest some commercially available equivalents to CPCs we use at work. As for parts, I mean any exposed bare metal, especially fasteners and the like.

Jeff

KevinGross

Citrus degreaser, which comes in gallon tins from Zep for short money. Also avoid steam and pressure washing if engine is in the car: plays havoc with electrical connectors.

Kevin
Catellus Engineering

bcgreen

What about the degreaser we use everyday, dish washing liquid? I haven't used it yet but it sounds just perfect for not ages and ages of built on grease, maybe the once a year cleaning.