Something to consider when using Simple Green.... From Simple Green's website:

Aluminum - Is it safe to use Simple Green® on aluminum?
When used with caution and according to the instructions, Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner has been safely and successfully used to clean aluminum. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, Crystal Simple Green® Cleaner/Degreaser, Simple Green Pressure Washer Concentrates, and Pro Series™ Simple Green® Automotive Cleaner have been used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green® product residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation.

 

Malcolm, I usually have no problem spraying stuff on if I have a spray bottle of water next to me. Simple green I don't worry too much since it's less caustic. When I use something bad like carb/brake cleaner I'll spray and then water spray.

Degreasers are pretty much a non issue, at least to me......spray on, let sit a few, scrub then rinse. Most anything you can spray on and it takes grease off quickly is bad for the environment and that is ok with me as long as my dogs can't get to it. Screw the sewers (bad, I know) I'll power wash the crap off the driveway.

 

Hence the reason you don't want to soak stuff in it. I've ruined parts by doing so. My own

 

Simple Green works great. These are before and after pictures. Obviously, more than just a cleaning, but you can see how much grease and crap I had to get off. I let the simple green set for ~5 minutes and then blasted it with a hose.

Good luck!

 

Damn that looks nice.

 

that looks more like 1 weeks worth of work to me!!

 

dp engine degreeser safe on paint, rubber and plastic and bio-degradeable.

 

Well, ya know....if you want to recycle a bit, using some dirty old fuel oil out of the oil furnace for doing heavy degreasing works a peach. Work over a big plastic concrete mixing pan (home depot carries the perfect one here in the states -- not sure if you have the "home refrigerator" or similar in frozen Canada, but maybe some other contractors supply -- wherever you could buy bags of cement mix, I would think). Of course, there's the whole getting it out of your oil tank problem, but a good suck on the hose oughta do it.



Just kidding!

 

I just did the same thing - car on liftbars, cleaned underside of engine. I used Simple Green and soap/water rinse, followed by water rinse (spray bottles and brushes to apply - all ver messy, but good results afterwards). Unfortunately, my car wouldn't start afterwards (see my other threads for the full tale of woe). Seeing the above info leads me to believe I need to get under there and pull stuff apart and really clean the electrical contacts - could be the Simple Green sufficinetly corroded my ground points and other critical contacts. Hmm.

 

Isn't it dangerous to hose down the engine compartment? I remember reading numerous times about no start problems after washing.

 

I found kerosene works best to cut the caked on grease and oil, then some simple green afterwards to cut the kerosene.

 

Removing kerosene or fuel oil/diesel residue is an easy job for a common pH-neutral dishwashing detergent like Dawn. Sean, the petro-solvents (paint thinner or brake-kleen) are much easier on wiring connectors than any of the higher-Ph water-borne cleaners. Challenge always is how thoroughly you can flush out the residue. Brake-Clean and common solvents will flash out on their own with just a little time. A higher-pH cleaner will wick up into exposed copper electrical wiring. The moisture will flash off, leaving the concentrated residue. From that point, moisture in the air, splashed up from the road, or from later hose baths will feed the residue and continue the corrosive reactions in the copper.

Many moons ago when I was more into the air-cooled cars, engine case halves would get a bath in a trashcan filled with well-diluted detergent like Mr Clean. You'd have to carefully monitor the condition of the metal to make sure it didn't stay in there too long. Do it right, part is completely degreased and the aluminum or mag allow would be bright as new. Leave it in too long, and there would be a dull grey surface left. No grease or dirt, but the metal would eventually start to react seriously. Think of it as grey anodizing, but with the cases as the 'sacrifical anode'.

The Simple Green directions are aimed at stressed aluminum surfaces where even surface corrosion is a no-no. Still a good idea to use just enough, just long enough to get the job done. Great for getting an oily film off. Heavy deposits are still best attached with a scraper first, then the petro-detergents in the spray can engine cleaner, then a blast with the hose. Or scrape and then steam-clean if that's an option. Steam melts a lot of dirty oil-based crud. It also temperature-shocks harder stuff so it falls off of the cold components more quickly.


FWIW, the really **** detailers will do everything they can with wipes, then water, then a very mild detergent if needed. No corrosives at all, minimum possible damage from solvents, etc., and nothing that will risk damage to original finishes. I think my car is past the point where ****-level detailing is a practical option on the undercarriage since it is driven regularly. So it gets the once-in-a-blue-moon-maybe spray down with diluted Simple Green, followed by the hose or maybe the pressure washer to rinse thoroughly. Note that the top of the engine gets dusted, and maybe wiped with a damp towel to keep it new-looking. A little Pledge on the dust rag works wonders, as does a spritz of almost any of the "instant detailer" products followed by a light polish with a clean towel.

 

What about cleaning the engine block, the valley?

 

I agree on this. Kerosene is cheap, and available everywhere. It's somewhat flammable, but that's not an issue as long as you don't do anything stupid. It will make short work of caked on grease, and the residue can be removed with dish detergent, simple green, etc.

Someone mentioned that the "purple colored" degreasers contain sodium hydroxide. For those who aren't up to date on their chemistry, the common name for sodium hydroxide is "lye." It's the active ingredient in drain-o, wheel cleaner, and some restaurant cleaners just to name a few. It has a distinct odor that's easy to recognize.

 

I'll throw-in my $.0928 on engine bay cleaning. The first picture is what a portion of my motor looked like prior to the SC install. That was a pretty clean part of the motor. The second picture is after I got done cleaning. How I cleaned in the next post.