RyanPerrella

Rob,

Ive got the 20 gallon one, or my dad does anyway, its filled with gook and crap so it needs to be restored but its just a basin so thats pretty easy. Do the mineral spirits not evaporate ? or do they at a much lower rate ?

I remember when i was at HD i tool a pic of a degreaser that i thought sounded ok, its not the citrus but can anyone comment on this stuff, or should i look for the one bob mentioned earlier

DAMN, i need to re-up my membership i cant post pics now......

ITs called "ZEP Industrial Purple Cleaner and Degreaser"

or do i stick to the citrus stuff?

Rob Edwards

The mineral spirits don't seem to evaporate very rapidly. Even though they're 'odorless' (and they are for the most part) I don't usually wash parts for more than ~15 minutes at time or I end up with a headache (Can't be good for the neurons that are left..) So the unit is closed with the lid down most of the time.

dr bob

The ZEP Orange stuff I used on the '85 is not available any more from the local HD shelves. The stuff they have now is the same price but the directions don't include dilution any more. So maybe it's already diluted to safe strength for us maroons. My previous comment about 'not very good' is relative to the solvent based stuff. On te heavy oil/slime accumulations baked onto the oil sump on James' car, the diluted ZEP that I prepared barely made a dent. I'm going to try the 'new' orange stuff straight on and see if it does a lot, and if not it will get the solvent based cleaner.

The orange stuff is a mild acid, and does a great job brightening aluminum parts by removing the protective oxide layer. Leave it on a long time and it will turn the aluminum to a dull dark gray. Use with caution, rinse thoroughly, and it will be fine.

The purple degreaser at HD is caustic, and has label warnings that specifically mention not to use it on aluminum. It's great for steel and iron stuff, since it chews on corrosion some and will often take paint off at the same time. If you've ever taken an iron engine to get "hot tanked", they use sodium hydroxide in hot water to do the dirty work. It was a big tank of Easy-Off Oven Cleaner. Nowadays, a much more dilute mixture is used in a heated spray washer rather than a dip tank, in the interest of the organisms down at the other end of the drain pipe I suspect. It's a lot safer for the folks who come in contact with the solution too; caustic goes through the skin rapidly and chews on flesh, without the instant burning that warns you when you get in contact with acids. It's harder to wash off since it penetrates so nicely too. Anyway, bottom line is that you should probably avoud using caustic products on your aluminum car and engine.

Some mention has been made of the Royal Brown product, which claims to be a good degreaser and remover of baked-on brake dust and such.


On the brushes, I have a collection of parts cleaning brushes, the round aluminum-handled stiff-bristled kind that seem to survive everything I've thrown at them as far as cleaning chems go. Paint brushes aren't stiff enough for serious cleaning in my opinion, although they are valuable for getting lots of something onto a surface in a hurry; parts cleaning brushes aren't that good at carrying the solvent or detergent around. So look at the parts places when you are there, and stock up on a few real parts cleaning brushes. They are inexpensive, and easily outlast and outperform paint brushes in cleaning duty. For big surfaces where scratching a painted finsih isn't a concern, a barbeque grill brush is often a good option.

Rob Edwards

Bob-

FWIW, I ordered up a gallon of histoclear and will play with it on the underside of the GTS next weekend. Will report back.

RyanPerrella

Bob thanks for the great post on the product i mentioned. I will obviously keep it away from our largely aluminum cars

I am thinking that maybe i will just buy a gallon of the current citrus degreaser or if the 5 gallon isnt much more (which is often the case its like 2x 3x the cost of a single gallon) Then i will just buy the 5 gal.

Thanks again for the post, it pointed me in the right direction and explained WHY i would want to go in that direction.

Cheers!

dr bob

Ryan--

I'm not sure I saw a 5-galon of the citrus orange at my local (Burbank) H-D. They did have the purple stuff in that size.

I also grabbed a gallon of a commercial kitchen degreaser at Costco. Label claims it's good for cleaning greasy hoods and such. I'm getting to think that even the "professional strength" and "commercial" products I see at consumer stores are watered-down versions of stuff available through the real pro channels. There are liability issues behind a lot of this I'm sure.

S4ordie

Bob, you bring up a point that got me thinking there must be a commercial restaraunt supply company near you. Might be interesting to drop in and chat with those folks as to what works best.

dr bob

There are some commercial rest supply places, and plenty of janitorial supply places too.

Meanwhile, we are all looking for the miracle cleaner that chews through baked-on oil slime on contact, dissolves old cosmoline and undercoating, no brushing or rinsing needed, repels new dirt so it always looks great, yet is gentle on your hands, has a flowery or fruity fragrance, makes your dull paint shine, and able to treat a whole car with the contents of a 12oz aerosol can. For less than maybe three dollars, available locally or delivered to the house for free in less than a day. Oh, and biodegrades before it lands on the ground.

RyanPerrella

Bob,

I found ZEP citrus in 1 gallon size, thats what i picked up..... free sprayer too.... BONUS!

dr bob

Following up a little on this thread--

I spent some time under my own car yesterday, chasing an electrical problem. I grabbed the sprayer of ZEP and squirted some on the pristine cosmoline coating that still adorns the crossmember and the oil sump, and let it sit for a few minutes to see if it takes it off. The answer is a Qualified Yes. It softens it a lot, making it easier to remove with rag/towel/brush. Not quite the ideal spray on/falls off scenario, but it does help a lot. I wiped some off with a paper towel. It needs to soak in some to work, and if the stuff is thick it will take a few passes with the spray and then wipe/scrape/whatever to expose new stuff to spray. The bottle recommendation is five to ten minutes of soak before removal; I was at the five minute mark when I wiped it the first time. The stiff nylon-bristled parts brush worked OK, but I wasn't going after any serious deposits in nooks and crannies where the brush would be needed.

Do we have any results to report from the Histoclear yet?

Rob Edwards

Not shipped from Fisher yet. But I think Dennis K's pics are worth a lot of words on its efficacy. (though I dunno the story on cosmoline sprayed over the body sealer goo on the underside of the car- that's the really tough stuff. Stay tuned..)

RyanPerrella

Rob is this a 1 gallon bottle of "histoclear"

or is it "margrets great degreaser" (or some other name) which contains some certain % of histoclear? can you clarify what you actually ordered?

Rob Edwards

Ryan-

It's a gallon of histoclear, the MSDS on which says 95-100% d-limonene. About $55 from Fisher Scientific, through work.

S4ordie

Okay folks a consumer report on Brown Royal wheel and engine cleaner. It works as advertised and works well. I wish I had before pics, thought about that later after I was truly astonsihed as to how well it worked.

Edit: The sun came out briefly so I snapped a few pics before it went back into hiding. I did notice something that might be of concern. In bright light it appears as if the Brown Royal cleaner may have discolored/etched the plating on some of the fittings and covers under the hood. You can see it as white-ish powder looking. It is not superficial, the coating has either been removed or etched somehow. I also noticed the top of the headlight lens' seem to be do be etched/faded as well. This may have been from the fierce sun in Hawaii. The paint on the underside of the hood seems to have been slightly etched as well. It is not shiny and smooth like the paint on the fenders. I did not exercise much concern about masking off other areas before spraying so perhaps some efforts in this regard may protect sensitive areas. I still rate this product very high.

Test subject: 2006 Honda Pilot EX-L 72,000 very hard miles
(Kauai vehicle we shipped back to the Mainland that we used brutally on and off road. It was also the loaner vehicle for visiting family and friends.). Only scheduled maintenance performed as it was always considered a disposable car. It looks pretty good but is covered in scratches and dented bumper covers from driving down muddy overgrown trails, etc. The engine bay had never been cleaned since new. It was covered in Kauai red clay and lots of caked on mud, oil and debris from underneath.

The process: I had a one quart spray bottle of Brown Royal (ordered from their website). I did two cycles - spray on, let sit 5-10 mins, hose off. If I had applied the product more evenly the first time I'm sure one application would have been enough.

When you spray on Brown Royal it is a bit disconcerting because it is very dark brown and you begin to wonder if you are making a bigger mess. Not to worry. As soon as I directed the fresh water spray nozzle its way all the dirt, mud and oil literally washed away into the kiddie pool I had placed underneath the car for the initial hose down. I can't tell you how great this product worked. All painted surfaces look new, all aluminum and plastic perefctly clean. And I repeat, I did not scrub/brush or wipe anything. Granted the engines in these Pilots are pretty tight and there was not excessive grunge/sludge build up, by believe me when I say this engine bay was really dirty. You could not see, let alone read any of the emissions stickers on the underside of the hood before I started.

Lessons learned: Do this on a cold or slightly warm engine. Wear goggles and a basic mask as Brown Royal is acidic, it must be, as some of it drifted into my eyes and I inhaled some of the fumes. Both mildly unpleasant. Though I did not wear gloves, it's probably a good idea. I would throw the 1/qt bottle away as it only sprays while holding it perfectly upright. Near impossible to get the product up under things. I later thought a small pump pressurized garden sprayer with an angled wand would be perfect and would allow more specific application.

What I don't know is how well it works on Cosmoline.

Summary: Brown Royal is the best engine cleaning product I have ever used. I will post pics tomorrow if it stops raining.

I have no affilitation with Brown Royal or the company that promotes/sells it other than being a fully satisfied customer. YMMV

S4ordie

Bump? I updated my post from last night to include more comments and pics. Did not move it to the top of the forum.