jwillman

I have the front end pulled apart for cam/ crank and oil pump seal refresh, engine still in the car. I tried brake cleaner last night and the more hardened oil did not budge.

Cleaning by hand will be tough because of all the recesses.

I contemplated the engine cleaning foams to loosen up some of the worst areas.

Any suggestions on proven methods? Fortunately it is just the front side of the engine and around the two forward cylinders on each side.

AnatolyL

No easy way that I can think of - its going to be labor intensive. Foam, brake clean, rinse and repeat.

Jadz928

Kerosene. Smelly but highly effective. Learned that trick from Kerosene Kevin (KVLA)

Simple green is good, but take a little more elbow grease.

Dave928S

Soak it with citrus oil if you can get it, or a citrus based degreaser with D-limonene in it. It's the active ingredient in 'histoclear' that a lot here have used to clean blocks, in combination with simple green. Simple green can tend to mark the alloy and dull it so you shouldn't leave it on too long.

I use 'narrow cut' kerosene in my parts washer .... it's more refined and doesn't stink as much.

I've tried everything and citrus oil is the best for what you describe ... here's how it's sold here in Australia.

depami

We need pictures.

Diesel fuel and dish soap.

http://www.ehow.com/way_5811725_home...e-engines.html

https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...ine-parts.html

17prospective buyer

Diesel fuel will dissolve caked on oils, i used it before i put my crossmember back on. Soda blasting would work well or dry ice blasting, either is safe for use on the engine since soda simply dissolves in water, but that could get expensive really fast.

tmpusfugit

Jim,
I have only cleaned up the engine blocks on 3 928's, so I am no expert. But, what seems to work for me is;
1) mechanical scrape off all the harden goop you can scrape off. I use narrow putty knives, a pallet knife, and on ocassion pieces of shaped wood to get into crevices
2) I will then layer on a bunch of foam engine cleaner, choice of mfg does not seem to much matter
3) I have a number of brass brushes that I use in conjunction with the foam cleaner to remove what I can in that fashion
4) I then use diesel fuel in conjunction with brass brushes and wipe down all areas I can reach.....wooden sticks and blue towels get a work out in this step
5) I then apply "Purple Power" spray on cleaner and wipe off everything, not certain PP is better or worse than Simple Green, or any of the other recommendations. I have it, i use it....

I have also tried power sprayng a very dirty engine that had been removed from a car. It works, but not nearly as well as one would hope, and as others have suggested you put every seal and every electrical connection at risk with either steam or hig pressure sprays. I don't think I would do either with an engine in the car and all the electrics not bagged. I did pressure wash (3500 psi) an oil pan this week, one that was really a mess, and off the engine. After a half hour I still had a very messy oil pan, and I had more oil and goop all over me than I expected....I haven't touched the block yet....

jwillman

Thanks everyone. Great feed back. Definitely staying away from the pressure sprayer. I have some pics already of the before and will add more as I get into it.

tmpusfugit

Here is the oil pan that I scraped a pound of goop off of and then pressure washed it. As you can see it needs more work. Oh by the way, here is the front of then engine it came off of....think it will buff out? The engine was submerged sometime...and it has not run since. It also shows what happens when someone uses a "stop radiator leak" product, all the white stuff in the WP area as well as in the water jacket around all the cylinders etc. It actually did a better job than I would have expected, just can't see every using it. By the way, the head gaskets were in great shape, nothing else is....

Podguy

That looks gastly. Glad I no longer live in the east coast.

I have good luck with ZEP purple floor cleaner but it will discolor a but until you are down to the final clean. After you get the last of the grease it will leave a nice finish - good enough to clear coat.

Porsche sprayed cosmoline on a lot of the car. it will not come off with conventional cleaners - at least none I have found. I use Easy Off in the yellow can and stir in it and let is set a little - then wash off with water mostly from a spray bottle.

At the shop we had a hot tank for cleaning aluminum. Dump it in - let it sit - wash it off with water - came out sparkling. Be very careful of Brake Clean - use outside and mask. I got some massive polyps in my nose from breathing that stuff. You might be able to find a shop that has a hot tank that would not charge you much to clean all the loose parts. I know I am going to try that on my next project. Cleaning takes far too much of the time to do these things,

Fabio421

Acetone and elbow grease will take off cosmoline.

Speedtoys

So will a spray of WD40 at 8pm, and then a trip to the underbody steam cleaner at 9am the next day.

http://www.sanjoseautosteamcleaning.com/

bogdann

We have a hot water parts washer at work so anything that will fit goes in there e.g. oil pan, cross member, front anti roll bar. If the guys need it my parts come out and they replace when finished until it is clean. Lately I have had a few parts returned that were blasted and repainted black. Can't ask to better service than that.

IcemanG17

Here is some pics of a NASTY 928 engine we cleaned.......it was engine 2.0 for our lemons racer....still running great 75 hours on track later...

We cleaned the whole oil pan in a parts washer

jwillman

Well I am feeling better about my engine after those pictures

All my leaks are on the fromt end!

Pictures below show that both camshafts, crank and oil pump were all leaking. Hope to have time to make progress this weekend.