Can anyone tell me what the best way to clean engine parts is,
specifically the connecting rods ? I plan on reusing them and I will take the to a shop to be polished but I would like to take them in as clean as possible. I have tried using a soft brush with several engine degreasers and even dishwashing soap without much success.
Also if anyone could please tell me how to remove the pins in my pistons I would be very thankful.

 

I use mineral spirits for most all my cleaning duties. Works well and it's relatively cheap when purchased at the farm supply store.

The wrist pins are pressed into the rods (assuming they're not floating pins). You will need a rod oven to get the pins out.
I just take mine to the machine shop and let them do it.
Some people use torches, but it's hard to control the heat that way.

 

I used berryman carb cleaner its expensive and dont get it on your hands it will burn. Does a nice job though. Machine shop with a washer for 20 dollars does a nice job for the whole engine.

 

a solvent tank is flat out the best way to go, you can usually get a cheap one for about $75. And it's highly re-usable, you'll save alot of cash just buying one rather than always getting cans of carb cleaner and degreaser and such.

 

87 octane or diesel will work first u put it in the diesel then the gas

 

breakcleen or even brake fluid for those tough spots. the nice thing with breakcleen is the fact that is dries with no residue

 

dish washer and dishwasher soap, pretty labor free method too

 

ede,

Have you tried cleaning the dishwasher afterwards. Its a b!tch and the wife didnt like it. kerosene works pretty well on the heavy dirt and grease with a few different size wire brushes too

 

Let me tell you a little story about using GASOLINE as a part cleaner. I'm a firefighter and about 2 years ago now just after 8 pm we get a page out for a garage fire. We get there and put the fire out with just a fire extigisher then the home owner tells us we need the ambulance becuase her husband is burned. We find him in the house with burns to his face, hands, arms, and chest. 2nd and 3rd degree to his hands and chest. 1st and 2nd to his face and arms. He was cleaning parts in an oil pan of GAS, he was using a screw driver to dig some gunk off a part. He droped the srcew driver on the cement floor caused a spark and all he saw was a bright flash and felt a pain like he never felt before in his life.

The moral to this story dont use GAS to clean auto parts. There are so many safer (less flamable) and cheap cleaners out there. USE THEM! Ok I did my public service of the day.

 

New,

Thanks. You lend a lot more credence to what I would have said. Gasoline is a poor choice for several reasons, not the least of which is that we don't want to wake you up in the middle of the night. It also evaporates quickly, so it has to be replenished often ($$$), its vapors are detrimental to breathe, is very tough on brushes, hands, gloves, and some plastics, and it doesn't even dissolve some of the contaminants you'll encounter.

I'm with ZZ28 and RJR99. Get a solvent tank with a lid and a flame safety fuse. Use a lower flash point solvent, like mineral spirits. I pour in about 10-15 gallons of minereal spirits then add a quart or so of ATF. The oil helps lower the flash point even more, and doesn't inhibit cleaning. It also leaves a light film on the cleaned parts to help prevent rusting. Oil and grime from the dirty parts that go into the bath also raise the flash point. Sediments fall to the bottom and can be scooped out as they accumulate. And I get 2½ gallon jugs of mineral spirits for about three bucks from the paint store or farm store. Try getting 87 no-lead for that price. The only investment is the tank, and if you try to clean a head or crank in something else, you'll appreciate the tank. I've seen them at Harbor Freight for less than fifty bucks on sale once in a while.

I might be a little **** about this, but I also store gasoline in a double-wall metal cabinet. I've seen a couple of things that New has described, and it isn't pretty. And don't tell you insurance carrier that you're using gasoline in open containers. You may get your homeowner's insurance dropped.

As for really tough varnish, aqueous cleaning can work very well. Ed's dishwasher idea is no different than many commercial aqueous parts washers, but on a smaller scale. I'm guessing that Ed has a separate unit set up to wash parts, instead of sharing rods and lifters with the fine crystal and china. Then again, he probably washes a lot more parts than most of us. The hot water, agitation, and moderately caustic phosphated cleaner (automatic dishwashing detergent) will strip and loosen a lot of the varnish, oil, and "gunk" off metal parts. Unfortunately, it also has an affinity for aluminum and other white metals, so bearing shells and pistons may not fare too well if not thoroughly rinsed and neutralized after washing. It can do a very good job, as Ed would probably attest.

The other advantage is that waste disposal isn't a major issue, since all of it goes down the drain. While it may be marginally leagl to dispose of metal-bearing waste water with high FOG components, the federal EPA and most state agencies don't regulate residential waste disposal nearly as strictly as commercial waste streams. As long as it is within their ability to treat the waste water, they won't sample your discharge and plug your sewer outlet.

Save the gasoline for your snowblower, and find a better alternative. There are some.

 

for most all of my parts cleaning i use a regular old parts washer like everyone has with castrol super clean in it, straight not deluted, wear high rubber gloves casue it'll suck all the oil out of your skin. for big stuff i use a preasuer washer and for stuff i want really clean the dish washer, long as i can lift it and it fits inside. blocks are out as are transmission but most other stuff fits. when i got married last year my new wife thought it was odd i had a dish washer on the back porch as well as one in the kitchen.

 

Here is an examle on just how cheap a parts washer is.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...tem=2086744510

 

I'll bet she doesn't confuse them now...

 

thanks for the ideas guys. Also, there is some surface rust on my engine block. Will that be removed at the engine shop when it's dipped in the hot tank? If not, can I sand blast it off or is that too risky to use sand ?

 

A wire brush will do it... just don't scratch up the gasket surfaces and you'll be fine.

For cleaning, I let my rod/piston assemblies soak in a coffee can of kerosene over night when I rebuilt a duke. Then, after cleaning the excess off, Non-Clorinated Brake parts cleaner worked the best at cleaning anything. The other stuff with the chlorine in it has some potent vapors. It even cleaned the purple off my free formica countertop I made into a work bench.

Ditto, never EVER use gasoline.

 

dont use a wire brush especially on al use scotchbrite pads and believe it or not tide laundry soap works pretty good too. I cleaned the heads on my engine this way. Then spray it down with wd40 to help keep rust down. Incidently wd-40 help break up rust too.

 

Oddly, WD-40 was first developed as a rust preventive coating. It has light oil and water dispersants (thus, the "W-D") in a napthalene base.

 

I love that stuff and keep it around the house. Its a great cleaner too for carbon and tar. I use it on the skid marks on the deck of my boat. It leaves a film and makes the deck slippery so you gotta use soap ans water to clean it. I use it on my electrical system it keeps the road dirt, salts and grime from sticking to the harness.

Another good cleaner is simple green. I spray it sparingly on a warm (not hot) motor and hose it off. Its remarkable what a little simple green and some heat will clean.

 

use a BRASS brush to get that hard to get stuff off, and scotchbrite pads work well too.

Also if you clean an internal engine part in solvent, realize the solvent will leave a residue on there when you're done. So wash it off with HOT soapy water and the blow dry it with compressed air.