Topic: Preferred grease solvent?

[Benjamin]

I'm wondering what solvent members prefer for cleaning engine parts of old, grimy grease. Or for motor oil. What do you use to clean out the filter housing when changing your oil?

What's the least toxic? Anything out there that's biodegradable? Anyone have a secret recipe cleaner, eg. two parts Simple Green to three parts Guinness? 

Thx,
Benj

[ofreen]

I am liking the citrus cleaners more and more.  Costco sells a degreaser in a white gallon jug that works great.  Can't remember what it is called, but all the Costcos have it.  It works better than Simple Green and is less obnoxious.

[Chris Liston]

purple stuff works great for me.  Simple green is good too. 

[DiscoEd]

I think it kind of depends on how much grease build up you have. I've use greased lightning purple power and simple green. They are good for a light amount of grease. (or a lot of grease and a lot elbow grease too.).

I've really yet to find anything that works awesome on heavy deposits. I recently had recommended to me Gunk Foaming Engine Brite. I tried both this and Gunk Engine Brite Gel. I tried them over the weekend on cleaning up my 550K1 engine with years of grime. Both work fairly well, but still takes a lot of brush work and scrubbing. The Gunk stuff is definetly more powerful then the simple green type stuff. Gunk also has a citrus type cleaner. I didn't try that one, but it might work well. I've try different citrus cleaners in the past (for stove cleaning, etc.) and they didn't work too well. I always prefer the really toxic smelling stuff!  Hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger! Right?

Maybe later in the week I'll post some pics of how the Gunk stuff worked. I'm just to tired from scrubbing all day. 

Regards,
DiscoEd

[Phaedrus]

I am totally not green when it comes to the solvent of my choice.  Acetone, liberal amounts of acetone.  A shop rag and acetone cleans up grease and crap in a flash.

[ofreen]

I've really yet to find anything that works awesome on heavy deposits.

Well, that's a little different.  For use on heavy stuff, a pressure washer can't be beat.  I bought one a while back, and it is one of the best presents I ever bought myself.  You gotta be careful with it, but it is a true labor saving device.

[DiscoEd]

I've really yet to find anything that works awesome on heavy deposits.

Well, that's a little different.  For use on heavy stuff, a pressure washer can't be beat.  I bought one a while back, and it is one of the best presents I ever bought myself.  You gotta be careful with it, but it is a true labor saving device.

Yes, the pressure washer works great, but there are just some jobs that are to delicate for that.

[DiscoEd]

I am totally not green when it comes to the solvent of my choice.  Acetone, liberal amounts of acetone.  A shop rag and acetone cleans up grease and crap in a flash.

Darn Phaedrus, I never even thought of that! Duh!  I have a can of Acetone that i've been using for final clean up prior to painting. I'll have to give that a try during my initial ""de-griming" sometime.

Regards,
DiscoEd

[bill440cars]

                    I use Castrol Super Clean for most of my cleanup, although it takes 2 or 3 attempts
            sometimes. Also,someone pulls into my diveway and leaves oil spots every now and then. I
            grab my squirt bottle of Super Clean and soak the spots, let it set for a few minutes and rinse it
            off with nothing left. If I've got some spillage or oil spots on my driveway (and It's going to
            rain soon), I just soak the area and after the rain, the problem is gone. For me, it works
            better than Simple Green. The only thing is, even though Super Clean is supposed to be
            biodegradable and all, there is an odor to it. If there is something that is comparable in
            price,that works better, somebody enlighten me. Later on, Bill

[Phaedrus]

I am totally not green when it comes to the solvent of my choice.  Acetone, liberal amounts of acetone.  A shop rag and acetone cleans up grease and crap in a flash.

Darn Phaedrus, I never even thought of that! Duh!  I have a can of Acetone that i've been using for final clean up prior to painting. I'll have to give that a try during my initial ""de-griming" sometime.

Regards,
DiscoEd

yah gotta work fast though.  That stuff evaporates quickly.

[ofreen]

If there is something that is comparable in price,that works better, somebody enlighten me. Later on, Bill

The name of the stuff I mentioned in my first post is "Oil Eater Cleaner and Degreaser."  If there is a Costco in your neck of the woods, they'll have it in a white gallon jug for around 7 bucks, complete with a smaller spray bottle.  I've used Super Clean, and it works OK, but I think the Oil Eater stuff works as well or better.

[bill440cars]

                          I wonder if there is anyone else who handle it. I've never heard of it or Costco.
          I'd sure be willing to try it, if I could find it. Thanks for the info. My Grandfather & my Dad had
          a dealership way back in the mid 40' to the late 60's and they used Gunk. It seemed to work
          pretty good then. But I'll keep my eye out for that product and if anyone knows where it can
          be found in the central western part of Arkansas, let me know,please. Later on,Bill

[ofreen]

Went to Google and found Oil Eater has a website. 

http://www.oileater.com/index.html

Costco is a warehouse store chain, like a Sam's Club.  I thought they were everywhere now.  No doubt there will will be one in A R Kansas before too long.

Anyway, Oil Eater is good stuff.  I've used a lot of Simple Green in the past, but have switched over to this. 

I have a tip from personal experience for those who use Simple Green - Don't get it anywhere near carb dip.  Remember those stories about women who died after mixing cleaners in toilet bowls?  I think I know how they felt right before they croaked. 

[bill440cars]

            Hey thanks ofreen, I checked that site outand set them an email to see what they had going
     and I checked their prices. It seems that a person might be able to order it in less quantities that a
     case ( which costs 30 something dollars). If I am allowed to place an  order for a smaller order, I'll
     give it a whirl. I get pretty good results out of the Super Clean but, there are some fumes that go
     with it. I like to find good products to use, I'm just not to quick to go trying new products. This 
     sounds really good and I would like to get away from the fumes too.  Later on, Bill

[theunrulychef]

If anyone has the means, space, and alot of parts to do, you could get an old dishwasher & put it in your garage as a parts washer.  Use some degreaser instead of detergent & make/buy a grease trap for the drain.  Also, I believe you can get a solvent based parts washer tank (w/ pump) at harbor freight for under $100.  When I worked at a Ford dealership, we had both (the "dishwasher" was giant though), but we all preferred the huge dishwasher better.  Of course, I was the "#$%*" and had to clean it out everyweek, which sucked, but it worked great  .

I'm really missing both of those right now as I'm doing my cleaning the old fashioned way, like most of us.

-Jay in Philly

[cb(r)]

I use wd-40 for road tar.  it is not evasive like gas and the others but  I use it for alot of things around the house.
My brother in law swears by  a product call "S100".  he uses it on all of his harleys and autos.  just google iS100 and it will come up with alot off places that carry it.

[Steve F]

I just use plain-old mineral spirits (paint thinner) available at the hardware store, and a 1" paint brush.  Put a drip tray under the stuff I'm cleaning, and the grease melts away.  Follow up with something like Simple Green or Honda spray cleaner and Maguire's Quick Detailer.

[SteveD CB500F]

Well this is the first time I've come accross a product that we might be able to get over here.

We have Costco in the UK and I'm off to find this oileater stuff.

PS. I use good old Gunk in the orange can, with a 1" paintbrush and an old pot scrubber for the more ingrained parts (like inside the chainguard)