Pressure washing a crankcase

[Jens]

The results are in:

Varsol : minor effect but probably needs physical assistance such as a stiff brush (to be tested)
Gunk : no visible effects
Oven Cleaner: works a treat but only removes a bit of the top layer
Hot water: Works better than cold water but does not get black stuff off. I suspect it also leaves a bit of an oil film based on water beading

I also found out that my pressure washer has a "stupid people" safety system - it opens a dump gate when the water in the pump system is too hot as from leaving the washer run for too long without actually spraying water. I am not sure it it was meant to tell some of us that using hot feed water is not good

Any illusions I had about Indian casting quality (what quality) are completely shattered as the flywheel had a very generous coating of body filler for a reason ! I will be spending some time with body filler because it does not survive pressure washing too well.

I would say that using oven cleaner makes the work piece clean enough for painting.

[akghound]

I had good luck using Steam Pressure.

Cool, never heard that steam takes off the paint. What pressure and temperature are they running and is it purely steam or is there a water component ? Do they add chemicals ?
Everything I have seen that calls itself steam cleaning is a pressure washer with a small diesel boiler to heat the wash water.

Sorry I am so late getting back on this. The unit runs 250-260*(f) and I think something like 2500psi. It sprays about 6 or gpm. The company I work for now and then actually has a couple different setups for steam. One is diesel fired the other runs on propane. I actually think the propane one gets the hottest. It also seems to have the most pressure. They also have the more common high pressure (3 and 4k psi) units that run 160*(f) water. These do a fairly good on common road grime and such but when it comes to HEAVY GREASY GUNK hte steamers come out.
Ken Gardner

[Tom]

Seriously there is a product I've used from POR 15 called Marine Clean that is OUTSTANDING at removing oils from iron for paint prep. You might give that a try.

[Geno]

My gallon of Marine Clean is about 1/2 gone in 3 years. I've never used it in Jens app but it is an amazing cleaner. Even at 5:1 water/MC in a spray bottle it's very good. At higher concentrations it will quickly remove any oil and moisture from flesh and leave flaky, sore skin behind. Might be worth a try. If it don't work there's a hundred other uses.

Thanks, Geno

[cognos]

That Marine Clean is primarily Potassium Hydroxide - a strong base, similar to Sodium Hydroxide, with similar hazards.The carrier is ethylene glycol monobutyl ether, a polar solvent, I think. Used as an oil spill dispersant, too... 

Should work as well, or better, than NaOH.

Here's the MSDS - http://www.por15info.com/msds/MarineCleanMSDS.pdf

The strong bases leave skin dry and flaky is because it hydrolyzes the fat and oil on your skin on contact, turning them into water-soluble soap... which washes off. Extended contact times will turn the fat under your skin to soap. Not something I'd like to have happen.

Does the same thing to oil and grease on your engine.

[Jens]

Thanks guys, I sent off an inquiry to the Canadian Por15 people to see what product or product sequence they recommend for the interior of a crankcase. The products seem reasonably priced as long as shipping doesn't kill me. It does not appear that you can just walk into a paint store for this stuff.

BTW, I am leaning towards sandblasting the engine exterior and flywheels to get to a nice solid base on the outside.

[Jens]

I found Marine Clean at a local automotive store (Lordco). I also purchased a starter kit of the POR system to try out.

Thumper also got a good going over with a sandblaster today!

[Jens]

more ...

[Jens]

more .,..

[AdeV]

Ouch.

That first photo in particular, I think, shows why you guys have such trouble balancing the Listeroids.... so many voids!

What's your plan to try to fix them?

[vdubnut62]

Man!!  Them there holes are kindly spooky lookin!
Jens, seriously, hang those wheels up and smack them with a hammer to make sure they "Ring". If they sound dead (thud)  then "Run Forrest Run!!!"
Ron

[Jens]

Both wheels 'ring' true and I will likely just use a liberal amount of Bondo to fix them up cosmetically. The actual shape of the castings is worse (!!!!) than what it looks like in the photos.

[Jens]

I tried out the Marin Clean from POR15 today. It does indeed work remarkably well considering it is water based. Heck, even if it was petroleum based it would still be classified as working well but it is just amazing for a water based product.
I used the maximum recommended strength of 1:1 cleaner/water and used a brush to brush it all over. The POR15 web site seems to suggest you can just use a trigger spray bottle but it does require physical agitation to remove grease and a simple spray on, let sit, rinse cycle would not likely remove anything other than stray finger prints. Even with fairly aggressive brushing on the inside of the crankcase (double application and aggressive brushing), my hands were pretty darn black up to my elbows. No, I didn't use gloves but I did rinse my hands a lot. I even tried brushing my arms with the cleaner to get the black stuff off but had no luck (and I quickly rinsed).
All-in-all, three thumbs up but it is not the ultimate.
I wonder how adding some of this stuff to a lye bath would affect the outcome (in regard to lye not removing grease).

The crankcase is drying and will receive a white glove test on the inside once dry.

[vdubnut62]

Jens, the last time I had to deal with diesel  "krudd" I used one of these cleaning guns from Harbor Freight.  Air pressure and diesel fuel cut the stuff pretty well, (wear a respirator!!!)   then follow up with the strong detergent of your choice with pressure washing following that.
 
Sorry, it was too late, but I did think to myself when you started the thread about the pressure washer " Oh $--t he's gonna have to throw his clothes away!".
I know this from experience, I threw away a perfectly good pair of ragged work jeans and a  T shirt Doh! Like to have never got the spots off me,
it took my wife and a stiff brush with Dawn dish detergent, and I learned my lesson. ouch.
Ron

[Jens]

Jens, the last time I had to deal with diesel  "krudd" I used one of these cleaning guns from Harbor Freight.  Air pressure and diesel fuel cut the stuff pretty well, (wear a respirator!!!)   then follow up with the strong detergent of your choice with pressure washing following that.

That is not really an option when you are surrounded by neighbours in all directions Heck, even if I was in the sticks someplace I would feel guilty pulling a stunt like that unless I had some kind of containment system. Bringing the block to the nearest machine shop would be loads cheaper than paying for the environmental cleanup costs