Engine detailing help.

H

havok666

New member
Hey everyone, this is a shot of my Sunfire's engine. The engine block seems to have some kind of stains on it. I've tried degreaser but I haven't had any luck.



Heres the pictures:



IM000292.jpg




IM000290.jpg
 
What degreaser did you try?



I don't know about any safety or rubber issues, but I was working with carburetor cleaner last time, and it seemed to (accidentally) clean my engine block a bit.
 
My mom has the same Ecotec motor in her saturn and all I use was "Gunk" engine degreaser(The one at autozone) on it and the engine came out really clean
 
Be careful with using brake clean as it will strip paint very easily. I found that out the hard way using it on some painted calipers and had to redo em after cleaning em with some brake kleen brand brake cleaner. What about some steel wool and elbow grease, it should help to remove most of the stains and some wadding polish after should give it a nice look.
 
The Detail Dude said:
Yeah, Carb cleaner or even Brake cleaner should do the trick.
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That will be harsh for the hoses, belts, and wire. I would keep it easy and just use Gunk, or simple green. It also looks like the metal has been tarnished by harsh chemicals in the past, so you might not be able to FULLY restore the look.



Cheers,
 
Are you talking about the block or the valve cover? Either way they are probably both aluminum and I would not use Simple Green or any other hard cleaner on aluminum. That is probably what stained it to begine with. Try P21S Total Body Wash and brush.
 
Greg Nichols said:
That will be harsh for the hoses, belts, and wire. I would keep it easy and just use Gunk, or simple green. It also looks like the metal has been tarnished by harsh chemicals in the past, so you might not be able to FULLY restore the look.



Cheers,
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It's not as harsh as you may think. I was a mechanic for quite some time, before my racing career took off, and we never seemed to have any problems. Now I wouldn't soak it by any means, but when used in moderation you can't hurt anything.



Most of the valve covers you'll see tend to absorb petroleum based products, especially when under everyday conditions. Example.... Heating up (expands the gasket) and cooling down (contracts the gasket) eventually causing leaks. When it's not addressed right away, the oil bakes on the valve cover and 60% of the time it's not only on the surface.
 
Danase said:
I would not use Simple Green or any other hard cleaner on aluminum.
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Note that Danase speaks from first-hand experience regarding Simple Green; it caused cosmetic damage to aluminum for him before.



I'd clean it with something like the TAW or an aggressive wheel cleaner, or perhaps use a solvent-based approach (AutoInt's New Car Prep). Then an aluminum polish.
 
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