Pressure washing a crankcase

[Jens]

Since everyone can use a good laugh sometimes, here is my experience of the event:

I set up the pressure washer (20 minutes). This is a 4000 PSI high flow 16 hp unit. I installed a soaping tip (low pressure) and set up a bottle of Dawn on the soap input. I gave it a good hosing and anything that was a liquid oil seemed to dissolve as per plan (10 minutes). Of course it did not touch any of the layers of veggy oil on the outside of the engine or anything 'solid'. I changed to a 15 degree high pressure tip and after may be another 15 to 20 minutes I had dealt with the larger 'chunks', mostly outside the crankcase. The casting was still black all over though and touching it would give you black hands.
I switched back to the soaper, applied a good layer of Dawn all over and went inside to do some other stuff. About 30 minutes later, I came back out, installed the 15 degree tip and did a major clean with very little distance between nozzle and casting. I spent a good half hour doing that and determined that there was no way the oil film on the casting was going to let go - neither inside nor outside. I also determined that if I was persistent, I could peel off the paint in small spots and get rid of the oil that way but the paint sticks pretty darn good.
By now I was covered from head to toe in black bits that were obviously dislodged by the water blast but their goey factor had not been compromised even a tiny bit. I figured a shower would fix that .... wrong !  Another half hour later I had determined that whatever was on me was pretty much indestructible as far as soap is concerned but would easily transfer into nice clean bath towels (without diminishing the amount still attached to me).
My next attempt at cleaning will involve a rub down with varsol of all areas of skin previously exposed to the cleaning action of the pressure washer.

I am afraid to look what the fence and walkway looks like that were near where I was 'cleaning'.

Net result - lots of time wasted and goo nicely spread over engine, myself and the surrounding area.
A bottle of Dawn wasted as well as a litre or two of gasoline. The crankcase is not in a position to be painted. All in all not a recommended method of crankcase cleaning.

[cognos]

In the lab - and in the field - we use BTX - benzene, toluene, and xylene - to get rid of polymerised organics. If one doesn't work, the next one will.

Of course, there are some hazards associated with these solvents... take care out there...

[akghound]

I had good luck using Steam Pressure. I have worked off and on for a Pressure Washing business. We have cleaned equipment, crushers,engines etc, etc using true steam. Now I am talking about more then just the "Hot Water" setups one can rent from the local Rental Co. These are commercial STEAM Cleaners. I promise it will get the VO off that engine. I am hoping to by one this summer from the guy I work for. There doesn't seem to be as much demand for true steam cleaning as there is for hot water washing, like that used in a car wash, the ones we use have the water at about 160*. They cut some oil and dirt pretty good but nothing like steam does. The biggest problem with steam, other them handling it safely without getting burned, is that it peals off most of the paints. Maybe for what you want this is good? Shop around for a commercial Steam Cleaning Service and hire them to clean up your engine. It shouldn't cost all that much. You may save a little money by taking the engine to them. The guy I work for is mobile and would come right to your door.
Ken Gardner

[billswan]

jens

Well bummer what a kick in the................ I guess you will just have to hike that block into your truck and head for the nearest cooker. But a 100$ for the block only seems very high to me.

I was using much less than 4000 psi and mine came clean. I guess carboned up veg oil gunk is a real stinker.

Were you using hot water?

May be try what mobil bob mentioned some time ago. Put it into a bag and spray it down with oven cleaner and seal the bag and let it set a while.

Billswan

[AdeV]

Since everyone can use a good laugh sometimes, here is my experience of the event:

[tale of woe cut]

That stuff you describe sounds a lot like the gunk I got in the bottom of a frying pan once, after i accidentally left used oil in it for, erm, quite some time. It made some weird sticky stuff which was absolutely unshiftable. It wrecked the washing up brush, the clothes I was wearing when I was trying to clean it, and everything plastic in the washing up bowl was ruined. Hideous stuff. I regret I can't help you with a solution, my cure was to throw the pan, all the plastic stuff & the clothes in the bin

[Westcliffe01]

Hot caustic soda and let the block stew in that for a while ?   It will take your skin off thats for sure...

[Tom Reed]

Sounds like the "seasoning" on a cast iron frying pan. The "traditional" way to remove seasoning was to place the pan in a camp fire or fire place and burn a hot fire to burn all the seasoning off. Perhaps not a good idea, but the vision of a listeroid block covered by a pile of burning firewood just seems fitting seeing as where they came from.

[AdeV]

Of course, the other option is to bake the sh*t on with a blowtorch, and call it "paint".... 

[Carlb]

maybe try some automotive paint stripper.  That stuff is pretty nasty on anything it touches.

[LowGear]

I've been told that paint stripper starts to degenerate when exposed to fresh air.  I've seen body shops cover the mess with aluminum foil while the goo does its thing.

Why has no one mentioned muriatic acid?  Mask required for those wanting to remain smarts.

Casey

[vdubnut62]

Casey, what does muriatic acid do? I do know that it will eat rust and concrete.
Ron

[LowGear]

Hi Ron,

There is no truth such as ignorance.  It is one of the butt kicking chemicals that the bad guys haven't seemed to understand yet.  It's available in just about every hardware / building materials store in the US.

I use it to clean concrete off rock walls and walks.  You sniff it once and you go get the mask and see that it fits snugly against your beard.  I have a friend that cleans his old VWs with it before priming them.  He says the metal is CLEAN!

Based on the expertise I've seen on this site I'm sure there a few will have far better information than I can supply.

Casey

[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 Reed]

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