cleaning an engine with steam...

ord.sgt.26NC

ord.sgt.26NC

Gott mit uns!
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Location
Goldsboro
I picked up a late 40's ford flat head v8 that is a mess with oil gunk.Nobody around here has a steam jennie and rental on a hot water pressure washer is outragious.I've gotten the bottom end out but the lifter valley is a mess and so is the oil pan.Gotta get the valve train out so I can send her off for vatting and magnafluxing.I'm not scared to travel if I can get it done on a sat. morning.Won't take that long either.Anybody hook a brudder up?
BTW,this gunk is a mess.A regular pressure washer is just going to smear it I'm afraid.It kind of needs melting and washing at the same time.
 
we have a pretty nice karcher unit. ill ask my dad if he would mind you coming up and using it one saturday.
 
Any reason you couldn't run a hose from your hot water heater to a regular pressure water? I used that method to clean off the inners of a forklift that had YEARS of grease and oil and grime on it, and it worked very well.
 
Check around to a couple different self-car washes. A lot of them used heated water.

This is also a plus because then you won't have to clean up the crap when it comes off the truck. True, this is a dick move but it happens.
 
Ive got one in Spartanburg, but thats a drive....
 
ya'll don't understand what this gunk is.A simple spray down with a pressure washer would work if this thing had spent it's life filled with modern detergent oils BUT man this is worse than a grease pencil.You can dig it out and kneed it like bread doe.

awheelterd,that would be fantastic man.About 10 minutes (if that long) is all that is needed to clean this thing.I'll clean up my mess,etc.
 
no problem man. we have the heavy duty de-greaser that we can prespray it with and let soak for a few minutes and then cut the gunk off with the heated pressure. when are you wanting to do it? i should be around saturday around mid day after i get back from hunting. ill call my dad tonight to make sure, but it shouldnt be an issue.
 
I unfortunatly have to be slave fo de man this saturday.What about sunday(def. your schedule) or the following sat. around noonish?
 
ord.sgt.26NC said:
I unfortunatly have to be slave fo de man this saturday.What about sunday(def. your schedule) or the following sat. around noonish?
Click to expand...

im not too sure about sunday yet, i fly by the seat of my pants from thurs - sun :lol: kinda depends on the possible snow situation this weekend. snow=no go, ill be back in raleigh playin in the pow. no=snow, ill prolly be around. ill let you know

:beer:
 
hey man,that's cool.We'll talk more about it towards the end of the week.Let your schedule govern the time.I'm not pushin or rushing anything.
 
doesnt look like this weekend is gonna be too good with the weather. would next weekend work for you?
 
next weekend will work just fine.Looks like I'll be running my fireplace all weekend.Take care and be carefull out there.
 
looks like the weather Gods are gonna work against this weekend .You reckon it's gonna be the spring before it calms down some?I'm glad I've got alot of other stuff to work on besides this engine. Jimmy
 
In the past on such things I have used Kerosene and transmission fluid to soak in until I could scrape/wash it out. really loosens up the toughest gunk.
 
right now,the plan is to wash out the heavy gunk and then dip it in a container of deisel/kerosene (whichever is cheaper)and let it soak for a while.these engines are strange in that the valve guides are removable with the valve and valve spring.Kind of goes in as an assembly into a bore.Then a C clip is used to hold the assembly in position.The valve guide gets stuck in the bore with varnish and is a PITA to get out.The oil gunk would contaminate the deisel to the point of weakening it.The cleaner the engine,the better it will work. I went for 3 weeks spraying purple cleaner every evening all over and in it to break that crap down and other than a little discolored liquid running to the bottom of the block there is no change in consistancy or plyancy.
 
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