To those contemplating cleaning their engine bay, I thought I'd pass this along.

I'm using "Easy-Off" oven cleaner followed by "Simple Green," and it works great.

I wanted to experiment with a section first and see how it worked. I decided to test it on the engine cradle of my frame.

Here's a picture taken right after I removed my engine...

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/7753/engineremoval1.jpg


I first did a quick job with my scraper to just take off any of the heavy gunk.
I then sprayed the surface with "Easy-Off" oven cleaner and let it soak for two hours.
I then sprayed the surface with undiluted "Simple Green" and wiped it with a shop rag. I sprayed it a second time with the "Simple Green" and wiped it again with a clean shop rag, and this is what it looked like...

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/933/picture011sih.jpg


As you can see, it took almost the entire surface down to bare metal. No grinding, no sanding, and really not that much "elbow grease" either.

After I saw how good this method works, I removed those motor mounts and gave the surface a second treatment with the "Easy-Off" followed up with the "Simple Green," and that removed the remainder of stuff from the engine cradle.

I'm going to get up in the morning and coat the rest of the frame and fire wall with "Easy-Off," followed up with "Simple Green," and then the entire area will be ready for paint.

This is a great method for cleaning that heavy gunk and grime in the engine bay, and as I said, it involves no grinding (or grinding dust).
It doesn't involve any fumes either, because the "Easy Off" I got is "Fume Free." The only thing you smell is a rather pleasant lemon scent.

It just sprays on, and two hours later you basically wipe it off, and you're down to bare metal...with no grinding whatsoever. :)

I hope this helps out some people out there.

Regards,
-Greg

Great find! I'll keep this one in my tips and tricks collection.

You may already have plans to do this, but you didn't mention it, so for the sake of others that may be considering this, I'll add my two cents. You will definitely need to remove any residue from the cleaner by wiping it down with some sort of metal prep solution or paint thinner to remove any solvents or oils left over. Also, you will likely need to scuff the metal with a fine wire wheel or use a self etching primer to give your paint a better chance of sticking.

Simple Green works wonders.

Ive mixed it in the soap bottle for the pressure washer to get real nasty greasy stuff clean.

Easy Off does work great! Your car is coming along nicely Greg :thumbsup:

I've used Easy Off on exhaust too. When you get something like oil, tar, melted boots (motorcycle) etc. Works good, especially when you heat the exhaust up.:yes:
FWIW Jody


http://photobucket.com/chevele72

Been using Easy-off for a while but not in combination with Simple Green.
Nice find...

i like castrol super clean also. just becareful you dont get too much on your skin as it will dry it up very fast.


aaron

It's great that the Easy Off is working for you but paint remover would have been a LOT faster and much more thorough. One application would have done the job. I suspect you'll find those last bits of remaining paint and grease will be quite stubborn to remove. Oven cleaner is normally used to strip paint off plastics because it's so mild.

Tom

Occasionally we would pick up this guy near our place in Nothern Ws and save hime the 5 mile walk to and from town. On one of these "give a lift back" to his 1 room cabin we asked what the easy off sticking out of his bag since he heated and cooked with a wood burning stove. "To clean the windows - after a winter of wood burning smoke and kerosene lamps the windows get so you can't see through them anymore" - Move over Windex!

Easy off also cleans up dirty plastic marker lenses real well.

Does anyone know if there are particular metals that easy-off will harm?

My son and I have pulled the motor out of his Skylark, already prepped and painted the firewall, frame and adjacent components, and have installed a fresh new suspension. The motor is rather dirty so I made blanking plates to cover the intake, exhaust, fuel pump, etc holes that would be exposed.

As many of you know, the distributor on a buick is up front, stabbed into the oil pump housing and is made of aluminum, as is the water pump. Will easy-off harm the aluminum?

Does anyone know if there are particular metals that easy-off will harm?

Will easy-off harm the aluminum?

Easy Off contains lye, also known as sodium hydroxide. If it is left on aluminum long enough it will etch the aluminum. When left on aluminum for a short time it removes the anodizing from exterior trim so it can be polished more easily. Easy Off will also take the finish off of plated brake boosters.

If aluminum is left in a liquid solution of lye long enough, the lye will eat all of the aluminum, and I'm only talking about over a weekend or so. :eek:

Easy Off will also clean off the black brake dust on alloy wheels.
Spray it on...wait 5 min, and, with a brush and a stream of water from a garden hose... like new;)

Been using oven cleaner for engine compartments for a long time.........buy it 10 to 12 cans at a time at the 99 cent store......then use the pressure washer and it cleans up rather well and quickly. I'll have to try the Simple green in the soap bottle on the pressure washer next time.

Paint remover would have been a LOT faster and much more thorough. One application would have done the job.


The Easy-Off worked just fine...and I didn't have to endure paint remover fumes permeating my garage either.
My frame, from the firewall forward, is down to bare metal, so I fail to see how paint remover would have been more "thorough." There's nothing left to remove when you're down to bare metal.




I suspect you'll find those last bits of remaining paint and grease will be quite stubborn to remove.

You suspect wrong FigBash.
The "after" picture above was taken after the first application of Easy-Off followed by Simple Green.

The second application took off those "last bits of remaining paint and grease" that you see in the picture, cleaning the entire engine cradle down to bare metal.
The next morning I did the rest of the frame in front of the firewall...with the same results.

No grinding with goggles and a dust mask on, no paint fumes filling up my garage, etc.

Regards,
-Greg

Be careful mixing cleaners of any sort you might just be mixing up your own version of mustard gas. It might be lemon fresh scent but could be potentially harmful. Ventilate regardless of how good it smells!

Any new pics of the firewall and such??? Looking good.

The Easy-Off worked just fine...and I didn't have to endure paint remover fumes permeating my garage either.
My frame, from the firewall forward, is down to bare metal, so I fail to see how paint remover would have been more "thorough." There's nothing left to remove when you're down to bare metal.




You suspect wrong FigBash.
The "after" picture above was taken after the first application of Easy-Off followed by Simple Green.

The second application took off those "last bits of remaining paint and grease" that you see in the picture, cleaning the entire engine cradle down to bare metal.
The next morning I did the rest of the frame in front of the firewall...with the same results.

No grinding with goggles and a dust mask on, no paint fumes filling up my garage, etc.

Regards,
-Greg

Looks like you got lucky. I used Easy Off on some interior plastic parts and it failed. It took some of the paint off the rest had to be sanded. The paint in your engine compartment was probably softened by years of oil exposure so it succumbed without much of a fight.

Tom

Greg, if it were me, I'd line the garage floor with a drop tarp before I washed that sludge away. I've got 1 dedicated tarp for projects like these and my shop floor still resembles concrete. Just a tip for the tipster.:D

Easy Off will also clean off the black brake dust on alloy wheels.
Spray it on...wait 5 min, and, with a brush and a stream of water from a garden hose... like new;)

You beat me to it. I couldn't get that crap off of my wheels no matter what I tried, until I tried Easy-off :thumbsup:

Easy Off works great on wire wheels as well!!!
tom

Greg, if it were me, I'd line the garage floor with a drop tarp before I washed that sludge away...my shop floor still resembles concrete.


Thanks Jerry, that's a good tip.

Actually, my garage floor is painted with gray concrete floor epoxy.
Regardless of what I get on it, I just sweep it and mop it with Simple Green and it still looks great.
The floor that you see in the pictures I posted has since been swept and mopped and now looks clean enough to sit on in a pair of white pants.

The day I got the car and parked it in my garage it was leaking transmission fluid...and continued to leak over the next few days until the entire floor under the car was covered with transmission fluid.
I lined some shop rags on the floor along the sides of the car to stop it from seeping out any further, and went a few weeks before I got around to mopping it up with Simple Green.
After it was mopped up, you couldn't even tell that anything had ever leaked on the floor...no stains...nothing.

But, your tip is duly noted and appreciated.
I would also recommend garage floor epoxy to anyone interested in protecting their concrete. :thumbsup:

Regards,
-Greg

This is the craziest thing I've ever scene. Do you use other kitchen utensils (ie. spatula) for stripping the engine compartment. Ever here of sand blasting, it's the latest craze, does a way better job. Now I see why POR 15 works for you. LOL

Not everyone has access to a pressure pot. Sandblasting has it's place but I prefer only using it to remove rust, not paint. There are some tight areas where it's just too much effort to remove paint but the engine compartment isn't 1 of them. Sandblasting using playsand is dangerous when the crap gets airbourne if you don't wear a respirator. Far too many folks treat sandblasting as a benign task.

Jerry

It would be far easier,safer, and cheaper to buy the correct media locally and buy a respirator to do this than using easy off oven cleaner to strip the whole engine compartment. It would take along time but even doing this with a cheap spot blaster would give you better results in far less time. I have used oven cleaner for stripping paint off of smal interior and exterior parts, but an engine compartment seems ridiculous to me. I have a local blaster that will come to your house and pick your stuff up in a trailer and return the next day done for probably cheaper than you can do it yourself.

Purple power works awesome as well. I bought a gallon of it from advanced, need to get some more. Anyway, it will take all the grease and grime off anything. Like the Easy Off, it will eat aluminum and take paint off if you let it sit for extended periods. I use it on the wife cars to get the bugs and road tar off. I spray it on, let it sit 3-5 minutes and then blast it with the pressure washer. It does wonders on oil stains on the driveway too. Don't get it all over yourself, it will start to burn rather fast.