Easy cleaning of caked on greese and grime

Thought I would post this out there as an good easy way to clean that caked on grease and grime off parts. In this instance I am cleaning up all my engine brackets that had 44+ years of caked on grease and grime. The kind that is difficult to scrape off with a screw driver and is rock solid. I tried some simple green with little results. I even put them in the dishwasher to my wife's displeasure, no luck, might have even made it worse.

I grabbed a can of heavy duty easy off oven cleaner and a bin with a tight lid. Put on some rubber gloves and sprayed each pieced down with a heavy coat of easy off and placed in the bin. The next day I re-sprayed the parts and sealed up once more. Came back two days later and gave them a quick brush off (very little effort) and hot water rinse and all the grime was gone. Took some time for it to work but it was minimal effort and minimal mess. Here are some pics of the brackets cleaned off and ready to go into the molasses tank.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing that info. I've used oven cleaner before, but never sealed up in a bin. Good idea. I seem to recall that some types of oven cleaner can damage aluminum. Do you know anything about that?

I'm not sure about the aluminum. I have not tried it. I can spray some on a scrap piece tonight and let it soak and post up some pics.

It will remove any paint as well.

It will remove any paint as well.

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And parts of your skin if not careful. WEAR GLOVES!!

You painting or powder coating those brackets? I powder coated all mine. They turned out really nice. I bought the Eastwood powder gun kit. I have used it a ton with great results. I even shot my intake with satin clear to keep the aluminum looking new.

I was going to just paint them but I might have them coated. I don't have a gun but we have a local shop that does a lot of powder coating for me. They are reasonable too.

Very nice. Thanks for sharing that info. I've used oven cleaner before, but never sealed up in a bin. Good idea. I seem to recall that some types of oven cleaner can damage aluminum. Do you know anything about that?

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Negative on the aluminum. Turned it into white powder and the fumes were really bad. Was really bubbly and fizzing as well.

Thanks for following up. Good to know.

Oven cleaner is usually some version of sodium hydroxide. When mixed with aluminum a chemical reaction occurs which gives of hydrogen gas at a great rate-in a closed vessel, the pressure will cause a potential explosion, the gas given off is flammable. The white powder is the result of this reaction and is aluminum oxide.

Avoid combining these two things to keep yourself safe.

Oven cleaner is usually some version of sodium hydroxide. When mixed with aluminum a chemical reaction occurs which gives of hydrogen gas at a great rate-in a closed vessel, the pressure will cause a potential explosion, the gas given off is flammable. The white powder is the result of this reaction and is aluminum oxide.

Avoid combining these two things to keep yourself safe.

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When we were kids we used to put aluminum foil balls in plastic pop bottles with some toilet bowl cleaner...... Makes for one heck of a BANG!!! LOL!! :whistling:

I must be older than you, we used glass bottles with draino crystals and wadded up foil-even used a pickle jar once-timing was everything as you had to dump the draino in, screw on the cap and get rid of the bottle in about 10 seconds. Very stupid, very dangerous

Very nice. Thanks for sharing that info. I've used oven cleaner before, but never sealed up in a bin. Good idea. I seem to recall that some types of oven cleaner can damage aluminum. Do you know anything about that?

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Negative on the aluminum. Turned it into white powder and the fumes were really bad. Was really bubbly and fizzing as well.

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Well, I'm glad I read that! I thought that I read on this forum that oven cleaner was the way to clean your Bright window trim during restoration. Looks like that is not worth the effort.

I have had outstanding results from purple power. Same thing, 30 year of axle grease on the back of the magnum 500s. Spray the Purple Power on, wait a few minutes, hose it off.

kcmash

Very nice. Thanks for sharing that info. I've used oven cleaner before, but never sealed up in a bin. Good idea. I seem to recall that some types of oven cleaner can damage aluminum. Do you know anything about that?

Click to expand...

Negative on the aluminum. Turned it into white powder and the fumes were really bad. Was really bubbly and fizzing as well.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm glad I read that! I thought that I read on this forum that oven cleaner was the way to clean your Bright window trim during restoration. Looks like that is not worth the effort.

I have had outstanding results from purple power. Same thing, 30 year of axle grease on the back of the magnum 500s. Spray the Purple Power on, wait a few minutes, hose it off.

kcmash

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I have been using EZ off oven cleaner to remove the anodize coating from my aluminum trim. Then polish it back up.

There are at least 2 kinds of Easy Off Oven Cleaner. The HD version has the lye; the other versions do not. It is the lye that reacts with aluminum, from what I've read.

There are at least 2 kinds of Easy Off Oven Cleaner. The HD version has the lye; the other versions do not. It is the lye that reacts with aluminum, from what I've read.

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I did have the HD kind.

I use oven cleaner on cast iron heads, works a treat on removing carbon and oil, the type I use is based on Sodium Hydroxide and the kit include large plastic bags which are normally used for cleaning the oven racks, you brush paste on the cleaner seal the bag and leave for a day or so.

I just swap the oven racks for Cylinder Heads normally standing them on their ends and paste the gloop on and tie the bags off, leave for a few days occasionally opening the bag and re-slopping the oven gloop that has collected at the bottom of the bag back over the heads with a cheap paint brush and reseal.

When happy I just take them out and hose or jet wash with detergent, cleans them like brand new. Be careful to wear gloves as it burns skin, (similar to good paint stripper) also dry the heads quickly to prevent flash rust, or lightly oil with cheap penetrating oil 3in1.

In the UK, I use Ovenpride http://www.ovenpride.com which I buy in the cheap Pound Stores for err a £pound. I'm sure you have the same or similar in the US.

Don't use on Aluminium though.

Negative on the aluminum. Turned it into white powder and the fumes were really bad. Was really bubbly and fizzing as well.

Click to expand...

Well, I'm glad I read that! I thought that I read on this forum that oven cleaner was the way to clean your Bright window trim during restoration. Looks like that is not worth the effort.

I have had outstanding results from purple power. Same thing, 30 year of axle grease on the back of the magnum 500s. Spray the Purple Power on, wait a few minutes, hose it off.

kcmash

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I have been using EZ off oven cleaner to remove the anodize coating from my aluminum trim. Then polish it back up.

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Do you have it ready anodized, or how do you manage the corrosion of the aluminum as it ages?

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On the finish on those brackets. The adjuster for the air and the bracket that it bolts to should be the Phosphate coating like the hood hinges, Hood latch and upper shock mounts. The gas pedal bracket and the emergency brake are also phosphate. You can do it yourself order the materials online if you are going to go for show points. You will need a big stainless or some type of non ferrous container to do the process in. You also need to heat the material. You can get immersion heaters or use a hot plate but do outside. Paint will be totally wrong for some of the brackets. You need to glass bead before phosphate also. Need to do a step by step on the process but no time and too much to do, lol.