Hey,
Finally finished pulling the heads today, and some nice puddles of coolant made their way into the cylinders, which i cleaned up, but the pistons still have some nice buildup on them, and was wondering what is the best and most effective way to clean the pistons, and what cleaners are safe to use.
Thanks,
Brandon

 

i used super clean on mine and carb. cleaner and nothin is wrong so i would recommend that you use them for the cleaning.

 

Don't even touch the cylinder walls. To clean the piston tops I'd rotate the crank to bring each one to the top and clean with a razor. If need be something like carb cleaner will help break up the deposits. It probably goes without saying but some people have made the mistake of using harsh abrasives (scotch brite type material, sandpaper, etc.) on engine internals which is

When you are done coat the cylinder walls with oil or they will rust in a hurry. Some fine surface rust won't hurt much but I'd avoid it as much as possible. If you use a cleaner it'll wipe the bores clean too, which is why I avoid it if possible.

 

Brake clean

 

Hmm ok. all I have done so far is wipe down the pistons and cylinders with a soft t-tshirt to get the water off, and i was thinking carb cleaner might work for the piston tops. So you think I should lube the cylinder walls with oil after??
Brandon

 

Have the piston at TDC and use Seafoam and a scotch pad (Non Metallic) works great for carbon and pistons will look like new.

 

Yes spray them with WD40 to keep them from rusting. I told you this earlier, man. Even World Class Steve said to do it.

 

I used a putty knife to scrape the tops of my pistons, then a razor blade held by vice grips.

MAKE SURE YOU DRAIN/CHANGE YOUR OIL BEFORE YOU START IT BACK UP!!!!

 

Depends on how long the engine will be down. WD40 evaporates and runs off much quicker than motor oil. You don't want a lot of oil, just some on a rag and a quick swipe should protect the walls enough. It's just how **** you want to be I guess, the engine would live without any but some protection is much preferred.

 

Wipe the cylinder walls with engine oil, and rotate the engine a few times to place the pistons in different spots to do it. Remove any loose particles that way. Don't bother scraping the piston tops - putting some hard carbon particles down the piston sides is more damaging than leaving them alone. Any carbon that is stuck fast is best left there. The engine will only make new carbon again anyways in a few miles.
WD-40 is a solvent really, and carb cleaner is highly akaline. Just use engine oil.

 

Take a look at my results...

http://bedford.no-ip.org/piston_scrub.htm

 

Congratulations OutKast, on filling your engine with abrasive. Scotchbrite pads are huge engine killers. You probably didn't kill the engine in your case but reccomending using scotchbrite pads to others is a no-no. It may not appear that you did damage but if you take that engine apart there will be numerous scores on the pistons, rings, and piston skirts to prove me right. The fine particles get washed down in between bore and the piston and there isn't any way to get them out of there other than to embed them in the piston and then they become little honing stones on your bores.

Take it from your ASE Certified Master tech with 20 years in the business of working on engines. Don't use scotchbrite pads.

Vader has the right idea in this case. Don't try to "clean" it just protect the bores with some oil and don't add any dirt during the rebuild.

 

Thanks brother....you ASEs need to get your head out of your *** and agree on something because I was shown the method by an ASE. I did it over 10k miles ago, have run scores of low 12 sec passes, sprayed my share of juice and still drive it to work everyday in the Florida heat. That my friend is reliability.

When the carbon has built up to the point where you see it flaking you've got to do something. I have done this with excellent results.

Personally...I've had ASEs try to work on the simplest problems with my car only to find they didn't know sh*t so don't push your glorified piece of paper in my face. Care to take a poll on how satisfied most people are with work done at the dealer by your ASE bretheren?

 

*Puts on his heat repellent suit and hopes the flames don't get too hot*

 

He's right Outkast. Never use ANY abrasives on internals. I think you'll see that a higher percentage of folks have engine failure after doing so. Many of the people here on this site that have spun bearings and such after a cam swap have used scotch brite pads or even sandpaper for removing gasket material. Don't even use the ones sold for this purpose, it's a mistake and it's playing with fire.

I'm no ASE certified mechanic but I've been around enough to know this