Super Clean Aluminum Engine Parts
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 2. 05. 2019
- Here I show the best method I have found for cleaning aluminum engine parts. Now, fair warning, Purple Power is not necessarily recommended for aluminum parts. In fact, their website does not recommend it. The bottle does say you can test on aluminum, but may discolor or dull it. I wanted to use it to clean the grease and dirt off my aluminum engine parts, and I found it worked very well. It worked better than my engine parts cleaner.
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After cleaning and polishing several aluminium parts and wheels I've found it's not the solvent necessarily but the brass brush is the real winner here. It really does a great job.
Scotch brite and some elbow grease is also extremely effective
I remember years back....filling our new parts washer with a 5 gallon bucket of Purple power. LOL. It ate the aluminum pump in the tank.
Another great video. Thanks Dale! That purple stuff is great. I just used it to clean my block to help me track down and oil leak.....Half of my valve cover bolts were loose! I torqued them all to 85in/lbs and leak is gone! Glad it wasn't my RMS! Its nice to fix an oil leak in 10 minutes! I appreciate the easy ones.
Thanks man! Yeah, the easy ones are always nice wins!
im glad you found the cover... I was beginning to think this was going to be 6 min of watching you look for it!
Exact same project I have for this weekend after putting a new header on my 4.0. Perfect timing!
Haha. Awesome!
after i discovered this i never looked back.
its very pleasing to see it working so effectively that after spraying it a 2nd/3rd time [& initial good soaking round] the force from the jet spray alone is enough to get an 8th in. thick of oily crud cake to just liquify off and drip down to the floor, exposing clean slightly lustrous metal, can imagine how much better the wire brush makes it
Thank you for all the help, tips, and wisdom you share. Its nice having someone who is not vulgar and does not ramble off topic. You do a great job making videos. Keep it up good sir.
Here in Wisconsin at the farm store they have whats called power team acid rinse. Its thin pink sprayable liquid. Its a blend of phosphoric acid and sulfuric acid. Are used it on my pontoons and it was amazing! It brighten them up very well but didnât cause any kind of pitting or etching. Itâs only eight bucks a gallon! spray it on and let it sit for a few minutes and rinse it off! Iâll be doing an aluminum canoe next!
That's the same stuff I use! I soak my aluminum parts in a mixture of that and hot water overnight and it literally melts everything off. I would recommend using a paintbrush when rinsing them to help get all the residue off.
Purple Power is a godsend.
I discovered that about 3 or 4 years ago and I use it practically every time I open a hood
How long was it on far
Thanks for your video, I used dawn dish washing soap for the heavy grease and oil with the brushes, then hit it with the purple power cleaner to finish it off.
Hi Dale, It's Arjan from the Netherlands again! Just finished my rebuild and the engine is really running smooth!! I'm so happy with it. Thanks a lot for the tutorials. I've really enjoyed watching them. I will still keep watching to see if you are doing things correct! Hahaha.... Regards Arjan
Nice! You're a few months ahead of me. My build is slow, but coming along well.
sir this purple power also does radiator flush great my truck was overheating with lots of rust and i mixed it with half a gallon of water let my truck idle for 15 minutes.. wow it did the job no overheating anymore i was impressed i didnt have to take radiator off to get it cleaned .. so thumbs up for purple power work amaizin. so it work better than having to buy at an auto store radiator flush when u have it right at home thanks you
My high school automotive teacher showed me purple power. I'm forever grateful. I love that stuff
Great stuff!
I read a study on the top 10 grease and oil cleaners and Purple Power was number 2 behind a $20/gal brand. At less than $5/gal it is my favorite parts cleaner but definitely don't leave aluminum soaking in it for a long time. 5 or 10 minutes and a good scrub will do the trick. Although it does leave a dull gray finish on aluminum, you can polish it up as much as you like afterwords.
Love Purple Power! Use it in all of my restorations. The only one the seems to cut the grease and grime. Like you said, it takes some scrubbing. Thank you for your videos đ
Back in the day we use to soak all aluminum things (pistons, covers, etc.) in carb cleaner. That was before the EPA got involved and now everything sucks. ZEP industrial cleaner in a boiling tank works good. Have tried the purple stuff too. Once I get the grease/oil gone....I use a sandblaster with 50% silica sand and 50% glass beads to finish it up. Some people blast with walnut shells.
Nitro Force for R/C cars is hands down the best cleaner Ive ever used. Spray that stuff on, and the hardened dirt grease and grime just falls right off.
I use some pink dishwasher soap, hot water and a toothbrush for more simple aluminum chores. Thanks for the great tip!
Chaoz Effect exactly!! People donât realize the effectiveness of HOT HOT WATER. Throw in some dish soap and a scoop of laundry detergent with a few gallons of hot h2o and pow! . Use a brass brush and itâs new
I personally have had poor results using purple-power on unfinished caste-aluminum parts. It cleans caked-on oil/grease very well and the parts look nice and clean. I few days later, a white cruddy powdery residue starts appearing on the surface. Looking through various automotive forums, this is a very common experience with Purple-Power. Thorough scrubbing of the part with detergent seems to remove the crud, but it eventually comes back. From what I gather, it has to do with Sodium Hydroxide (the active ingredient in Purple Power) getting into the micro-pores of cast aluminum and causing a reaction.
Sodium Hydroxide in solution will turn all aluminum black.
That's corrosion. When aluminum composites corrode, that's how they do it. Over years that powder becomes deep pitted holes in the surface. Water makes it happen much, much quicker, but because this is an engine part the heat probably prolongs the life of the part, slowing the reaction down considerably by flash drying it with regular use.
For another fun chemical experiment, you ought to drop a drop of gallium on it and wait overnight. By the next day you'll be able to fully demolish the part by hand and it'll be made entirely of that powder because of the way gallium bonds with aluminum.
@@michaeljayfawkes2414 Yes, automotive aluminum does corrode in the real world but it is generally accepted to be cosmetic rather than structural on nature. Pure aluminum passivates (ie forms an impermiable oxide layer that protects the metal underneath from further reaction).
The white powder (that I've seen forming after using Purple Power) is very different in consistency from the normal corrosion that forms on typical alluminum alloy surfaces. Natural corrosion residue is much harder, forms much slower and is characterized by pitting.
I've never had the white powder chemically analyzed but it matches the physical characteristics of Sodium-Aluminate (NaAlO2 or NaAl(OH)4 in hydrated form) very well, a soft white fine powder formed when an aluminum surface comes in contact with sodium hydroxide (the key component in Purple).
As bad as gallium is for aluminum I believe mercury is even worse. I remember hearing that it is prohibited to transport mercury on planes.
I think the trick is to not let it sit on the part. Spray, scrub, rinse, rinse, rinse.
@@sfdrcm Agreed. LAs Totally Awesome also works quite well, and I haven't had the corrosion issue. The original yellow one, mind you, the orange one messes up aluminum in a matter of 30 minutes.
I have use this product called Wurth it is for aluminum wheels and works super, even when the wheel is looking clean it still digs deeper and gets a lot more cleaner, I am amazed at how it cleans wheels so should work on all aluminum stuff
I used this cleaner before and it works.
Super clean works the best for me but gotta be quick to wash it off then follow up with aluminum brightener
Nothing beats vapor blast finish!!! Go for Vapor Blast!!
Still got to get it clean first. Otherwise you just contaminated the blast media.
What does that cost compared to a bottle of cleaner?
Pj1 super cleaner industrial grade. I accidentally discovered this stuff. It works so good.
I use the Purple Power extreme, which is just a bit more expensive but it works better too. Good video
I used 800 grit wet sand paper on my aluminum Ute tray followed by a metal polish then finished off with an epoxy clear coat...the tray looks like stainless steel with an mirror finish!
I just polished my intake manifold with a $20 gravity feed blaster and $25 glass bead 80 grit blast media from harbor freight, and a regular compressor, It looks like new and have left 3/4 of a 25 lbs. Of the blast media.
I have a media blaster from Harbor Freight but haven't used it yet. Did you build an enclosure to keep the media from being spread all over? Thanks
@@darylvoorhees2629 i did it on my backyard grass., got spreaded and lost on the grass, went to waste but looking how shiny is my intake manifold i think its worth!
Interesting video!
Toluene, its used as a degreaser in aeronautics machining. Aluminum and carbon steel safe. The only down side is the fumes make sure to use it out doors or in a big open space with a fan.
Just watched a video with two crazy Canadians that use a metal trash can, and a small gas burner underneath it, fill with water and Simple Green...that aluminum head came out super clean.
I always use a rotary wire brush - just lightly, but it takes off all the oxide which is what holds the oil/grease.
A fine brass wire brush is ok but not for gasket surfaces, a large machined flat block of alum and PSA 320 on it does a good job.
I have the same thing in Industrial Purple concentrated cleaner I will try. I will look for dilution rates but grease falls off my bolts after soaking over night at a rate of 5 :1. Luckily my intake is fairly new and just 'mildly engine dirty'. I have to clean it because I just had my heads rebuilt and I painted them pretty... A dirty manifold would ruin my rep LOL.......... My Edelbrock Performer isn't polished so I don't see an issue with using a tooth brush and a quick rinse! Thanks for the idea.
For car parts, I use Simple Green in various ratios w a toothbrush and the brass brush. Covers 90% of my needs. When this isnât enough, out comes Purple Power.
green antifreeze, warmed up in a crock pot on low setting for 6 - 18 hours, dangerous but many swear by it! ideal on alloy and anodised alloy parts.
Maguires hot rims in the red bottle I think it says for chrome rims on it. But I use it on aluminum all the time itâs got a really strong odor that will almost take your breath but it works extremely well on aluminum and Iâve never had any issues.
I saw the purple power at the auto parts store, I opted for another product on the shelf next to it. âSpray Nineâ it worked very good! Also saw the simple green but didnât try it either
spray nine is a legendary underrated degreaser, works on EVERYTHING. Glad to know someone knows of it :)
I use Purple Power for my wheels all the time. Bleach White is also great for the white lettering on my tires.
Hi, I cleaned all my aluminium parts in my vapor blaster but blasting the grease works well and fast but it makes a huge mess in the blaster housing so recently I started using a handheld blaster (25U$) with soda and preclean the part out in the garden (get good protective glasses) since the baking soda is environmentally safe you can do that in the lawn. Afterwards I blast it in the vapor blaster with glassbeads which brings great results and a smooth surface.
Ok, you got to rinse them really well with warm water and dishwashing liquid to get any of the beads out especially out of thread holes that tend to fill up. When dry I use compressed air and go over it once or twice until its has no beads left.
At home soda blasting works really well. Either make a diy blaster, or pick one up from harbor freight. Just rinse well with water immediately after blasting.
Dust in an engine is very bad ...very bad .
@@nadronnocojr Look up soda blasting. its not dust like you think. Its been used for a very long time and still one of the best way to clean aluminum parts.
I've been using Purple Power on my rebuild.. I soaked aluminum parts in a bin with PP concentrate diluted with water, several days later I noticed barnacle like formation in the water, and on some of the parts.. doesnt look damaging, but I quickly pulled them out and now in the process of shining them up..
This is not meant to be in long time contact with aluminum. Spray, scrub and rinse.
@@sfdrcm Indeed! Lesson learned! Lol
Most products like this contain hydroxides. Purple Power has it listed on the material SDS. Aluminum is generally a reactive metal and hydroxide (OH-) can dissolve away the protective aluminum oxide layer. A better alternative would be elbow grease + a biodegradable cleaner like simple green. Highly recommend diluting products like Purple Power and minimizing the amount of time it spends in contact with the surface of the aluminum.
Purple Power cost me a timing cover and ac mounting bracket!! thank you for letting others know about this!!!
@@strongman86 I don't think a lot of people know or understand that a strong bases (like sodium hydroxide) eat a lot metals just like a strong acid (think hydrochloric acid that you might see at a hardware store).
I think there's a misconception that if something is sold in a plastic container, it must be safe for metals.
Not that anyone would do this in the automotive world, but bromine reacts with aluminum as well, pretty violently. It's one of my favorite lab demos. @mtsuchemistry
I use a circular wire brush on my drill and gunk degreaser. Came out almost polished
That's what I always do aswell. This guys totally wasting his time with housewife products.
Maybe he doesn't have a drill and Wirebrush bit case that's the way to go
Wire brushes chew up aluminum. Nylon, brass, or Roloc would be better.
@@Brees1986 Isn't a wire brush brass tho? Or some are steel.
I had good luck with mineral spirits. I first used dawn dish soap, and then mineral spirits for the stubborn areas.
Sonax works great
Super clean is the best i have used you can get it at walmart or most auto part stores
Powerbolt use to be the go to cleaner now for the heavy stuff i use starting fluid to dry everything then a wire brush on a die grinder to clean it all up. Less mess when it is a dry cleaning and no chemicals needed.
Check out the blue beacon truck wash at the truck stops.see if you can buy some aluminum brightener from them works great on diesel road grime.
Straight PineSol , I use it to clean aluminum Carb parts and what ever will fit in my sonic cleaner. But if you can submerge any part with it and leave it set overnight it works pretty good also.
Im using throttle body cleaner and/or wheel cleaner+pressure washer. A garden hose works too if you either have a strong thumb or a adjustable tip.
product called Challenger . used to clean the trucks at work sells at Ace harware, manardes $ 9.00 a gallon. used it for 30 years . leaves film on glass, eats away latex paint. cleans bathtub rings great. cleans tires exellent
I use homemade stoddard solvent that I make from odorless mineral spirits and Gunk SC3 Super Concentrate Degreaser. in my parts washer. After soaking and brush cleaning I use a pressure washer.
I like to use diesel just soaked my trx case in it and used a tooth brush and got it perfect took a long time but worked just wanted to put my comments in to maybe help
With a easy to clean part like that (as opposed to something with bad crevices), definitely go with RED PRESSURE WASHER TIP đ Absolutely harmless
Purple power is great! I also like using Pyroil engine degreaser.
i used DOT3/4 brake fluid on my cylinder head to great result. i ran out, so i have yet to try it on the intake manifold. The head and intake have a oil build-up similar to yours. i'll try this as it may be better environmentally.
What can the brake fluid remove? Just oil and grease? Or the deep stained dirt?
I just used Dawn on the inside and outside of an aluminum intake manifold. Got all the inside buildup beautifully.
I thought this was a live stream, then the time lapse kicked in to overdrive. I thought the NyQuil was kicking in hard!
Haha!!! That's awesome!!
Best comment ever
I use concentrated car wash soap, and a plastic parts brush. Sometimes I have to heat up some water and soak it due life 10 minutes before a clean it. But it gets my parts pretty clean. I use tooth brush for right areas.
Sgrassatore universale (italian)degreaser best I have tryed so far you can buy from Amazon
Pinesol and hot water.
Works great, just rinse it really well.
Only small splash of pinesol a little goes a long ways.
That is truly a transformationâŠ.
We are just going through the same process right now, can I ask some questions?:
What machine did you used to scrub the floors?
Did you applied another coat of clear on top of the epoxy flakes?
Thank you.
I bought and used some sort of acid cleaner made by eagle one it did a pretty good job can't remember the name but it was in a blue spray bottle
i mix Simple Green and Dawn dish soap
and it works amazing
I have used Purple Power for cleaning the topside of my engine and engine bay. Works great. I'm currently restoring a 1961 Chevy C10 truck with massive amounts of caked on dirt with grease on the front suspension. It's all steel of course, but have you found that oven cleaner works best on those parts? Thanks
White spirit works the best as it cleans oil easy and is safe for paint. For cleaning rust run-off and surface rust best is rust converter/naval jelly which contains orthophosphoric acid it is also safe for paint. You can even safely spray both of them directly on parts.
A bead blaster works beautifully without the worry of contaminating the metal with unknown acids or detergents. Aviation grade Aluminum polish from Aircraft Spruce will also work.
That's black paint. Vapor blast is awesome !
Dry ice cleaning. Factory fresh literally đđđŽó §ó ąó „ó źó §ó ż
Ever heard of a wet blaster? I made one using a sand blast cabinet, videos on you tube to make it, I use masonry sand which is very fine works good for car parts, it is the easy way to clean, my sand recycles so all I am consuming is water.
I used Mean Green. But like the purple stuff thereâs still A LOT of scrubbing with a brass brush.
Purple cuts the grease pretty well.
Kerosene mate, with a parts wash brush or toothbrush, gets it clean clean
Or diesel. That's what's in commercial spray cans of engine degreaser
its very good on it
I tried simple green. Works great. Check labels, there are some variants of simple green not safe for aluminum. Brass brush as well. Might try purple power to see difference. Thanks!
I should do a side by side comparison with Simple Green
I used a 50/50 solution of Simple Green in my parts cleaner. Removed the powder-coated paint finish on the inside of the tub. Ended up cleaning the whole thing with brake cleaner, sanding and coating the entire inner tub with Predator bed liner no problems since.
I soaked my valve cover in this over night and it ate right through it, that stuff is very powerful if you let parts soak, I'd use simple green it works just as good with no corrosion
Yeah. Have to be careful with this.
I bought a used aluminum engine oil pan for my project. It was covered in sludge and dust and I used easy off heavy duty. It cleaned well but left a white powder on the internal surfaces. Do you think it is safe to use? Will the powder contaminate the oil system and cause damage?
Dry ice detailing works the best â€
Waterway car wash here in Colorado use purple power on everything when I worked there we used it on chrome wheels aluminum wheels steel anything cleaning stains on cars stains in carpet leather all of it
I use wd-40 to clean my cast aluminum motorcycle rims. I'll be painting them this summer. Brass wire wheel+ wd-40 should do the trick!
FYI zep makes a parts cleaner that specifically states that it is safe for aluminum just look for the bottle that shows car parts on the front of the gallon jug and read the description it says how to mix and that it is safe for aluminum
Ha! Your shop reminds me of mine. I spend 2 minutes removing a part and then the next day I spend 20 minutes trying to figure out where I left it.
Haha! It can be that way sometimes
I can relate buddy đ€Šđ»ââïžđ
I use simple green...but straight concentrate not diluted. .and a nylon brush ...spray and clean over and over. ..used it for years. ..
4:50 There's something I use as a "first step" (won't get it completely clean, but does as well as this Purple Power stuff); think about what grease is. It's an emulsified oil. An emulsion is any dry material that is mixed with a liquid, but only enough liquid to make it a high viscosity liquid (and not a low viscosity. Basically more of the solid than the liquid). Grease, the kind of grease we're talking about, is solid carbon mixed with liquid hydrocarbons (oil with carbon soot). Now, what cleans up grease really well? Like when you need to repack a wheel bearing and you want to get all the grease (that's been further emulsified with dirt and rocks) out of the bearing?
Mineral Spirits.
is there any European analog for the US purple power?
some paint remover and vinegar+water mix might also work tho
You should try vapor blasting with glass media, water, and soap...
Acid bath them we used to clean intercoolers and radiators here in AUS
I'm using a heavy duty wire wheel cleaner from first place finish
GOJO Orange hand cleaner (with the pumice).
Soak it overnight in the GOJO, then scrub. It cleaned up a 35 year old diesel valve cover to Like-New condition.
Donât know if you have tried this but our local Napa parts store has something call Aluminum brightening I know rite but it actually works on any aluminum I have just sprayed it in my engine bay but I made my rims shiny lol
OâReillys foamy engine degreaser or just straight up carb cleaner
My buddy who has only worked on irons block engines told me to put my aluminum LS block in a purple power bath. Left it in for 2 weeks and when I pulled it out it had eaten at it and the Block was shot. On my second block.... I used a pink aluminum brightener which consists of hydrochloric & Phosphoric acids. Wet surface, spray on, scrub in with soft brush, & let sit for 10 mins and hose off. Rinse and repeat until desired clean. It takes a few times but gradually youâll get your desired level of clean. If you have smaller alum parts, I use Berryman Chem-dip. Amazing stuff.
I have a buddy who uses his kids old aquarium with Simple green and has the tank heater turned up on high. He has cleaned carbs, valve covers and heads in it. It works pretty well.
Thanks for the vid
NAPA Aluminum brightener works great on caked on stuff
Purple is awesome for aluminum . Trick is have a water hose ready in hand. Must be fast and Do not let it set more than 5 seconds tops. Any longer will full and etch . Be fast and it is the absolute best
I buy that stuff concentrate by the gallon. When diluted It work like spray & wash for clothes but a lot cheaper. Bead blast aluminum with walnut shell or glass bead. Plug holes first.
Haha. Yeah, I'll be buying more
My trick is usually spraying some brake cleaner, letting it sit for about 30 seconds and then hitting it with a pressure washer. Never found any grease stubborn enough with this method. As long as the surface is not painted, the aluminum should be perfectly fine without any etching or discoloration
Brake cleaner evaporates within minutes, letting it sit is doing nothing
@@tylerseabook9423 I said about 30 seconds. and any solvent needs time to dissolve
Yeah having a good pressure washer is an invaluable tool, the one at my shop takes off grease so easily, can make an engine bay with 100k miles look almost brand new in 5 minutes
I just used super clean and if you let it soak for a day or so it really desolves the grease.Or you can use Meguairs chrome wheel cleaner which reacts faster as it will take everything off except some stubborn residue
I use La awesome" orange from the dollar tree, let it soak about 1-2 mins and gently scrub with a soft brush. Hose off. Usually looks good. Also so does a strong mix of warm water and dawn platinum dish soap with a brush.
Not sure if either are actually "safe" for aluminum but Its what I have used with good results.
"Awesome" uses an advanced surfactant chemistry that is generally pH neutral and safe on most metals.
The best results I've seen for aluminum motorcycle parts is to use glass bead Vapor blasting you can convert a sandblaster to vapour blasting machine with a trash pump
I find battery acid (sulfuric acid 60% ) works great apply with a paint
brush allow to soak a few minutes then a light scrub !
Racing fuel works awesome too. But now that's it's $10 a gallon I opted for other things.