What to clean with

I'm taking apart and cleanig a go kart engine and I was wondering, what kind of solvent should I use to clean the engine parts? Thanks - Andrew

brake cleaner, which is pretty much ammonia. Don't use these on anything besides metal parts.

why, will eat through plastic and stuff?

Parts cleaning solvent comes in 5 gallon cans, but I suspect that it's basically really nothing more than kerosene. I personally use kerosene inside a large bucket and a parts cleaning brush. Have lots of rags handy too and remember that this stuff burns. A parts washer can be purchased fairly cheap from Harbor Freight. A good parts cleaner should have a hinge that will melt and fall closed in the event of a fire. Any rags you use should be kept in a metal container with a cover. No sense taking a chance in burning your house down. That's exactly what a friend of mine did because he was cleaning engine parts inside his garage one night. The "trouble light" fell into the solvent. The bulb cracked and ingited some rags. Before he had time to get something to put the flames out it was out of control. He lost his house and had two burn scarred arms to show for his lack of foresight. Be careful.

I'm going to be cleaning it at my dads friends house, he has a huge garage with all these specialty tools and such. He has this giant metal box with a hose thingy that sprays the liquid and stuff. I was just wondering what type of solvent, because there are a few pieces that I wont be able to take and I would like to clean them at home.

You can make yourself a parts cleaning bucket for small parts by getting a 5 gallon can with a metal lid. Go to a kitchen utensil store and buy something similar to a round screen that is used in french friers, but will fit into your bucket. You will need a couple of scraps of metal angle iron or something similiar to separate the screen from the collecting sediment. Not a perfect system, but better than just sturring all the solids up while brushing dirty parts. You will notice that you friend's parts cleaner also has what appears to be an oil filter to keep the solution clean. Without that, you would need fresh solution to do the final rince in your bucket.

Go to a parts house and buy cleaning solution made for parts washers/cleaners. I use kerosene, but that's a guaranteed fire hazard.

How much is a 5gallon bucket of parts cleaning liquid usually?

I have no idea. I never had to buy the stuff. The company paid for it to be delivered to the shop. Hey, if you do a lot of mechanical repairs, a parts washer would be a good investment. It normally sits on top of a 30 gallon drum and assures you of good clean solvent when you need it.

I dont do that many mechanical repairs, I'm only 15 and right now me and my friends are building a go kart and the engine we got from a friend is pretty dirty, and after about a minute or two of running it just cuts out and stops. I took off the carburator and found copper metal shavings in it. The intake of the carburator was a long metal pipe that was cut, before it was given to us. What do u think I should be looking for? I've taken off the front of it and i can see the connecting rod,crank shaft and crank and camshaft gears. I have also taken off the cyclinder head and drained all the oil. Thanx - Andrew, Oh yeah, where can I buy this cleaning stuff?

If that's all you're doing, I'd go with one gallon of kerosene OUTSIDE away from the house, in a bucket. Have a bunch of rags ready. Your mom probably has a bunch of old cloths she wants to throw away. The cotton ones make good rags. Old tee shirts are great for cleaning the insides of an engine. The rags do two things: Keeps the parts clean, and the dirty rags soak up the left-over kerosene to where you can just toss them into the trash can on pick-up day. Otherwise, keep those soaked rags in a sealed metal container. There is such a thing as spontaneous combustion. Look that up on the internet search feature.

Got an old dishwashing soap squeeze bottle? One of your friends can slowly put a slow stream of kerosene onto the dirty part while you brush it with a parts cleaning brush. The brush is sold at any parts house. Catch the dripping kerosene with that bucket....a mop bucket or maybe even one of those 5 gallon plastic buckets that Home Depot sells for a few bucks. Maybe you can luck-out and spot a good clean one in a dumpster next to a construction site. They toss those buckets away daily.

Go-Kart engines are simple. The only way you'll learn anything about them is to take one apart. Look for abnormal wear on anything. If the cam shaft lobes (if it's a 4 stroke) look like they have abnormal wear, then it's probably trash. You can always take any suspicious part to a lawn mower repair shop for free advice. It would only take 30 seconds of someone's time to look at the part for you and render an opinion. If the cylinder is skuffed, then that would be trash too. Free advice is easier to get if you bring them a clean part to look at, but don't take away from the mechanic's time anymore than you have to because it's money out of his pocket when he's supposed to be working.

When you re-assemble the engine, don't over tighten the nuts and bolts: You'll strip the threads out of the case. Put them down snug to where they don't turn easily, but don't crank-on anymore force. If you do strip the threads out of the case you'll need Heli-Coils to repair it. Sounds like this will be a learning experience for you. You'll find it interesting and educational.

Castrol Super Clean that you buy at Wal-Mart is the best I have found for the price.

Chug

The top of the piston has a few scratches in it near the center of it. Is this really bad? I finsihed cleaning and i am in the process of putting it back together. What would be a good choice of oil?

A few scratches won't hurt anything, unless the scratches are deep. Deep scratches should be polished out by rounding the sharp edge at the bottom of the scratch. You can use fine emery cloth or plain sandpaper to do this, otherwise it's possible for a stress crack to develop. Check the piston ring gap too. Insert a compression ring into the cylinder and square it up by pushing down on the ring with the piston. Use a feeler gauge and measure the gap. Look up what the proper gap is supposed to be. Also, how do the rings fit into the piston groves? You need to measure that clearance too. If it's too loose, you'll get piston ring flutter which will slowly destroy the piston. You really should have the pamphlet or manual giving information for the motor so as not to re-assemble parts that are out of limits. I assume that you don't have micrometers and telescope gauges. You can check the rod bearing clearance by using "Plasti-gauge." It's a thin string of material that you put on the connecting rod or main journal and determine what the clearance is by measuring the width of how much it was compressed. I assume that most autoparts outlets would have that? I always use micrometers. Make sure you squirt oil on every moving part inside the engine before closing it up. Some mechanics use a mixture of 25% STP and 75% engine oil during assembly.
The oil? ....depends on the engine. You'd have to look up what the manufacturer recommends. Most small engines use thin oil like 10-30 multi-viscosity. I assume that you have a 4-stroke motor? Be careful with the magnet on the flywheel. Keep it away from other metal or you could lose some magnitism which results in a weak spark. Don't let anybody play with that magnet...like sticking a piece of steel on and off it just because it's a magnet? That weakens it. Good luck.

Yes, it is a 4 stroke engine. Thank you, you have been very helpful to me. :)

If the engine is made of aluminium I can recommend the use of a professional wheel cleaner, one that have a high pH.

Yeah, the high Ph cleaner would work okay, but it's not something you would want to soak your engine in too long. For example, if you put the engine into solution and forgot about it for a week, you may not have an engine left to rebuild. :eek7: