imported_mirrorfinishman
New member
What are some good ways of cleaning over 35 years of grease, grime and caked on dirt?
How to clean suspension parts
- Thread starter imported_mirrorfinishman
- Start date
Accumulator
Well-known member
Funny you should ask that as it looks like I'll be doing that on my wife's new toy in the near future (36 years of it in her case 
).
Done two in the recent past- I've just finished doing this on my '84 RX-7 and did it on a '75 Jag (talk about an awful mess!) before that. Neither had ever been cleaned before.
You might want to use a pressure washer (used one on the Jag), preferably one with a water heater. That oughta get the worst of the gunk off but in my experience it doesn't get *nearly* all of it. You have to be careful where you direct the stream too. If you don't have a pressure washer it'll just take a little longer but you can still get great results. I did the RX-7 without one and it turned out better than the Jag (took a lot longer though). A high-grade steamer will be handy but it's no miracle worker in my experience.
First I try to get all the loose stuff out of the way. Hose and light brushing or a pressure washer. You might be surprised at all the gravel and sand! This'll get you down to the stuff that's really gonna take work.
Get an appropriate cleaner. Many use Simple Green but I don't like to use it around cars (too many materials it's not good for). I use engine cleaners (the safe kind, most recently the Hi-Temp stuff from TOL and Griot's Engine Cleaner), EF Hi-Intensity, and P21S Total Auto Wash- there are numerous similar "APC" products from many companies. Ones that're made to emulsify/dissolve grease work the best in my experience, and the citrus-based ones are often very good if they're strong enough.
I use brushes to agitate these cleaners while they're dwelling. It takes multiple applications, each one taking off a layer or two of the stuff.
Spray on cleaner, let dwell, agitate, let dwell, agitate, rinse, inspect, repeat as needed.
Note that the runoff will be pretty nasty stuff (all that old grease, somewhat emulsified). Give some thought as to where it's gonna go (environmental consciousness etc.).
When the stuff in question is strictly grease/etc. I often use a solvent on rags (which are instantly trashed, so have a lot of them). I've been using Wurth Cleans-All and AutoInt's ValueGuard New Car Prep. When this stuff is baked on it'll take a long dwell time, so you'll have to figure out how to keep the solvent-soaked rag in place.
Seems like the combination of solvents and degreasers/cleansers works better than either approach by itself. Note that the above process will also compromise most forms of undercoating (if present). IMO it's often best to just let what happens happen and then spray some new undercoating on- this makes for a *very* nice appearance BTW and the undercoating is pretty easy to apply once everything is clean.
If the cleaning uncovers any metal parts that're badly surface-rusted, I'd give them a quick painting (just with a brush) using Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. The flat black version blends well with black undercoating. No real prep is required beyond the cleaning and this stuff really holds on compared to regular paints (better than POR-15 too).
Hope I didn't forget anything. I was really happy (and a little surprised) with how well the above worked for me.
).Done two in the recent past- I've just finished doing this on my '84 RX-7 and did it on a '75 Jag (talk about an awful mess!) before that. Neither had ever been cleaned before.
You might want to use a pressure washer (used one on the Jag), preferably one with a water heater. That oughta get the worst of the gunk off but in my experience it doesn't get *nearly* all of it. You have to be careful where you direct the stream too. If you don't have a pressure washer it'll just take a little longer but you can still get great results. I did the RX-7 without one and it turned out better than the Jag (took a lot longer though). A high-grade steamer will be handy but it's no miracle worker in my experience.
First I try to get all the loose stuff out of the way. Hose and light brushing or a pressure washer. You might be surprised at all the gravel and sand! This'll get you down to the stuff that's really gonna take work.
Get an appropriate cleaner. Many use Simple Green but I don't like to use it around cars (too many materials it's not good for). I use engine cleaners (the safe kind, most recently the Hi-Temp stuff from TOL and Griot's Engine Cleaner), EF Hi-Intensity, and P21S Total Auto Wash- there are numerous similar "APC" products from many companies. Ones that're made to emulsify/dissolve grease work the best in my experience, and the citrus-based ones are often very good if they're strong enough.
I use brushes to agitate these cleaners while they're dwelling. It takes multiple applications, each one taking off a layer or two of the stuff.
Spray on cleaner, let dwell, agitate, let dwell, agitate, rinse, inspect, repeat as needed.
Note that the runoff will be pretty nasty stuff (all that old grease, somewhat emulsified). Give some thought as to where it's gonna go (environmental consciousness etc.).
When the stuff in question is strictly grease/etc. I often use a solvent on rags (which are instantly trashed, so have a lot of them). I've been using Wurth Cleans-All and AutoInt's ValueGuard New Car Prep. When this stuff is baked on it'll take a long dwell time, so you'll have to figure out how to keep the solvent-soaked rag in place.
Seems like the combination of solvents and degreasers/cleansers works better than either approach by itself. Note that the above process will also compromise most forms of undercoating (if present). IMO it's often best to just let what happens happen and then spray some new undercoating on- this makes for a *very* nice appearance BTW and the undercoating is pretty easy to apply once everything is clean.
If the cleaning uncovers any metal parts that're badly surface-rusted, I'd give them a quick painting (just with a brush) using Eastwood's Rust Encapsulator. The flat black version blends well with black undercoating. No real prep is required beyond the cleaning and this stuff really holds on compared to regular paints (better than POR-15 too).
Hope I didn't forget anything. I was really happy (and a little surprised) with how well the above worked for me.
GearHead_1
Long Time Member
mirrorfinishman said:
I have had reasonably good success using GUNK Engine Brite and a pressure washer. This is one time that a commercial car was isn't a bad thing. Their wands have sufficient pressure to move caked on grease and they're also set up with a grease trap, the hot water helps too. If you have a pressure washer doing it in the driveway is an option but it's awfully dirty. I've did a few frame up restores and why the vehicle is torn down you can paint the greasy parts with some diesel fuel and let it sit for a few minutes and then pressure wash it. Both work fairly well. You don't want to get gunk on the finish though it doesn't seem to have an overly negative effect on painted suspension parts.
BigChevMan
Broke Detailer
I used a pressure washer on a 55 year old truck and it took everything off. No gunk or any of that stuff. The engine was out and the body was off so I got about 2 inches away and blasted away.
imported_mirrorfinishman
New member
First of all, thanks to everyone for those good replies. Lots of good ideas.
One of the things I am most concerned with is taking it to the extreme and getting to the bare metal and the possibility of rust forming. I would like to just remove all of the buildup without attacking the metal and having to reapply new undercoating.
What would be a good first step product? Something that can be applied and removed by hand without the chance of attacking metal parts? A basic degreaser, without solvent?
Being a detailed kind of guy and given the fact that I am not in a hurry, I will probably not use a high pressure washer. However, when a pressure washer is used; what do you do about all of the greasy runoff? And I guess you have to wrap up all of the engine components and electrical connections to keep them dry during the process?
One of the things I am most concerned with is taking it to the extreme and getting to the bare metal and the possibility of rust forming. I would like to just remove all of the buildup without attacking the metal and having to reapply new undercoating.
What would be a good first step product? Something that can be applied and removed by hand without the chance of attacking metal parts? A basic degreaser, without solvent?
Being a detailed kind of guy and given the fact that I am not in a hurry, I will probably not use a high pressure washer. However, when a pressure washer is used; what do you do about all of the greasy runoff? And I guess you have to wrap up all of the engine components and electrical connections to keep them dry during the process?
Accumulator
Well-known member
MirrorFinishMan- Many of your concerns are ones that *I* share when doing work like this.
Somewhat surprisingly, I've found there is little need to cover much in the engine compartments. I'd cover the distributor cap and the ECM module if you can locate them, and just generally try to not blast electronic-looking stuff with water. Once everything dries any water related issues almost always resolve themselves anyhow. I've done three engine compartments this year and even without covering anything I didn't have problems.
Well, the BMW 740 ran a little rough for the first few minutes but it sorted itself out once it warmed up (and the water thus got dried up).
On the undercarriage, sometimes you will end up with bare metal, just the nature of the job, and yeah, it'll rust (or already be rusted). Having a little of the Rust Encapsulator and some black undercoating on hand will be cheap insurance if nothing else. And I assure you they're not a big a deal to use as you'd think
Remember that many parts down there were not originally painted or, if they were, they were only "fogged" with paint and rusted after a few months (great example- remember the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor you did? The frames/etc. on those things are rusty a few months after manufacture! Drove me nuts on mine). I ended up doing more components with that Rust Encapsulator/rustproofing stuff than I'd planned, just because it went so well (and now I'm really glad it did). Really quick and easy.
You kind of open a can of worms once you start cleaning off all the stuff on the underside of vehicles. No telling what it's covering. But it's a good idea as that stuff holds moisture and can lead to serious rust problems.
A good non-solvent is P21S Total Auto Wash. But I'd look into the Meguiar's offerings, especially as you're familiar with their product line. Maybe someting as non-exotic as their professional-grade APC.
Somewhat surprisingly, I've found there is little need to cover much in the engine compartments. I'd cover the distributor cap and the ECM module if you can locate them, and just generally try to not blast electronic-looking stuff with water. Once everything dries any water related issues almost always resolve themselves anyhow. I've done three engine compartments this year and even without covering anything I didn't have problems.
Well, the BMW 740 ran a little rough for the first few minutes but it sorted itself out once it warmed up (and the water thus got dried up).
On the undercarriage, sometimes you will end up with bare metal, just the nature of the job, and yeah, it'll rust (or already be rusted). Having a little of the Rust Encapsulator and some black undercoating on hand will be cheap insurance if nothing else. And I assure you they're not a big a deal to use as you'd think
Remember that many parts down there were not originally painted or, if they were, they were only "fogged" with paint and rusted after a few months (great example- remember the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor you did? The frames/etc. on those things are rusty a few months after manufacture! Drove me nuts on mine). I ended up doing more components with that Rust Encapsulator/rustproofing stuff than I'd planned, just because it went so well (and now I'm really glad it did). Really quick and easy.You kind of open a can of worms once you start cleaning off all the stuff on the underside of vehicles. No telling what it's covering. But it's a good idea as that stuff holds moisture and can lead to serious rust problems.
A good non-solvent is P21S Total Auto Wash. But I'd look into the Meguiar's offerings, especially as you're familiar with their product line. Maybe someting as non-exotic as their professional-grade APC.