The Pine Sol Degreaser Thread

[mattsz]

Do my carbs have a clearcoat?

I have pages of "experience" here with Pine-Sol, but minimal comment on the pros and cons of Simple Green. So I thought I'd ask...

[BK.RD.RNR]

Originally Posted by mattsz

Do my carbs have a clearcoat?

I have pages of "experience" here with Pine-Sol, but minimal comment on the pros and cons of Simple Green. So I thought I'd ask...

My old honda ones had some sort of finish on them, that was not shiny when I was done letting them soak. I imagine anything else you use that will take varnish etc. out of a carb is going to have the same effect. Probably to a greater extent I would suspect.

Is it a show bike, or do you plan to ride it? (rhetorical question of course).

[mattsz]

Originally Posted by BK.RD.RNR

My old honda ones had some sort of finish on them, that was not shiny when I was done letting them soak. I imagine anything else you use that will take varnish etc. out of a carb is going to have the same effect. Probably to a greater extent I would suspect.

Is it a show bike, or do you plan to ride it? (rhetorical question of course).

Show bike? No!

Well, it's a '75 BMW R60/6 - it looks really good, sez everyone who knows these bikes, but it is almost 40 years old! And brand new to me. The carb bodies are aluminum, and as far as I know, there is no finish on them - they're not shiny, anyway. The carb soak is part of the attempt to get the thing running well enough to get out of its own way...

Everything is in the Pine-Sol now, but I was wondering if anybody had any stories, good or bad, to share about Simple Green...

[Lornce]

The Bing slide carbs on your R60/6 don't have any finish on them. They're raw cast aluminum.

Pine-Sol will clean them up like new.

[showkey]

Originally Posted by mattsz

Everything is in the Pine-Sol now, but I was wondering if anybody had any stories, good or bad, to share about Simple Green...

Simple green and the other purple cleaner can will work great but:

This has come up before in other threads..........simple green and aluminum do NOT get along............simple green and the other purple cleaners are strong base cleaners ( sodium hydroxide) and all worn about aluminum corrosion and marking/ discoloring and other problems.

Simple Green is not allowed on airports because of this aluminum corrosion concern.......they do have an aircraft safe version of simple green.

Some carb bodies are a zinc alloy and not aluminum but the corrosion concern are the same.

[mattsz]

Thanks all, this is the kind of info I was after! The carb bodies spent about 1 hour in the Green, but I rinsed them off and put them in Pine-Sol instead. Going into the PS I didn't see any signs of trouble...

[BK.RD.RNR]

Originally Posted by mattsz

sleeping thread, I know, but...

I just spoke to Rusty at Max BMW in NH - asked about Pine-Sol as a carb dip. He asked the shop guys, and they all laughed - never heard of it. They recommended Simple Green. Can anybody with experience comment on one over the other?

Originally Posted by Lornce

The Bing slide carbs on your R60/6 don't have any finish on them. They're raw cast aluminum.

Pine-Sol will clean them up like new.

Originally Posted by showkey

Simple green and the other purple cleaner can will work great but:

This has come up before in other threads..........simple green and aluminum do NOT get along............simple green and the other purple cleaners are strong base cleaners ( sodium hydroxide) and all worn about aluminum corrosion and marking/ discoloring and other problems.

Simple Green is not allowed on airports because of this aluminum corrosion concern.......they do have an aircraft safe version of simple green.

Some carb bodies are a zinc alloy and not aluminum but the corrosion concern are the same.

Putting that all together is a bit disconcerting.

[mattsz]

Originally Posted by BK.RD.RNR

Putting that all together is a bit disconcerting.

Maybe...

But in their defense - These guys aren't looking for the next home-user-friendly answer to industrial chemistry, like many of us are. I'm willing to bet that they don't use Simple Green in their shop, nor Pine-Sol for that matter.

The Simple Green recommendation came well after their suggestion that I get some proper carburetor cleaner for the job. They have been very helpful so far...

[mattsz]

After an overnight soak in Pine-Sol, I did some scrubbing with a toothbrush, and a disconcerting amount of grey, carb-body-colored residue came off. I followed by lots of rinsing and a compressor blast to dry everything.

Where before the aluminum bodies and bits had some shine in places at least, now everything is a dull uniform battleship grey. If I give the aluminum parts a good rub, I get a grey film on my finger. The piston doesn't slide freely in the body housing anymore - I've obviously "etched" the surfaces enough to prevent things from working.

Any thoughts or advice? Do I need to do some sort of lube or polish or rub to follow up the Pine-Sol treatment? Or am I just worrying too much?

[BK.RD.RNR]

I don't know your carbs, or what effects the Simple Green may have had. In my old honda carbs, the vacum actuated slides are made of brass. I used just a light coat of light oil on them (put a couple of drops on each contact surface, and spread evenly with my finger on surface).

Did you rinse them in Dawn detergent and hot water before final rinse? I don't know if that step is solely for cutting the pine oil and removing it from the surfaces, or if there is another chemical/ ph neutralization purpose to that part of the process...

[Boatman]

I've had Simple Green do some nasty undesireable things to aluminum, diecast zinc and pot metal... not to mention staining/fading anodizing. Pretty strong oxidizer.

I recently used PineSol to clean up a severely gunked and clogged up Mikuni carb that had been sitting with 2 stoke fuel in it since 1973. I was amazed at how well it cleaned up. Sorry I don't have an inside pic after but the inside looked as good as the outside.






A note on the slide.... my slide seemed a little tight at first. Gave the bore a swipe of light oil and it's been fine. Bike runs great.

[mattsz]

Only the carb bodies went in the Simple Green, for about an hour - then I moved them to Pine-Sol. The rest of the parts all got Pine-Sol only.

Here's what scared me while scrubbing after an overnight soak - this is an aluminum float bowl which didn't see any Simple Green:





Here's what the left bowl looked like before the cleaning - fairly shiny and bright-looking, and smooth to the touch:



And here it is after - uniformly dull and somehow just not quite as glossy-feeling:



Should I be worried?

[Lornce]

You diluted it, right?

[mattsz]

Not really.

The advice was to follow the instructions of the original poster, who said he diluted his batch enough to raise the solution level to cover the parts in his bin; no mention of diluting to weaken the solution. I did the same, but it didn't take much water to top up the containers I was using.

As I recall from reading the whole thread, some posters claimed to dilute, some claimed to use it straight. I don't recall anybody admonishing the undiluted users...

How much damage have I done?

[Lornce]

Looks like you've removed an oxidised layer - no big deal. Probably polish up fine with a bit of elbow grease.