How to clean the exterior of the motor ^and the CVT inside

[tocoo]

Hello,

I watched this video
www.youtube.com/watch?v=IkyHEMa9wKY
where, in order to lean the engine, the guy uses a brake cleaner to remove the engine cleaner. But I also read that the brake cleaner dries the gaskets, so is this method adequate to clean the exterior of the engine ?

Next, after 3 years =4000km of not cleaning anything, the interior of the CVT cover is covered with a fine black powder, form the cvt belt

Since I do not have an air compressor , all I did was passing a brush on the black dirt and then I sucked everything with a vacuum cleaner.
On the CVT cover, I used wd40, then a bit of fuel and a brush, then acetone to remove the fuel, then air-drying the cover.
Is this correct ?

[AtariGuy]

PURELY my opinion - i believe vacuuming dust/dirt out is better for anything mechanical or electronic (think keyboards and computer towers) because - again, just my opinion - you're not pushing that dirt into other bits that may be more temperamental about dirtiness. So, yes vacuuming out the gobs of dirt from the cvt is awesome!

As far as cleaning road grime and such, i dont think i would personally resort to such harsh chemicals - partly for the reason you mentioned. I prefer an engine coated with an enamel paint, it cleans up sooooo easily. Not everybody can do that though, but you won't do much damage with dawn dishsoap, hot water, and a soft-mid bristle brush. It may require a lil bit of extra bits to be removed to get better access at the dirty engine cases, but it beats chems burning away any sealant or gaskets...?

[jeff84]

I vote soap and water. I can say though that I have never had a problem with brake cleaner doing anything to rubber, but its not like I'm soaking rubber parts in it. but the flash fire risk is reason enough not to use it for such large jobs. its meant to be used in short durations to clean brake parts. not spray half the can all in one go over a significant portion of a vehicle.

[tocoo]

do you think the engine cleaner must be removed at all ?

[AtariGuy]

Ya you should still hose it off with clean water

[peascreek]

I use foaming cleaner on the really built up crud and some kind of purple stuff about $6 a gallon at Wal-Mart, 20 million different versions of it at any store probably. Been using the purple stuff for a couple years on a lot of cleaning tasks, the concentrated stuff will dull paint if your not careful, or if you want to prep for an overspray it works great too.

[jbjhillbilly]

Soap and warm-to-hot water (not scalding). Heat breaks down the viscosity of oils, a major component of road grime. Soap is a short-chain fatty acid that works in conjunction with scrubbing to break the physical bond at the molecular level, attaching itself to oil and pulling the oil into the water with it.

Put some olive oil on your hands and try to get it off with soap and cold water. No bueno. Make the water warm, the oil flies off.