Cleaning an aluminum engine

Is there any go to tips or tricks to cleaning an aluminum engine, especially still in the car that has a little bit of oxidation.  Unfortunately my wheel liner got ripped out at 90mph and i drove quite a few months until I found an 2nd hand one in good shape to reinstall.  In just that time my engine bay went from fairly clean for a 8 year old DD to looking like a neglected JY car haha

So the block is oxidized and filthy

Out of the car, media blasting works a treat, but in the car it is a hand job all the way and don't use 000 steel wool as it can have little bits break off and a month later it looks like you have rusty aluminum!

You can solvent clean it with a brush and the have a go with a small low speed wire brush (but you'd probably wear out the bearings on a Dremel - which isn't low speed - by the time you finished and it is hard to get a hand drill in some places.

Go to a Honda motorcycle shop get a bottle of Honda shine or S100 cleaner and a can of engine brite

honda shine is made by S100 brands.

wspohn said:

 it is a hand job all the way and don't use 000 steel wool

NAPA sells a product called aluminum brightener in a spray bottle.  It works well for cleaning oxidation and grime off of bare aluminum parts - spray it on, let it soak a bit, then scrub with a brush and rinse with water.  It is pretty nasty stuff, so wear proper protection (rubber gloves, safety glasses, etc.)  Eagle One also makes a similar product for cleaning bare aluminum wheels but it's harder to find these days (most of their products are milder and designed for cleaning wheels with clear coat on them.)

I discovered (quite a by accident) that Ospho does a fantastic job of removing oxidation from aluminum. 

Spray/brush it on and hose it back off after 30-ish minutes. All the oxidation just melts off.

Does nothing for brake dust though. :/

stuart in mn said:

NAPA sells a product called aluminum brightener in a spray bottle.  It works well for cleaning oxidation and grime off of bare aluminum parts - spray it on, let it soak a bit, then scrub with a brush and rinse with water.  It is pretty nasty stuff, so wear proper protection (rubber gloves, safety glasses, etc.)  Eagle One also makes a similar product for cleaning bare aluminum wheels but it's harder to find these days (most of their products are milder and designed for cleaning wheels with clear coat on them.)

I just looked at the MSDS for this stuff, and it's primary ingredient is phosphoric acid. (Ospho) Also sulfuric acid and other stuff with names too complex for me to memorize casually. 

In reply to Crackers :

uh gloves for sure???

In reply to 759NRNG :

Only if you're smarter than me. 

Bumping an old thread as it came up in google.

The baja im doing has a LOT of discolored and crusty looking aluminum underhood from its time in the salt. Id like to take care of this while its still partially disassembled for hoses and service and such. Just makes things way easier to access. 

Is there anything to be concerned about with aluminum brightener in the engine bay? Some hoses are now silicone, wiring is almost 20 years old, etc. Im used to purple power and a hose for cleaning engine bays, and aluminum brightener to clean single components. So new territory for me. 

The stuff i have on hand is the napa stuff. 

Here is a YouTube video. She does a trial and error demo on aluminum cleaning on engine parts.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZOo29GptcA

Dishwasher with a little dawn does wonders. 

Somebody here did "Dry ice blasting" on I think a Benz v8. Might've been HMMMMMMVEE/Benz thread. Worked the bomb.

As cool as dry ice blasting is it is not the answer in this situation. I have the decreasing and actual cleaning handled, I just want to bring the aluminum back to life. So I guess I'm more specifically asking about the safety of aluminum brightener on the wiring and Plastics and rubber and silicone hoses and paint and such. If it's best to start a new thread I will. Also the thing to remember is the engine is in the car and still assembled. But things like the air box and the radiator and a whole bunch of other bits and pieces are out of the way right now from the timing belt job so it's never going to be easier to clean stuff up

Plastic and rubber should fine. Wiring is another question. If you can't rinse ALL of it off/ out. That is some very corrosive stuff. I guess it comes down to how accurately you could spot apply it.

Dusterbd13-michael said:

As cool as dry ice blasting is [snippage]

I see what you did here...

rdcyclist said:

Dusterbd13-michael said:

As cool as dry ice blasting is [snippage]

I see what you did here...

Im glad someone did!

Mad: thanks. Didn't think about incomplete rinse.

Dawn, water and brushes, go easy on the water.

Maybe put dielectric grease in all of the connectors before washing.