Oven cleaner as an engine bay degreaser?

[BigElCat]

Someone on this forum recommended using oven cleaner as an engine degreaser.

I used it to degrease a 10 HP electric motor at work. It works excellent; much better than engine degrease spray. The windings in the motor shorted out, when I put the 220V 3-phase power to it, but this is not the fault of the oven cleaner as far as I can tell.

Any opinions on using it in the engine bay of a car? Does it harm paint or plastic electrical connectors?

[Kraig]

I believe it is NOT recommended to use on aluminum......

[hotfordcat]

I use Dawn dish soap and a brush. Works great. Right out off the bottle. Hose it off and it doesn't attack any metals.

[purg3d]

I used "Goo gone grill cleaner" and a heavy concentrate house degreaser. Neither melted any plastic connectors. If you're worried about those type of problems, avoid brake cleaner and maybe consider dawn dishwashing liquid or the like. If it's what you have on hand, experiment with some scrap plastic. Most any of these type products will impede electrical operations if submerged, just try to avoid them. Elbow grease and detailing brushes are your friend here.

[blkfordsedan]

Oven cleaner works great on cast iron engine parts, but it's pretty aggressive. I wouldn't use it on aluminum or painted stuff. I use Simple Green mixed 1:1 with water. It works great and doesn't leave a residue or oxydation.

[navdoc101]

Dawn Power Dissolver!

[blkfordsedan]

Dawn Power Dissolver!

I can't find that anymore. The local WalMart doesn't carry it any more and that's the only store I could find it in.

[nitrofarm]

Someone on this forum recommended using oven cleaner as an engine degreaser.

I used it to degrease a 10 HP electric motor at work. It works excellent; much better than engine degrease spray. The windings in the motor shorted out, when I put the 220V 3-phase power to it, but this is not the fault of the oven cleaner as far as I can tell.

Any opinions on using it in the engine bay of a car? Does it harm paint or plastic electrical connectors?

What Brian said....its very very strong. Its corrosive on Aluminum. So it might etch your copper/bronze bushings that the rotor turns on. Also if the motor use's "Oil empregnated bushings" it can break these down premature. Also it might prematurely break down the clear coating on the windings. And as far as usingit in the engine bay....It will dull paint thats for sure.And it will "dry out" your wires,meaning it will cause the petroleum thats in your wires to literally wash away. Leaving you with sqeeky clean wires that are now much more brittle. I just use engine dergreaser,but I'll soak the engine/engine bay including the plastic intake tubes etc etc . I spray a can on a slightly warm engine & let it soak.Then blow dry with compressed air,then rinse/spray eveyrthing with warm water in a plant mister. Then I keep driving the car and repeat the process as many times as needed. It takes a few short minutes and in a couple weeks the entire engine bay & engine are spotless. I'm a freak about dirt on my engines. I just buy whatever is on sale by the case. The compressed air will literally blast way chunks that would have you scrubing for hours. I modded my blow gun with a 24" piece of copper tubing that lets you get into the tightest spots. Just keep working the gunk towards the ground.Then all you have to do in the end, is jack the car up and hit the underside a couple times for the icing on the cake.It seems that every Aspire I've bought had a leaking Cam/Mains & Dizzy seal.So I have had plenty of time to practice this method.:cry_smile:

[blkfordsedan]

Try spraying a slightly warm (not hot) engine with the Simple Green and water mix, then shut the hood and let it steam clean itself and soak. Then hose it off.