Advice on cleaning the engine.

[xlewisbdx]

Does anyone have any advice on cleaning the engine inside all the nuck and crannies?

[markbubble]

gunk(or similar degreaser) a couple of paintbrushes and your other halfs tootbrush and a steady jetwash or hose pipe(check where the oily crap is going ie not into our waterways etc!)
be carefull of jetwashes as can get water in the wrong places and/or rip paint off!

[Skippernick]

:agree

[Mick-H]

Does anyone have any advice on cleaning the engine inside all the nuck and crannies?

If your not sure about doing it yourself these may be worth a try.
http://www.allyearbiker.co.uk/

[xlewisbdx]

[quote author=xlewisbdx link=topic=5709.msg50106#msg50106 date=1356976733]
Does anyone have any advice on cleaning the engine inside all the nuck and crannies?

If your not sure about doing it yourself these may be worth a try.
http://www.allyearbiker.co.uk/
[/quote]


That is awesome, and for only £55!

I'd still want to know what they use other than ACF. I want to know what that foam is I'd do it myself.

[darrsi]

Not a fan of the jet wash, as i found out years ago it blasts paint off and degreases the engine!
Best thing to do is get a bucket of warmish water with proper wax/wash formula and hand clean it with a bit of TLC.
If you wanna practice before you give yours a go,  i can send you an address where i park my bike at weekends! 

[xlewisbdx]

Not a fan of the jet wash, as i found out years ago it blasts paint off and degreases the engine!
Best thing to do is get a bucket of warmish water with proper wax/wash formula and hand clean it with a bit of TLC.
If you wanna practice before you give yours a go,  i can send you an address where i park my bike at weekends! 

Just as long as I don't have to pay for any damages I may cause 

[darrsi]

Depends how you use the bike, i'm all year round, so oil and grease stays on the engine throughout winter to protect from general crap and salt.
I only tart it up in forecasted good weather!

[stevierst]

Depends how you use the bike, i'm all year round, so oil and grease stays on the engine throughout winter to protect from general crap and salt.
I only tart it up in forecasted good weather!

That's exactly my train of thought. If you leave the crap on your bike, it prevents further crap getting to the bike
Or is that just me being a lazy got and not washing it :rolleyes

[xlewisbdx]

[quote author=darrsi link=topic=5709.msg50152#msg50152 date=1357041508]
Depends how you use the bike, i'm all year round, so oil and grease stays on the engine throughout winter to protect from general crap and salt.
I only tart it up in forecasted good weather!

That's exactly my train of thought. If you leave the crap on your bike, it prevents further crap getting to the bike
Or is that just me being a lazy got and not washing it :rolleyes
[/quote]


Best thing to do, Just before winter kicks in, give it a good clean top to bottom!
The coat the foc-er (do you see what I did there?) in ACF-50. Let the bike get very dirty over winter, but don't worry it's got a tonne of ACF-50 on it.

When Summer arrives wash it and BAM! Shiney bike

[Lawrence]

I washed mine once.  It was covered in shite 24 hours later so I haven't bothered since.  The best it gets is a bit of tissue with some spit to clean the lights

[noggythenog]

Interesting to hear about everyones lack of washing,seems to make sense,i often thought whats the point washing in the summer if its just some summer dust or clean dirt so to speak ie not road salt as you're just exposing the bike to lots more water by washing it all the time and then people start getting water in the plugs and engine running pronblems and stuff.


Oily rag wipe down seems to be a better idea.


I have taken the advice of using acf, i used a whole can before the bike went to bed this winter but now im thinking thursdays gonna maybe nice enough weather for a blast so no doubt the bike will be a dust magnet & im not going round it with another can until next winter.

[His Dudeness]

i use degreaser, paper towels and if i'm giving it a serious clean a tooth brush as well. i usually give it a quick clean when lubing the chain so roughly once a week