I don't have a parts washing metal tub. Is there any harm into soaking parts in plastic tubs? Like the cheapo 5 dollar plastic tubs from Walmart?

Should be something like carb cleaner or evapo-rust. Something along those lines for soaking parts, throttle body, intake manifolds, possibly heads, etc.

 

you can put kerosene or diesel in plastic, but be care that stonger solvents such as brake cleaner or carb cleaner might melt plastic.

 

If it is polyethelene, brake cleaner will not eat it. Used this for transmission parts cleaning. Doing steering gearbox in it this weekend.

(don't smoke while cleaning with this!)

 

Hiya pal -

All in all, I think your best bet for parts soaking, especially in plastic tubs, is going to be paint thinner/mineral spirits. No, it's not as aggressive as a lot of other things like carb cleaner, lacquer thinner, gasoline, toluene, xylene, MEK, and all the other super-volatiles, but .... it gets the job done, is a hell of a lot safer, and evaporates a whole lot slower than anyone of them. I've used it in my parts washer (the typical metal one with a foot-operated lid), and it's worked very well for me. With those other solvents, you'll stand a much better chance of blowing yourself up, it'll be a lot smellier, and it will get very expensive as you keep replacing all the solvent that evaporates, which it will do like crazy.

You'll sometimes need to give a final rinse to the parts you've cleaned in mineral spirits (I usually use brake cleaner in one of those refillable sprayers that you charge with compressed air), especially if you're going to be painting them, for the very reason that it doesn't evaporate all that well and leaves a bit of a film.

Please don't use any of the stuff that's crazy-explosive, it's just not worth it.

***

Edit: As the PP's have said, diesel and kerosene would be reasonable choices too, but I still prefer paint thinner.

 

How effective is Kerosene at cleaning off baked on dyno oil?

What about this? Dangers with it being galvanized?

http://www.tractorsupply.com/livesto...al-tub-2202111


While I'm at, I suppose I could put a turkey burner under it, and have a hot tank!

 

Any slick way of telling what kind of plastic it is?

 

I would much rather go slower and safe than stripping it quick and setting my garage on fire. I've used paint thinner to clean other stuff, and its turned out OK, albeit more slowly going. The expense also has me bugged too.

So far it looks like kerosene and paint thinner leading the pack in cleaners. Could I mix this with some partial carb cleaner? (like 1/10th carb cleaner, 9/10th paint thinner?)

 

Kerosene, diesel, or paint thinner will do a good job on even baked-on dino oil; anything I soak in my tank gets very, very clean.

For the kind of soaking you're talking about, big parts in a big tub with gallons of solvent, I absolutely do not think you should use anything that doesn't have a tight-fitting lid. It's just too dangerous; not just because of the potential for fire, but for the unhealthy crap that's going to be constantly in the air. If you're thinking of dropping 30 bucks on a tub like that, and then (in my opinion) need a proper cover, I think your best bet is to go on Craigslist and find a good used parts washing bin. I bet you can find one for around $50. Nothing fancy; doesn't have to have a recirculating pump, although with a real parts washing bin, you can always add one later.

 

Good call on the craigslist.

 

"Could I mix this with some partial carb cleaner? (like 1/10th carb cleaner, 9/10th paint thinner?)"

I think you could, although I'm not an actual petrochemical engineer; I just play one on the internet. I don't even think you need to bother though; the kero or thinner really is going to do just fine, and the carb cleaner is going to evaporate so quickly that I don't think it's worth bothering with. A lot more toxic for your lungs and skin, too.