Solvent for Cleaning Valve Cover??

[JOD]

Greetings,

I got suckered into doing a valve lash adjustment (hello, 1950's!!) on a friend's Honda. The car (K24 engine) has about 60k on it, 5 documented oil changes. All stop and go driving, 7 years old (yes, 7). Ouch...

The top half of the engine doesn't look too bad, all things considered. There's some pretty heavy varnish, no real visible sludge. The underside of the valve cover is another story all together. It's looking really rough.

Any thoughts on how to clean this? I have to put this back together this afternoon. I'm thinking mineral spirits and hand/air dry?

Lastly, I'm guessing I need to dump the oil shortly after I'm done, with all of the gunk that may end up in the engine? I'm being as cautious as possible, but some is unavoidable?

Any other suggestions? Some sorta spray-on cleaner and hose off??

Thanks!

 

[SuperDave456]

Carb and choke cleaner. Get the cheapest stuff you can find and hose it off.

That stuff is designed to dissolve carbon deposits. Just do it outside and away from flames.

 

[tom slick]

Add some lacquer thinner to the mineral spirits to add a little extra solvent action.

 

[440Magnum]

The best option is a parts washer with a good parts washer solvent. Lacking that, see if you can get a gallon of parts washer solvent (SafetyKleen, Solvent140, or the like) or else a jug of Varsol. Get a big pan, a stiff brush, and go after it.

 

[Quest]

To OP:

I'm surprised that you don't understand the philosophy of Honda engineering designs RE: mechanical valve lash adjustments.

It is by far the most simple and compact means of designing an OHV/OHC valve layouts, and with the space to spare: designers can put more stuff into other things w/o the need for additional oil galleries, oil pressure feeds from the pump, routing, hydraulic valve lash adjusters, etc.

luv it or hate it.

Afterall: Honda still cranking out their Vtec engine variants with mechanical valve lash adjustments as we speak.

Q.

 

[mechtech2]

Either leave it alone, or clean it perfectly.
Really.
You can do damage if you only get some chunks off. The remaining stuff is now available to more readily get in the engine internals.

 

[punisher]

Pressure washer.

 

[mechanicx]

Gunk engine cleaner is a very strong cleaner. It will usually clean the part down to the bare metal. It also doubles as a fairly good gasket remover.

 

[JOD]

Thanks all for the advice. I started off following it...carb cleaner, then Gunk engine cleaner. This thing was dirtier than I realized.

I'd have gone the solvent tank route, but I was doing this at a friend's house--and I wanted to finish in the daylight. So, I didn't want to take the valve cover home.

Please don't revoke my BITOG card. I searched the kitchen and found some Easy Off. The valve cover basically looks new. You can, well, eat off of it...


My concern was having it half-clean, as someone metioned. I didn't want anything flaking off into the engine. And yes, I was starting to wish I had just left it alone--but it looked so bad I couldn't do it.

I did two spray on/scrub/rinse cycles, then I dried it and then wiped it down with mineral spirits, then dried it again.

I know that this stuff is rough on aluminum, but I didn't worry too much because I figure I cleaned it all off--and the main worry is pitting/oxidation. With a fresh oil bath I'm not too concerned. I also dumped the oil after a quick 5 minute drive, since I'm certain that some dirt made its way in there, despite my best efforts. Yeah, I know that's why there's an oil filter, but I'm paranoid.

P.S. if any one has any tips for an easier way to remove those metal insert spark plug gaskets, I'm all ears. That was the worst part of this whole job for me.

Tahnks again!

 

[JOD]

Originally Posted By: Quest
To OP:

I'm surprised that you don't understand the philosophy of Honda engineering designs RE: mechanical valve lash adjustments.

It is by far the most simple and compact means of designing an OHV/OHC valve layouts, and with the space to spare: designers can put more stuff into other things w/o the need for additional oil galleries, oil pressure feeds from the pump, routing, hydraulic valve lash adjusters, etc.

luv it or hate it.

Afterall: Honda still cranking out their Vtec engine variants with mechanical valve lash adjustments as we speak.

Q.


Well, I understand it..I'm just not sold on it. Honestly, if this were my car, I'd love it. I'm slighty OCD, I enjoy tinkering and I pay attention to my car. I'd have no problem pulling the valve cover every 2-3 years and give a look see, and I'm sure I'd notice if it were making noise before that time. And, I like my stuff to perform well and last a long time.

The owner of this car is your typical car owner, though. At no point did the driver notice the marching band coming from the engine. The adjustment wasn't "due" until 110K (the car was at 60K), so I really can't say "why don't you RTFM and take care of your car". So, in actual practice, I have to wonder just how smart a move it is to contue with this setup. That said, there are a lot of poorly-treated Hondas out there still rolling away.

I loved the ease of doing the adjustment, valve cover cleaning aside. I didn't like that 5 of the 8 valves (all 4 exhaust and 1 intake) were at least .003" out of adjustment, and that there's some accelerated cam lobe wear as a result.

So, I guess I'd say I love and hate it.

 

[440Magnum]

Originally Posted By: Quest
To OP:

I'm surprised that you don't understand the philosophy of Honda engineering designs RE: mechanical valve lash adjustments.


Back in the 1950's, Chrysler's advertising slogan was, 'Suddenly, its 1960!"

That's kinda how mechanical lash adjusters make me feel in 2010- like I'm working on a 1960 slant-6 all over again.

I understand the motivation to use it in some cases, and it makes sense sometimes. I wouldn't mind mechanical lash on modern cars so much if it were still as easy to get the valve cover off to do it as it was on a 1960 slant-6. And besides there are ways of arranging hyraulic lash adjusters so they add exactly zero moving mass to the valvetrain (eg. Dodge 4.7 and others where the fulcrum end of the OHC follower is what presses on the lash adjuster rather than the moving end.)


RE Easy-Off: nothing wrong with that, I've also used it as an engine cleaner in a few really bad cases of burned-on oil deposits from neglected slow leaks.

 

[mechanicx]

It never made any sense to me how Japanese engines in plain jane sedans had mechanical tappets and timing belts w/interference engines (distributors too after GM was switching to DIS) all those years and no one criticized the high maintenance aspect. They get special treatment the domestics aren't affforded and that irks me. If the average owner paid to have all that service done then they probably payed more than the repairs on an average say Cavalier, but nary a complaint.

Well at least the Japanese vehicles are finally switching over to timing chains and the DOHC tappets don't need adjustment as often.

 

[Eddie]

+1 pressure washer at your local do-it-youself-car wash place.