Ultra Sonic Cleaner

[whatdoyouwant]

Any of you using an ultra sonic cleaner for carburetors. If you are, what is a good solution for good deep cleaning?

[aussie merc]

hot water and dish liquid

[radiation]

Water and Simple Green.

[joel]

I have used cartridge brass cleaner and water mixed about the same dilution as cleaning brass. I'm going to try Simple Green as it might be faster.

[rjlester]

I also use water and simple green, with a few drops of dish soap.

Although, I do find the heater is very effective at loosening up stuff. I get it as hot as possible, can take a couple of hours in the unit I have.

[Mac VP]

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The very first thing I do when entering our transmission repair shop (after turning on the lights) is to hit the switch to turn on the ultrasonic cleaner. We will start using it about a half hour later but it really cleans well when the liquid is steaming hot. That can be a good hour and a half later. We use a 50-50 mix of water and Simple Green.

The mix gets quite sludgy looking after 4-6 days of use and we have to drain it out, clean out the tank, and refill with fresh mix. That’s the tedious side of the ultrasonic cleaner but the effectiveness and overall time saving is definitely worth it.

[32phil]

I use Evapo Rust in mine to clean lock parts and column drop parts.
It removes rust and corrosion from ferrous metal rusty parts very quickly.
For brass parts they will be discolored slightly as well.
Doesn't hurt chrome, actually cleans it up nicely.
For pot metal you must pay attention as it will eat them mercilessly.
It's best to inspect pot metal parts every 5-10 minutes to judge the progress and remove from the cleaner if necessary.

[3twinridges]

I have had good results with a 50/50 mix of water and pinesol. Added benefit of a clean smelling basement ��

[GB SISSON]

This sounds like something I need to look into. Does it degrease too, like a parts washer?

[Mac VP]

The degreasing process is going to vary according to the level of grease buildup on the parts and the amount of precleaning you do. Many of the transmission parts we want to clean are heavily coated with an old buildup of gear oil that has often congealed or even hardened to a degree. With extra time in the ultrasonic cleaner, the part will eventually clean up. However, the downside of this is that (aside from the extra time involved) you will contaminate your cleaning solution faster. We will “preclean” the nastier parts a bit before they go into the unit. This means a combination of things……wiping the part down with old paper towels (hey, we get our money’s worth on our shop towels)….or a quick run across the wire wheel on the bench grinder. Anything to quickly get the worst of the crud off the parts. The other thing that helps is to run the parts in the cleaner basket for about 10 minutes, then remove the parts that need a bit more cleanup and scrub them with a kitchen scrub brush before returning them to the unit for another round (or even a third time if needed). When the machine has finished we pull the basket out, place it on a drip surface, and then rinse each part in clean water to remove the soap. Lastly, the wet parts are blown off with compressed air. Usually a final run of the part across the wire wheel will give you a part that looks almost like new. Something like a carburetor body cannot be treated to the wheel but there are other products available to deal with those and other delicate parts. If our transmission parts will be going on the shelf for stock, we may spray a light oil on the item to prevent flash rusting. Some parts might sit for months and may get packed in sealed plastic bags.

Sometimes we’ll clean NOS parts in the ultrasonic cleaner just to remove the heavy buildup of the old cosmoline. I don’t do that often as that stuff just means I’ll have to change the cleaning solution sooner.

The ultrasonic cleaner doesn’t really do anything about rust. You need other products and processes to deal with that.

Also, don’t leave your parts in the cleaner for extended periods of time (like overnight). Some metals will discolor or etch slightly due to the chemical reaction to the degreaser soap. Also stay away from using anything flammable or seriously corrosive as a cleaning solution. Simply Green is really just soap with a color tint and fragrance. It’s somewhat pleasant smelling as the unit operates.

[kketchmark]

I have used 50/50 lemon juice and water. Works really well when the solution is hot. Hopefully your cleaner also has a heater in it. I have used this for Many different size carbs.

[rockfla]

Originally Posted by kketchmark

I have used 50/50 lemon juice and water. Works really well when the solution is hot. Hopefully your cleaner also has a heater in it. I have used this for Many different size carbs.

My brother found this "Old Racer's" trick a while back (Lemon Juice & water mix), he used an old crock pot as the "heater" said it "really" works good. You have to play a little with the mix ratio and or amount of time spent in the crock pot depending on how corroded your carb is BUT swore by the results. ALSO do it in a WELL VENTILATED area.