What is your preferred parts cleaner?

[csnailnrun]

Just getting a pulse on what the top parts cleaner is out there and where to purchase.

I've been using Mineral Spirits and have no complaints. A parts solution from TSC has some great reviews. I'm not up to speed on what chemical makeup differences here are tho.

What I'm looking for is a cleaner that'll clean sufficiently to which I can apply a coat of primer and paint. AKA: no lingering residue. Thanks!

[TWrenn]

LACQUER THINNER!! Works on just about everything, even strips paint of course!! Leaves no residue. Fairly inexpensive compared to other stuff. JMO.

[Original Smith]

California has messed up everything! Gasoline still works, and MEK. Paint thinner and lacquer thinner don't work any more.

[TWrenn]

Larry...sorry to hear that! Surprised they even LET you use gasoline..but of course they have to catch ya in the act first! LOL

And you're right, even the L.T. I use now "aint what it used to be"...boy in the good ol' days those fumes used to knock you off the floor!! ha ha. Guess that's why our friends at the EPA screwed it up!

[RustyFords]

Not something the average bear can get....but....I like ultrapure (99%+) pentane.

It'll pull just about any grease or oil off of a metal part...very, very quickly.

[Steve Jelf]

Lacquer thinner and gasolene both work for me. Gas is a lot cheaper. I also have a pretty good supply of old paint thinner that works well.

[kelly mt]

I use #2 diesel in my parts cleaner that will get most of the gunk loose and off. Then I will use gasoline and if I'm going to paint the part I spray it down with brake parts cleaner. Gas and brake parts cleaner are outside activities.

[perry kete]

What I'm looking for is a cleaner that'll will clean sufficiently

I use my younger brother he cleans sufficiently and he gets the grease off the car and him !

[csnailnrun]

What I'm looking for is a cleaner that'll will clean sufficiently

I use my younger brother he cleans sufficiently and he gets the grease off the car and him !

LOL

[lnoller]

I have used Jet Fuel in my parts cleaner for years. It dries clean and does a great job.

[pdgriesse]

P S C---1000 available at TSC work great and smells nice too. Won`t injure your hands, too. I just bought another 5 gal can----$44. Thats half the price of many washer solvents offered..

[John Illinois]

I use odorless mineral spirits in my parts washer. It is $9 a gal. 5 gallons lasts over a year. I prewash real greasy parts and finish in wash cabinet.

John

[jiminbartow]

Lacquer thinner for cleaning parts of all grease, oil and paint down to bare metal, mineral spirits to remove fresh grease and oil, “Easy Off” oven cleaner for removing old caked on grease, oil and dirt, Xylene for cleaning carburetors, Muriatic Acid for removing rust from steel (not to be used on cast iron or aluminum) and Clorox bleach for removing mold and mildew. Jim Patrick

[NU2theT]

Ryan I have been using the cleaning solvent from tractor supply in my TP tools parts washer, I like it and have a small metal can to soak parts if necessary.

I have a small exhaust fan I run when cleaning parts, it's not as brutal as the old parts cleaner but is fumey

[John kuehn]

There was a time when kerosene was cheap and plentiful. It works well for parts cleaning but now is pretty expensive.

Nowadays gas or lacquer thinner works well and is cheap. BUT be careful! If your a smoker don’t smoke around it!

[csnailnrun]

There was a time when kerosene was cheap and plentiful. It works well for parts cleaning but now is pretty expensive.

Nowadays gas or lacquer thinner works well and is cheap. BUT be careful! If your a smoker don’t smoke around it!

None of that round here John. I don't want to be the next Cousin Eddie

[Dan McEachern]

The Tractor Supply parts washer solvent/cleaner works pretty well- even here in California. Its pretty low VOC wise as it does not evaporate like mineral spirits, but mineral spirits is getting hard to obtain here. Forget "paint thinner" here in Ca- it's some ammonia/water based crap that is a waste of the can it comes in. Might have to go to gasoline if things get much worse.

[Mark Osterman]

I usually use gasoline. I had some kerosene but it left the parts oily and I want them to actually dry before the next step. I’m pretty sure it’s the day job chemicals that will eventually kill me. I make daguerreotypes and tintypes on a regular basis.

[StevenS]

I just use clean gasoline, brake cleaner, or carb. cleaner for my final cleaning. But I have a couple of dip buckets I use before hand. These are metal buckets with metal lids. What I do is, if I have any dirty gas, dirty kerosene, used thinner, used brake cleaner, used carb cleaner, used WD40, used PB Blaster, or any dirty solvent, It goes into those metal buckets. If I have a greasy, rusty, part it gets soaked in those buckets for days or weeks. Makes cleaning up and taking apart the parts much easier..

[Mark Gregush]

I have a lot of items hot tanked where I get my machine work done. Others is gas or Stoddard's mineral spirits.

[StanHowe]

Agitene. Five gallon can last time I bought some was about $90. Cleans very well, evaporates slowly but well enough to air dry parts. Very low flamability.

Stoddard solvent. Available here from any oil distributor. Five gallon can about $50. Works well, not as good as Agitene but good for a parts washer. Heavy solids and much of the light solids will separate out if left to sit so the solvent can be poured off and used again. In my parts washer I run about 4 gallons of Stoddard, 2 gallons of water, a quarter cup of good liquid laundry detergent such as Tide or All and a bottle of Heet Alcohol. The soap helps separate the solids, they sink down through the solvent and water. The water helps keep the solids at the bottom of the tank and takes the water out of the solvent. The pump pickup is about half an inch above the water level. It only pumps solvent. Works great and extends the life of the solvent several times over.

Agitene doesn't work well with water in the tank. I use it for hand washing parts.

I won't use gasoline because of the smell and fire danger.

[Dan McEachern]

Yup- gas is probably the worst choice for a variety of reasons.

[Kbillet]

What’s missing from this thread is how to dispose of your “favorite “ parts cleaner. This after it has taken on all the stuff you wanted removed.
Keith

[StanHowe]

I burn it. Use it for fire starter. If there is anything left of it at all. If you put it in a parts cleaner with some water and a little soap in it the solids and junk pretty much settles out and it lasts and lasts and lasts and lasts.

[Luke]

There was a time when kerosene was cheap and plentiful. It works well for parts cleaning but now is pretty expensive.

Bear in mind that most jet fuel is more or less kerosene (Jet A / A-1 etc), and it works well as a cleaner.

Should be gallons of cheap/free time-expired stuff around (anyone nearby a rotting 737 Max?)...

[ivaldes1]

Although it doesn't meet your criteria because of residue, I prefer Kerosene. Easy to get, low odor, less neurotoxic, works well. While gasoline works it is truly vile stuff. Very flammable, carcinogenic, neurotoxic, smells to high heaven.

[Mark Gregush]

Some of us like the smell of gasoline! Or at least does not bother us much.

[Susanne]

When I was a kid, my dad's preferred parts cleaner was... yep, us kids!

We used gasoline extensively - bearings, crankcases, deposits. Gasoline and a brush. Loosened that 50 year dried on grease loosened and outta there. And yeah, back then, it SMELLED like gasoline. Someone introduced me to the wonder of Gunk Spray-on Degreaser, but it was "expensive, plus you needed to rinse it off with water (and I was taught water = rust). Later we switched to Kerosene as it was "safer" but left a residue (so we'd still rinse in gasoline after cleaaning to get rid of the oily residue)...

At work they made us switch to these water based detergent parts cleaners, but those were flat awful - even heated to near boiling, all they seemed to do was push grease and grime around.

I still use kerosene, but also use brake cleaner and some of these "orange oil" based cleaners that seem to knock it out. I have fond memories of gasoline, but it's not even close to safe, especially any more.