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daniel
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Cleaning ones engine
« Thread Started on Mar 5, 2012, 1:55pm »
Hello all,

I just wanted to know how you cleaned your engine as I think it a bit of a hot debate. I was astonished on saturday when I went to the Manchester Exhibition how clean and shiney some of the engines were there! I could see my face in some of the pipe work!!!

I asked a few owners how they got their engines so clean. MY Polly is a working engine but I like it to look nice and not tired and rugged. I got a mix of answers for cleaning tips- Oil on a cloth, WD40 (or similar), T-Cut, Hot soapy water and Turpentine. (I was shocked by the last response)

I use a mixture of an oily rag and WD40 but it isn't a shiney pristine engine like on display over the weekend so I'm wondering how you clean your engine or any tips you may have?

Kind Regards

Daniel
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Polly 1
Boadicea
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #1 on Mar 5, 2012, 2:06pm »
All of the above plus Pledge.
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jordanleeds
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #2 on Mar 5, 2012, 2:56pm »
pledge works i tend to jet wash the undersides of mine and then wipe dry/relubricate them, also car polish works well too!
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Staffordshirechina
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #3 on Mar 5, 2012, 4:13pm »
Also bear in mind that certainly some of the engines at the show have never been steamed.
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chris vine
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #4 on Mar 5, 2012, 6:36pm »
Bongo has!!

I use Mr Sheen and keep turning over the duster so that you get a clean bit and not rub in bits of dirt.

The only trouble with the car waxes/polishes is that they tend to leave a little white line next to boiler bands etc. Mr Sheen, Pledge etc are better in this respect.

Buy a commercial pack of dusters for £10 and keep using clean ones. then wash them up as a large batch, not with any other clothes unless you like them yellow!!

Chris.
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lennard1200
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #5 on Mar 5, 2012, 8:51pm »
Fine spray with diesel and polish with a clean rag. Leaves a shiny protective coating, degreases, and being 'wet' gets into all the little crevises where rust can start & gunk build up. Also cheap.
cheers,
Leonard
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Rex Hanman
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #6 on Mar 5, 2012, 9:32pm »
Cheap diesel! Please, tell me where! ;D
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Rex
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #7 on Mar 5, 2012, 10:05pm »
Rex,
dont use much more than a tablespoon. Thats cheap at any price.
Leonard
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springbok
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #8 on Mar 5, 2012, 11:35pm »
Watched Chris Vine polishing "Bongo" on the sunday at sandown as the show was closing and commented on the Mr Sheen. Ihave now tried it and works a treat. Just wish I could get the same paint finish as him

Bob
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Rex Hanman
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #9 on Mar 6, 2012, 10:43am »
I was only joking :D Doesn't seem right using the words "cheap" and "diesel" together without the word "not". :(

At my former place of employment some rooms had oil fired heating. I used to "borrow" some heating oil for cleaning, it's very similar to diesel.

Those rooms got converted to gas which is useless for cleaning engines! >:(
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Rex
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #10 on Mar 6, 2012, 12:11pm »
Mr Sheen wax spray polish. it removes dirt and cylinder oil and doesnt leave silicon as this brand is silicon free.
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Myford Matt
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #11 on Mar 6, 2012, 12:47pm »
I once asked Brighton builder and gold medal winner Peter Fagg how he kept his locos so immaculately clean even though he runs them. His answer was simple – 'my wife does it'. :-)

To be fair to Mrs Fagg, she was standing right next to him and was rightly proud of the contribution she makes to the beautiful turn out of his locos. Her top tip was always clean them as soon as they cool down.
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miken
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #12 on Mar 6, 2012, 3:34pm »
What amazes me about Peter Fagg is that he turns up for an afternoon running at Hove Park with an immaculate, gleaming, M.E. medal winning loco and after 3 hours passenger hauling it looks exactly the same. All the boiler fittings look just as shiny as they did at the start and theres hardly a speck on it, whereas everything on my engine has gone dull and is covered in ash and oil.
Its all very depressing.
Mike
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Projects completed so far, 5" Butch,5" B1,7 1/4" Dart, 1.5" scale Matilda tank (that was a hard one).ME Aveling Porter road roller and some stationary engines.Most of a 1/4 scale Bentley rotary . 6" scale Ruston Proctor steam tractor.
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #13 on Mar 7, 2012, 6:50pm »
Hmmm - clean engines - on one hand:

"why not be prototypical, and leave them matt black and rusty"

and on the other

"I have a steam lance that I use to clean off oil and crud. Lance slips on blowdown; tube silicon or some other flexible but will not melt tubing; wooden handle, copper 1/8" tube through it with the end closed down a little"

If the pressure is too great, the tubing "blows" off the blowdown, (it's just slipped on) and it is great for cleaning the dirt and grime.

It's like the real thing over on the left hand side of the map; all locomotives had (at least one time) a steam hose coming off one injector for cleaning up.

Another JohnS.
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steammadman
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #14 on Mar 7, 2012, 8:26pm »
wish i could find where peter fagg bought his wife, " I WANT ONE "

my wife wont even go inside the workshop, she says it "STINKS" of stail oil! ! !
I WONDER BWHY????
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Tonytrans
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #15 on Mar 8, 2012, 9:00am »

Mar 7, 2012, 8:26pm, steammadman wrote:
wish i could find where peter fagg bought his wife, " I WANT ONE "

Perhaps we made a mistake early on when we arranged our life around the house and having a workshop annex. It should have been the other way round. The trendies might say the workshop/home life balance was/is out of phase.
I suppose at the time we were writing the specification, we gave other starry-eyed skills/attributes a higher priority. Maybe we paid too much attention to the design rather than to the operation and maintenance and, certainly, the whole-life costs.

Now, we might give a different answer to the question which might be asked when returning home after some long sessions down at the club, "why don't you take your bed down there!"

Perhaps we would write the spec differently now.

Then again, probably the wives would too!
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lennard1200
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #16 on Mar 9, 2012, 10:23pm »
Sorry Rex, did'nt mean to sound short. Our Aussie pollies are always telling us how cheap our fuel is compared to EU prices, but my nearest shops are a 40 min. drive [without other cars or lights along the way]
My wife cleans our engine too, but then again she's the one who uses it. No not for sale.
cheers,
Leonard
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Rex Hanman
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #17 on Mar 10, 2012, 2:46pm »
No offense taken, Leonard. As I said, I was only joking. Just filled the car with diesel, £75! Strewth!
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Rex
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #18 on Mar 13, 2012, 7:52am »
G'day Leonard

Quote:
My wife cleans our engine too, but then again she's the one who uses it. No not for sale.

Read more: http://modeleng.proboards.com/index.cgi?....8#ixzz1oytaj4jt


Wife or engine?

Regards
Ian
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Boadicea
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Re: Cleaning ones engine
« Reply #19 on Mar 15, 2012, 1:52pm »

Mar 13, 2012, 7:52am, steam4ian wrote:
G'day Leonard

Quote:
My wife cleans our engine too, but then again she's the one who uses it. No not for sale.

Wife or engine? Regards, Ian

Perhaps he means she is for hire but not for sale?
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