Easy way to clean

[shamirj]

whats the easiest way to clean an old landrover, rather then scrap oil, mud etc off the chassis and engine and under panels, used a wire brush attached to a drill, sprayed engine degreaser too thick to come off, tried water blasting ok results, have not had much success on diffs etc. has anyone tried the home sandblasting kits, any good. thinking of trying this an the next option. how do you easily get the old oil and mud off engine, g'box, diffs etc. thx:)

[Shonky]

Sandblasting won't work on grease caked surfaces - it will just stick to it. I would also be very wary of sandblasting things while they are still attached to the rest of the car! :o

Go and buy yourself a high pressure gurney (eg: Karcher - 2008 Karcher Australia | Welcome (http://www.karcher.com.au/aus/welcome.htm)) and see how that goes.

Apart from that, it's really just one of those jobs that you just have to spend time and effort doing.

Perhaps try hot soapy water and a stiff bristle (not wire) brush?


PS - I am assuming the vehicle is in use - not a stripped down project?)

[easo]

Some times the presure washer need to be replaced with a paint scraper.

[abaddonxi]

A while back someone sent a chassis, I think with wheels on, to a steam cleaning place. Picked it up with a forklift and steamed the bejabbers out of it.

Looked very clean from the pics.

Simon

[Mick-Kelly]

I use a domestic steam cleaner, tedious but very effective.

[Bigbjorn]

We had a pressure cleaner at Tutt Bryant that was used to clean sometimes tons of mud and congealed oil/grease/dirt off earthmoving and mining equipment before walking them into the workshop. Can't remember the brand but it replaced a fire hose and steam cleaner. It used three phase power, had a diesel fuel tank for the burner and a detergent tank, and was connected to the workshop compressed air mains and mains water. Different detergents could be used for different jobs including paint removal. 'twas a hell of a good machine. The old steam cleaner was a punishment job for naughty apprentices.

[werdan]

The local servo used to have a hot water high pressure cleaner that worked great for removing the congealed oil/grease/dirt, much better than a cold water equivalent. Anyone ever tried running a K'archer off a hot tap or even a bucket full of hot water?