Thread: Crankcase Breather

yep when I cleand it It was when I had the rocker covers off I just hosed it out in place with kero and water then left it in the townsville sun to dry

If it is too far gone & won't clean up replace it with one of those SS mesh pot scrubbers.

I removed mine with some pointy nosed pliers, soaked it in Kero, dried it off & replaced it.

I just burnt her out with a MAPP gas torch, then some turps.
Regards Philip A

Thanks for the replies. I'll rip mine out tomorrow and soak it in petrol. Might even soak it in acetone. The SS pot scrubber is a ripper idea. Cheers.

The best thing for cleaning them is caustic soda (sodium hydroxide) - but not the small in-line flame traps that LR use - they have aluminium mesh.

You can buy it a the supermarket - I get mine from Woollies. (If your local meths drug manufacturer hasn't bought all the stock. )

Here's some pics I took of the flame trap from one of my cars - before and after:



Guess which is which!

After an overnight soak, I washed it out with a hose. It might need two soaks.


Caveats

Caustic soda (commonly used as a drain cleaner) is dangerous. Absolutely follow the instructions on the can. Do not add water to the caustic soda, add the chemical to water. To do otherwise can lead to the water boiling and spitting up into your eyes. Making up the solution is highly exothermic - it creates heat - it can even ignite flammables.

Do not get it on your clothes - it will eat through them (ask me how I know - I learnt this as a 13-yo)

Wear gloves and eyes protection - it is highly alkaline and as its name says, caustic. It will burn.

Yeah mate, been there. Mine was 'gooey'...

I put up a series of pics on how to do it, about 6 months ago, which are here on AULRO somewhere...

It's simple, get a wrench and unscrew the 'firetrap', undo it like you would undo an nut...

..once you have it 'off' remove the wire gauze by pulling it out with pliers or similar... wash it in petrol or degreaser, dry out the canister and the gauze and re assemble...

...while you are there, clean out the long hose (attached to the top of the firetrap) using petrol, degreaser or an airhose.

...if your feeling adventurous, remove the rocker covers and clean them as well, (and what you may find beneath them, I used an airhose) but you'll need new R/C gaskets.

I made new gaskets from standard cork type gasket, using a scalpel, (got a sheet of gasket cork from supercheap), and having done this job about 12,000ks ago, no probs!

good luck, it's easy, and one of the jobs you'll do which has immediate benefits (unlike fixing the heater core...unless your cold, but i digress)

GQ

The Heater Core ! Yes, that's another story and with summer almost here that can wait. Hope to sort out the non-functioning A/C before then.... gotta love my car

I got some caustic soda locked away in the laundry cabinet and will do it that way. I'm sold on that one. Great pics too.