Degreasing a diesel?

[mrbonk]

I've identified a few leaks in/around the engine/gearbox of the GQ diesel Patrol I just picked up, but there's way too much shite all over everything to be able to tell where they're coming from. So, I'm going to have to degrease it to find out.

Any particular gotchas when I do this? Obviously I'm not going to saturate the whole thing, but are there specific things I should avoid getting water in/on if at all possible?

[Steve_GQ]

just your relays and air intake, doesn't matter if you soak it. Don't use a pressure cleaner near any seals though.

[mrbonk]

just your relays and air intake, doesn't matter if you soak it. Don't use a pressure cleaner near any seals though.

Cool.

I don't own/use a pressure cleaner anyway, so that's not an issue for me.

Are the aerosol type degreasers good enough for this sort of thing (there's some pretty heavy duty gunge in some spots....), or am I better off getting some sort of bulk concentrated stuff and using a trigger spray or something to apply it?

[Shadow]

some of that bulk stuff is very acidic and will eat cast, evgen in diluted concentrations.

even the strongest degreaser isnt gonna get through 10mm of grease, you have to scrub it with a scrubing bruish or broom or something, i had a stiff brissle brush on a 1metre pole that was perfect when i did mine.

expect to get shit in your eyes that stings! Wear goggles, they will stop the bulk, but wont stop all.

maybe scuba diving goggles, air tight!

[turps]

Take the bash plates, plus thoses rubber bits in the front sheel arches off. Then drive the sucker down to the local car wash and squirt water every where.
That will get most of it off. using some of there engine bar cleaner then pressure wash teh crap off. There are still some spots hard to clean, like up around the starter.

[bazzle]

Take the bash plates, plus thoses rubber bits in the front sheel arches off. Then drive the sucker down to the local car wash and squirt water every where.
That will get most of it off. using some of there engine bar cleaner then pressure wash teh crap off. There are still some spots hard to clean, like up around the starter.

Agree. High pressure car lovers or similar.
Then after its cleaner every couple of months a squirt of Supa cheap or Repco degreaser, ($1:59 a can) and a good hose off.

Bazzle

[mrbonk]

I took it over to the SuperWash this afternoon, coated all the gungy bits in SupaCheap degreaser and used the high pressure hose thingo to get it all off. Worked a treat......now I can actually see metal in most places

[speed=t/d]

Have you tried 'Truckwash'...I've found it to be very good. Get a spray bottle and dilute the truckwash about 50% then spary it on nice and thick then let it soak in for a few minutes, not too long, then hose off with a bit of pressure and do it all again. Its not an acid base and won't eat through plastics or metals........for what its worth....supercheap have a 'superwash that is basically the same stuff or Koala Wash.

[Josh_GQ]

YAh truck wash CT16, used it on mine heaps, never caused any problems spraying it everywhere and gets rid of the grease good. You still need to scrub though if you want to get rid of all the cr@p