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The Nitty Gritty On Small Parts Cleaning: Many Ways To Clean Small Engine Parts

Ask any rebuilder or remanufacturer and they'll tell you there are as many ways to clean engine small parts as there are engine small parts. And cleaning methods used for small parts not only depend on the component being cleaned, but on the type of equipment being used.

By Ed Sunkin

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Tom Nichols, CEO and president of Automotive Machine & Supply, Inc., Fort Worth, TX, said availability is most often the key to why his shop cleans and reuses small parts. Nichols said each day his shop cleans and reuses many small parts, including valve locks, shims, springs, retainers, rocker arm assemblies, cam bore caps, nuts, bolts, etc. "Because we only rebuild import engines, many times we must reuse parts that are just not available," he said.

However, not all small parts are cleaned for an engine rebuild. Nichols said there are some small engine parts that Automotive Machine & Supply will replace with new during an engine rebuild, such as exhaust valves, timing chains, tensioners, lock tabs and some head bolts.

Bruce Chapman, president of Ontario Reman, a PER in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada, said his facility, which remans about 10 engines a day, also installs some new small parts while cleaning others. "It all depends on the wear factor," Chapman said. "But because every block from Ontario Reman is rebored and comes with new oversized pistons, piston cleaning is eliminated and the pistons are scrapped."

Lifters at Ontario Reman are either cleaned or installed new. Those that pass a preliminary inspection are contracted out for cleaning. "It also depends on the price, whether it's more economical to reuse or to buy new," said Chapman. "You have to factor in time and labor. For certain engine blocks, it may be necessary to have the lifters cleaned due to a shortage of available replacements."

Jonathan Smith, president of Motor Replacement Co., Inc., Phoenix, AZ, said his company's Roadrunner Engines are remanufactured with all new small parts, which result in a higher cost for the finished product. "Most engine remanufacturers use reground valves, refaced rockers, used valve springs and used pushrods," Smith said. "We use only new parts in our heads which assures a long and dependable service period. Of course this means our pricing in some cases is higher."

Ontario Reman's Chapman said the type of engine also will dictate differences in cleaning times and requirements. "Whereas the Chrysler 318 has very few small parts, Chrysler's 3.0L overhead cam engines contain many more, so you'll have more money and time wrapped up cleaning these engines," he said.

Chapman said cleaned small parts can provide a better method to inspect components for reuse. "Only after parts are thoroughly and properly cleaned can an effective inspection be made," he said. "Therefore, all contaminants such as grease, oil, scale, grime and rust must be removed."

Chapman said Ontario Reman has one teardown employee who handles the cleaning process. And because Ontario Reman only remanufactures Chrysler engines, cleaning processes can be simplified. Most often, all small parts (of the same material) are just combined and cleaned together. After cleaning, the parts are sorted and inspected.

"Sure you may clean some garbage and unusable parts, but it's far better to thoroughly inspect parts after they're cleaned than to spend a lot of time trying to inspect them when they're dirty," said Chapman. "Even if you inspected the parts prior to cleaning, you would still have to inspect them again after they were cleaned."

Nichols said Automotive Machine & Supply, which rebuilds about 200 heads and 20 engines each month, views cleaning and inspection as the number one step to performing quality work - not as a necessary evil. Nichols said his shop also combines small parts of the same material when cleaning.

"Most of these small engine parts are put in a gallon paint bucket with 1/8" holes drilled all over it and left to soak in either a hot caustic vat (for steel components) or a hot detergent vat (for aluminum parts)," Nichols said. "Other items such as hydraulic lash compensators are washed by hand using spray carb cleaner. Other parts may be vatted, then wire buffed by hand or bead blasted. We do very little hand washing or hand scrubbing in a parts washer because it is not cost or time efficient."

Nichols said cleaning times vary by the component. "Any hand cleaning of small parts will take the longest amount of time, such as hydraulic lifters," he said. "But anything we can just drop in the vat and let soak is least time consuming."

Ontario Reman's Chapman said to save time at his facility, most small parts are batch cleaned where a couple hundred similar pieces are loaded into a tank where they soak overnight. "Although the parts don't need to clean for that length of time, overnight cleaning is an efficient process for a PER like us," Chapman said.

R. Anthony Harper, manager of J & H Diesel Service, Inc., Greenville, MS, a diesel fuel injection rebuilding facility, said no matter what component is being cleaned, an improper cleaning method can be more harmful than not cleaning at all. "It's important to know your product," Harper said. "For example, when cleaning a diesel fuel injector, the nozzle tips are NEVER buffed," he said.

Harper said J & H, a 23,000-sq. ft. facility with 20 employees that specializes in diesel fuel injection and turbocharger systems for farm applications, industrial equipment, automotive, marine (including EMD), and heavy duty diesel engines, rebuilds hundreds of diesel fuel injectors each month. Harper said processes used to clean specialty components, such as fuel injectors, are similar to small engine components. "We disassemble all the injectors, soak the parts in an aqueous parts cleaner, wash them out with mineral spirits and polish the nozzle tip with an industrial cleaner that cuts carbon and cleans to a shine," he explained. "After that, the injector body is buffed."

Automotive Machine & Supply's Nichols said parts cleaning equipment manufacturers have also improved machinery to make the cleaning of small parts easier. "Today's ovens have better features and oil skimmers, filters and pumps have improved sludge containment," he explained. "Even spray nozzle designs and basket drives for jet washers have been greatly improved for cleaning efficiency."

Some shops are also experimenting with nontraditional cleaning methods in an effort to improve the process. Marty Ehman, president of Global Sonics, Bountiful, UT, which manufactures The Grease Monkey ultrasonic parts cleaner, sees ultrasonic cleaning as a logical step toward improved parts cleaning technology. "Ultrasonic cleaning is based on a phenomenon called cavitation," Ehman said. "This occurs when high-frequency, high-intensity sound waves are introduced into a liquid producing countless micro-bubbles or cavities in the solution."