Best thing to clean pistons with

[Mishakol129]

I just got done cleaning my pistons, but I was not able to clean them completely. I soaked them in solution made of vinegar, acetone and dish soap and them gave them a good scrub. Came out good except there were stubborn deposits underneath the connecting rod and on the side of the piston.

What would be the best thing to use for getting stubborn deposits off the pistons?

I scrubbed them with a metal pad like this:





I did scrub the side of the piston with it... was that a bad idea? I just heard on another forum that you don't use abrasive pads on the side of pistons...Or maybe the case is differnent with honda pistons.

[TypeG]

try soaking them in purple power over night. later.

[GhostAccord]

It's not a good idea to use an abrasive steel wool on aluminum pistons. Honda are aluminum cast pistons. As long as you didn't put any scratches in the skirts or top you should be OK.

Soaking your piston in carb cleaner or brake parts cleaner and using an old tooth brush or other nylon soft scrub brush is the best option for cleaning carbon deposits IMO.

[Mishakol129]

It's not a good idea to use an abrasive steel wool on aluminum pistons. Honda are aluminum cast pistons. As long as you didn't put any scratches in the skirts or top you should be OK.

Soaking your piston in carb cleaner or brake parts cleaner and using an old tooth brush or other nylon soft scrub brush is the best option for cleaning carbon deposits IMO.

What's wrong with a tiny scratch on the piston?

[bobbycos]

What's wrong with a tiny scratch on the piston?

could scratch up the cylinder wall leading to a loss of compression due to a ring failing

[19dabeast85]

What's wrong with a tiny scratch on the piston?

could scratch up the cylinder wall leading to a loss of compression due to a ring failing

This and a scratch on the top surface, if large enough, could create a hotspot and cause detonation (pre-ignition, pinging, aka not good).

[H311RA151N]

Ive soaked pistons in gasoline also. It works. But a good cleaner would be best. The more you soak them the better because youll have to scrub them less.

[cb7attack66]

Ive soaked pistons in gasoline also. It works. But a good cleaner would be best. The more you soak them the better because youll have to scrub them less.

x2 gas works good

[GhostAccord]

A scratch in the aluminum (soft metal) piston may not scratch the iron (hard metal) sleeve but it won't help matters any. Scratches on the top of the piston could cause hot spots.

When it comes to engine internals it is always a good practice not to put scratches in contact surfaces. A small scratch that you can't feel with your fingernail probably won't effect the piston surfaces though.

[accordztech]

Deseil fuel soak may work. I never tried it but maybe even ATF.

[RyanD]

What we do with aircraft pistons at school is we soak them in a thing called stoddard solvent that seems to work pretty well

[Mishakol129]

A scratch in the aluminum (soft metal) piston may not scratch the iron (hard metal) sleeve but it won't help matters any. Scratches on the top of the piston could cause hot spots.

When it comes to engine internals it is always a good practice not to put scratches in contact surfaces. A small scratch that you can't feel with your fingernail probably won't effect the piston surfaces though.

There are scratches but nothing serious enough to catch a fingernail.

try soaking them in purple power over night. later.

I soaked them for like an hour in purple power. That's really good stuff, never used it before. They cleaned up really nice except for the carbon deposits underneath the connecting rod... those were tedious to get rid of and I didn't even completely get of them.

Maybe I should have soaked them overnight and then tried it.


That purple power is so awesome that when I spilled some cleaning my egr, the pool it made literally bubbled like some kind of acid.


Here's a pic of the clean pistons.