has anyone done this before?
what is ok to clean and what is not ok?
heads, carbies, anything gummed up, carbon deposited, dirty or greasy????
obviously not anything plastic or rubber.

i have access to an old dishwasher and was thinking it might do a good job...

Give it a go and let us know!

I think aluminium corrodes with the alkaline ph of the powder so I wouldn't put anything aluminium in there, but you could try it with something else made of aluminium that you don't care about and see what happens....

yep slowly eats aluminium but wouldnt do to much with one wash,most likely discolour it

What dose the wife think about it!
Rob....

you could try it and dont put any detergent in ,the water should heat up enough to nearly get all the stuff off ,it may take a couple of washes though

Maybe use carwashing liquid??

It seems that most dishwashing powder is caustic, so it can damage aluminium, probably copper too.
BUT there are non-caustic dishwasher products out there, so I will look into that next time i'm at the supermarket.

The dishwasher is an old one that is no longer used, so no worries if it gets a little dirty.

Will let you know how I go. Might try some beer cans first
:beer

I think you will be right to use a cleaning agent, we use a massive spinning parts cleaner at work which is basically a large diswasher for aluminium and magnesium as long as we wash the part in hot water after it's cycle has finished we have no problems at all. And your old diswasher has a rinse cycle anyway so just go for it, also access to an air compressor and air blow nozzle would be a bonus to air dry the parts straight away although they should dry rather quickly due to heat from the dishwasher, but a compressor is a bonus. I have cleaned several type 1 and type 4 engines at work and even with the industrial strength cleaning agents it still requires a few cycles to get it thoroughly clean. hope this helps, cheers Damo.

yeah ive used the same sorta thing as in previous post at my work workshop for cleaning bit n bobs
concerning the ali and copper give some ali pans etc a wash in da dishwasher and for my way of thinkin they turn out fine for next time use..
just a thought..
good luck yeah..
h

Use it on your OLD dishwasher, not the one you use for actually washing dishes.
The wife gets excited (Not in a good way) and like everyone else has stated, the caustic properties will damage the surface of aluminium parts.
If the parts are greasy and oily, the dishwasher will have a film of crap everywhere.
My wife now has a new dishwasher!
Berserker

It does work, well too.

I have cleaned tin wear, block, in fact most of the engine. Seriously good. It is caustic. It washes it in the stuff then rinses, then sprays a surfactant (rinseaid) and hot dries them. It has yet to root anything I have put in.

It did however remove the edge from one of my good knifes, a wustorff trident thingie. Wife got excited. Wasnt wife when I cleaned a heap of parts in the rental dishwasher.

Trick was to rough clean them first. I used a bucket full of kero and a wire brush and a scraper and an old chisel. Gently does it. Some of the carbon needs a revisit but the rewash recleans!:P:P:P

Always potscubbed them, did an empty cycle before cleaning dishes.

I have used a dishwasher to steralise beer bottles for home brewing, pot cycle gets real hot and steamy!

I suggest not having a wife to try this, they get a bit excited at the thought or merest suggestion. If you have access to an old one go for it! I would definately use one.

You just gotta be sensible (doh) about what you put in. always rinse after the kero, a bin full of water and dishwashing liquid is great. If you set up for it you can clean an engine up in an arvo with two loads and only a bin of gross water to skim the oil off then toss on the lawn. Still hasnt died! Detergent must be the trick.

:beer:beer:beer helps, the kero can rest, then poor the good stuff back into a drum for next time. The sludge goes in an old oil bottle to the dump for re-refining.