What is the consensus on cleaning heads gasket of the engine block. Iron block?? Running boost

 

Are you talking about cleaning before installing? Lacquer thinner and go. Some prefer to spray it with copper spray.

 

yes get the old gasket off. Scotch brite??

 

Brake cleaner, a rag and elbow grease

 

I use my old worn scotch brite disk and alot of brake clean for lubrication

 

Probably wouldn't use those on an aluminum block. Too easy to remove material.

 

If you use Scotchbrite discs, be careful, I only use them when I'm able to manage where the particles end up. I won't use them on engine deck surfaces. So that I can save the time of explaining my thoughts in depth, I found someone else that went to the trouble, so I'll copy his words from a Caddy forum. Credit goes to "BeezleBob" for this one.
"Someone in another thread mentioned using scotchbrite to clean up gasket surfaces during an engine rebuild.....not a good idea....

Scotch brite.......!!!!............?????????

NEVER USE SCOTCHBRITE TO CLEAN UP GASKET SURFACES OF AN ENGINE.

NEVER, EVER, EVER USE SCOTCHBRITE ON AN ENGINE. At least not one you want to run again for a long time.

Scotchbrite seems so benign but it is death to engines. Scotchbrite pads are nylon fibers with 40 micron particles of aluminum oxide in them. Scotchbrite dust leaves behind all those 40 micron particles hidden everywhere. Aluminum oxide is an extremely aggressive abrasive. It imbeds in the bearings and eats the crank....and other things.

Scotchbrite is the bane of the aftermarket re-man engine industry. There are lots of "new" re-mans ruined by cleaning up the old parts with scotchbrite pads and then installing them. Eats up the engine immediately. That is why many engines fail the main and rod bearings after a head job or other work...scotchbrite. People think it is because of coolant getting into the oil ruining the bearings or something when it was really the scotchbrite the mechanic used to clean up the parts... especially a Northstar engine where the block deck surface cleaning funnels the scotchbrite dust down the oil drain back passages.

If you cleaned up parts with scotchbrite you now have a HUGE cleanup job ahead of you cleaning up after the scotchbrite. You must make positively sure that none of the dust remains anywhere on any parts or got into the oil cavity. Hopefully the valley of the engine was covered if you used scotchbrite on the deck surface as if it drifted into the valley or into the pan your engine is toast.

I am very very serious about this. Scotchbrite has a very bad reputation in the industry as it seems like such an ideal cleanup method, seems so benign, yet can cause such extreme damage. Most mechanics in the know stay miles away from scotchbrite as it is harder to clean up after it than any labor it saves.



Someone replies: "I seem to recall GM endorsing those "biscuits" at one time. Plus, I seem to recall that 3M manufactured those in a way that they were not harmful."


and Bob replies:
" If so...they certainly do NOT endorse any use of scotchbrite now. This has been common knowlege in the engineering/service/reman industry for 20 years at least so it would have to go way back. Any refererence on this to back up your recall or is it just a maybe...????

How, exactly, could 3M or anyone manufacture aluminum oxide particles so that they are not harmful if left in any engine...???....LOL

If you read any of the publications of the re-man industry or subscribe to any of the aftermarket data services scotchbrite warnings are very common.


Whatever....the warning about scotchbrite stands. If you think it is hooey then use it....you have been warned.




Aluminum oxide particles in the oil have an insiduous failure mode. They imbed in the bearing material and just ride along and do nothing until the oil film is forced thinner than the particle is sticking out of the bearing. Since the 40 micron particles will imbed to some extent and the oil film is thicker than 40 microns no harm will be done what-so-ever for many many miles. In fact, many engines can run contaminated with aluminum oxide from scotchbrite pads virtually forever if the stress is low, oil never gets hot, load never goes high, etc. Then, one day, due to higher RPM/greater load/hotter oil/etc. the oil film gets pushed thinner than 40 microns and then the peaks of the aluminum oxide particles start to stick thru the oil film and they start to machine the crank journals down. Catostrophic failure of the bearing follows shortly. This is why, for years, engines were worked on and cleaned up with scotchbrite, the dust was left everywhere and the engines lived. There was an occasional bearing failure later and it was blamed on the previous failure...i.e...coolant in the oil, loss of oil pressure, etc. Guess again...it just took awhile to run the engine in a manner for the aluminum oxide to peek thru the oil film and machine the crank.


Based on all the problems I have seen with aluminum oxide contamination of proto-type parts during engineering development and in the field from casual use of scotch-brite I would ban the stuff from existence.....no LOL. We even had a problem with the parts washers in experimental build becoming so contaminated with scotchbrite residue from cleaning parts that people had used scotchbrite on that the washers were contaminating clean parts with the 40 micron particles of aluminum oxide. "

 

Bret I told him in this same thread he posted in the C6 section lol! I know we don't know anything LOL! Razor blades and brake clean or Lacquer Thinner are all I use on a rag to clean the deck of the block and heads. GL!