Cleaning the engine

[cpicton1]

Pressure washers are great. I use mine to clean everything. You do need to use caution though. The high pressure will push water into places where a garden hose alone might not. It is possible to damage rubber, gaskets and blow your decals off if you get to close or leave it pointed at one place to long. Keep it moving and don't get to close. Most pressure washers have replacement tips. Chose one with a wide angle. I also use cleaners that are made for pressure washers. They do help. I use the low pressure tip for the engine and dash where the switches are. If you clean your tractor often you shouldn't get a large build up of dirt, grease & oil.

 

[theboman]

My brother has a do hicky that hooks to an air hose and has a tube that goes into a bucket full of cleaner and we have used diesel fuel and kerosene to clean dirty grimey motors. It works great.
A tip from a local garage. When REBUILDING a motor and you want to REPAINT the block use oven cleaner. Spray it on, run the motor hot enough for the cleaner to work (they would drive the vehicle when possible to a nearby car wash) and spray off the engine, but be warned OFF goes the paint in many cases.

 

[Buster57]

For the engine I use Simple Green straight in a spray bottle or Car Wash 2000 very diluted. I water off the engine with a garden hose, low pressure or thumb high, then use a weed blower to air dry.
I wash my engine and the exterior of the tractor every week so it never gets to dirty.
My dealer gave me a can of aerosol clean and polishe stuff from Honda. This is for dirt bikes and really works terrifically. I like to polish the whole tractor with a can of that while watching 60 minuets.

 

[Bird]

Bo, I reckon you're talking about the do hicky you can see <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.toolpeddler.com/m584db.htm>here</A>. I was using one of those with a special solvent that was mixed with kerosene when I was a teenager working in my dad's service station. And I just gave one away last week before I moved to town. I've used it to spray solvent on engines, to spray a diesel/motor oil mixture on the bottom side of mower decks, and even to spot spray Roundup on weeds; very handy tool.

 

[cpicton1]

Make sure you don't use kerosene or other flammable liquids in your air spray adapter around any open flames. Spraying this way can atomize the flammable liquid and make it explosive. Under no circumstances should you ever use <font color=red>gasoline</font color=red>. If you don't worry for yourself, then think of your loved ones. When you are gone, they are the ones that will feel the hurt. /w3tcompact/icons/sad.gif
Think Safety