Before the engine and its components are inspected, they must be thoroughly cleaned. You will need to remove any engine varnish, oil sludge and/or carbon deposits from all of the components to ensure an accurate inspection.
| Scraping head gasket
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Most of the cleaning process can be carried out with common hand tools and solvents. Carbon deposits can be chipped away using a hammer and a hard wooden chisel. Old gasket material and varnish or sludge can usually be removed using a scraper and/or cleaning solvent. Hard to remove deposits may require the use of a power drill with a wire brush. If using a wire brush, use extreme care around any critical machined surfaces (such as the gasket surfaces, bearing saddles, cylinder bores, etc.). Use of a wire brush is not recommended on any aluminum components. Always follow any safety recommendations given by the manufacturer of the tool and/or solvents used. Always wear eye protection during any cleaning process involving scraping, chipping or spraying of solvents.
WARNING
Always wear eye protection during any cleaning process involving scraping, chipping or spraying of solvents.
Remove any oil galley plugs, freeze plugs and/or pressed-in bearings and carefully wash and degrease all of the engine components including all fasteners. Small parts such as the valves, springs, etc., should be placed in a metal basket and allowed to soak. Use pipe cleaner type brushes to clean all oil and coolant passages of all the engine components. Use a ring expander and remove the rings from the pistons. Clean the piston ring grooves with a special tool or a piece of broken ring. Scrape the carbon from the top of the piston. You should never use a wire brush on the pistons. After preparing all of the piston assemblies in this manner, wash and degrease them again.
| Ring groove cleaner tool
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| Cleaning groove with an old ring
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CAUTION
Minimize damage to the valve seats by removing carbon deposits before removing any valves from the cylinder heads. Choosing to de-carbonize the combustion chambers with the valves removed will increase the chances of damaging the valve seats.
