Best Way to De Gunk an old chainsaw?

[Bilge Rat LT 20]

Nice cleanup!

Any cleaner/water works much better hot.

I take a few things to work, Drycleaner and use the steam gun on them. It is used for getting spots out of fabric so it is safe for a saw.
Very little water, no chemicals, and pinpoint application.
Just stay away from carb and exhaust openings.

 

[redray46]

From this,

OK,HOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

to this, in ten mins,

OK,you got my interest,HOWWWWWW!!!

 

[VinceGU05]

i swear by this stuff.. its sensational. spray it on wait a few mintues and high pressure wash it. never worried about ignition etc. if its a runner i run it straight after to help dry it out. if not.. will basic strip and blow dry with compressed air as you will get a tiny bit into the crank area and will rust if left.
just like pioneerguys results.. but i will take off clutch cover and recoil and air box cover.. cause i am a thorougher buggar.!


its also bloody fantastic at getting bars clean!
spray.. rub with finger for 30 sec.. wipe off.

 

[Boozer]

Pioneerguy600 please share how you did such dandy work on that 026 in so short a time!

 

[bigredd]

Purple Power Cleaner works great.

 

[chipper1]

From this,

to this, in ten mins,

How the heck did you do that, the suspense is killing us.
We bow before you oh king of saw cleaning .
Now please reveal to us your secret.
Thanks

 

[Grits & Gravy]

CRC red can brake cleaner works awesome for me.. I can clean one completely in 10 mins.

 

[Gkiesel]

Thanks. I used a combination of disassembly, Crc brake cleaner and alot of compressed air. The old Jonsered runs alot cooler now, and I was able get some ethanol free fuel as well. BEfore it would starta nd run but get so hot it would not restart. nOw I can actually use it all day. The weather has gotten cooler as well.

 

[SteveSr]

I have found that kerosene (same as Gunk minus the spray can) works pretty good at getting rid of oily grime. It is also not explosive and won't evaporate like gasoline. #2 diesel is likely cheaper than K1 kerosene these days. I use several size paintbrushes with a broiler pan to catch the mess. Final cleaning is with a good degreaser like Simple Green to remove the kerosene residue and any organic crud that is not soluble in the kerosene.

 

[NuggyBuggy]

Are any of these options environmentally friendly ? I'd say the steam cleaning method is, but I don't have one and I'd worry about a tiny bit of water left behind. My saws are up at our cottage where we draw water from a well so I don't want any thing getting in there or in our lake in even the smallest quantities. I get steaming hot mad when I see my neighbours washing their dishes in the lake. I couldn't keep a parts washer up there .

 

[Gkiesel]

Well nuggy. I don't think anybody is advocating that you pour the solvents on the ground. Even if you steam clean, the residue that you clean off will have some petroleum in it from the saw. I hope you use the vegetable based bar oil from Stihl if you're that worried. Also You should check the depth of the casing in your well. Down here a well must have 50ft of steel casing. What this means is that any rain water must pass thru 50ft of earth before it gets in my well. As far as your neihbors washing their dishes in the lake, that is vegetable and animal based contaminants. One goose pooping in your lake puts far more bacteria in the water than they do. Where does your sewage go? Septic system? Outhouse? That all goes in the ground water eventually you know. Best bet for you might be to leave the saw dirty, if you think about it. best of Luck. G

 

[NuggyBuggy]

I do use the expensive bio oil from Stihl.

My neighbours washing their dishes in the lake - the phosphates from detergents and fertilizers are thought to be responsible in large part for the algae blooms that make our lake look like pea soup in late summer and leave it toxic enough that the ministry goes door to door with letters telling us to keep our pets away from the water and to avoid swimming in it. Maybe that's not enough for you to care, but it is for me.

But thanks for the useful suggestions. I'll make sure I write them down.

 

[Jimbo209]

I do use the expensive bio oil from Stihl.

My neighbours washing their dishes in the lake - the phosphates from detergents and fertilizers are thought to be responsible in large part for the algae blooms that make our lake look like pea soup in late summer and leave it toxic enough that the ministry goes door to door with letters telling us to keep our pets away from the water and to avoid swimming in it. Maybe that's not enough for you to care, but it is for me.

But thanks for the useful suggestions. I'll make sure I write them down.

What about canola, It works in the mill for a straight line but does get messy if not delt with immediately
I know its robbing Peter to pay Paul??

 

[drf255]

So P600, what's your trick?

 

[larrypac]

​

pioneerguy600 I realize this is an old thread but what method/solvent did you use to clean the saw in 10 minutes? Thanks, Larry

 

[pioneerguy600]

Yes this is an oldie, havn`t been back since my original post in this thread. I have been told by many on this site that the method I use will destroy their saws or any saw for that reason I will keep my method to myself. I can say that of the hundreds of saws I have cleaned this way, I am still waiting to see any degradation to the paint or plastics, many of these saws have been cleaned numerous times using the same method. Let everyone use their own solvents of choice and method of application that suites them, remember that some solvents are hazardous to health, stay safe.

 

[larrypac]

Yes this is an oldie, havn`t been back since my original post in this thread. I have been told by many on this site that the method I use will destroy their saws or any saw for that reason I will keep my method to myself. I can say that of the hundreds of saws I have cleaned this way, I am still waiting to see any degradation to the paint or plastics, many of these saws have been cleaned numerous times using the same method. Let everyone use their own solvents of choice and method of application that suites them, remember that some solvents are hazardous to health, stay safe.

Could you private message me what you used? Not sure if this site supports that. Whatever I use it will be outdoors. I'm extremely careful with solvents since my cancer 5 years ago

 

[sled_22]

No hazardous chemicals here. Just cleaning solution and water followed by compressed air.


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[KASH]

I use brake cleaner but I will never use it on plastic again .About five years ago I had an almost pristine hood hood for a 1972 SkiDoo Oly I was shining it up with brake cleaner I could not believe my eyes when the hood started to crack it rendered that beautifull hood it to major cracked junk,Big lesson learned that day.
Kash
If you read threw all the old posts on this forum you will run across a few in which PioneerGuy has reveilled his secret cleaning weapons
Kash

 

[Yukon Stihl]

Striped apart a MS440 arctic for a hybrid build
Washed it in my parts cleaner at work that has fresh kerosene/stove oil in it.
Wasn't happy with the results there was a bunch of oily hard residue that was stubborn.
Seeing i have an Xwife i decided to try a pot of water heated on the stove to break down the remaining gundge
Heated it to boiling and used Sunlight detergent and her old toothbrush
It is satisfactorily clean now.
As you can see by the water,it wasn't clean after i was finished in the parts cleaner.I will probably do the boil in water on any that i rebuild from now on.