Cleaning help

yep just be sure to read the lable on what it might & might not eat away at paint & chrome can be eaten at & when useing a brush always where safty glasses , I have used mean green before & it has help alot

"brake clean" works pretty good also. it is in an arosoul can, spray it on and it will dry quickly. use it liberally......get about 3 cans of the stuff....auto supply. i will use the engine cleaner also. i spray the brake clean, get the junk to moving, then hit it with the engine cleaner....then use a strong stream from a hose to get all that off, then wash as usual.......let us know!

I was wondering, and maybe chuck or some of the others will know better.....what about getting the engine hot, then hitting it with easy off oven cleaner?? works to clean ovens...and most the time that stuff is baked on grease and spillage...... just a thought, but I don't know.....see if someone else chimes in on the effectiveness of this idea.....

You have to be careful with caustic materials in the cleaners they can fubar paint, chrome and the black on the motor can turn whiteish if you do it wrong.

There is a product called Simple Green, it's biodegradable so nobody in CO will yell at you.

I would let the motor get cold, then get one of the spray bottles from a $1 store, pour in the simple green at full strength and liberally spray the bike.

You'll find a round blue and black brush at most motorcycle stores with handle, it's soft enough to use anywhere great for wheels, and fits between the rockers and frame etc and should work well.

Let it soak then scrub and hit with hot water and repeat.

Worst case might be an engine cleaner just be careful on what you get that stuff on...

I had some heavy tar build up and a large area where some old rain gear melted on the exhaust pipe. The melted plastic was baked on real hard so I used regular oven cleaner on it and let it sit for several hours. I used the kind that you spray on with the motor cold. After several hours or let it sit over night I sprayed some brake cleaner on a rag and it all came off. To finish it off I used some Simple Green and then after it was all off I finished up with a product called Showtime and it polished up like new.
On painted surfaced I wouldn't use any brake type or other type products that would take the paint off but for motor parts this worked real well.
Hope this helps also don't use any steel wool as it will scratch.

Be even more careful with a standard, some of that stuff can discolor the grey,

There was a royal purple cleaner that if you put it on mid 80's C4 corvette silver magnesium valve colors would turn them purple...

So be extra careful with cleaners like oven cleaner, that stuff will take paint off, it might even take the coating off the engine, test it on someones engine first LOL

A good stiff brush and some cleaner,

Yeah I'd rather ride, but It's nice to have that crap off and you really don't want to bake it in any more than you have.

You know what else might work..... brake cleaner, that stuff will clean up most anything.

Make sure it's cold, I've gotten it all over engines black and silver, just thinking you need something to break down the oil..... Heck good old dishwashing liquid breaks down oil. Might be worth trying....

Oven cleaner works great on exhaust pipes. Brake cleaner will definitely take the paint off. Any cleaner degreaser on painted surface's can be bad so be careful. Keep using the Tar and bug remover and it may eventually get it all off.

doesn't work for me, I have dry elbows,