Chemical Cleaning a Muffler

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Mon May 05, 2008 11:29 am

I would like to clean my muffler, but i am not skilled enough to do it with a flame. If someone could give me a walkthrough on how to clean a muffler with chemicals (and what kind). Thanks for the help, this forum is awesome.

dr.ona · Post by **dr.ona** » Mon May 05, 2008 2:40 pm

I use oven cleaner...one can is plenty.
I let it sit for half a day or so and then rinse it with the garden hose really good...both directions.
I let mine sit for a day upside down to get the water to drain and still had a bunch in there...so I did use the BBQ method to get the last of the water out.
Woks great for me!

Robert

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Mon May 05, 2008 3:26 pm

What would be the Ideal chemical to clean it with?

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Wed May 07, 2008 2:40 pm

Could anybody give me a really good walktrough for this? I couldnt find one through the search.

Thanks a bunch.

dukemartini · Post by **dukemartini** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:12 pm

http://www.hondaspree.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2013

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Wed May 07, 2008 3:42 pm

Plug one end, hang it from a tree or something, fill it with chem, let it sit, rinse it out multiple times, and run it to boil the remaining water out.

Slinky · Post by **Slinky** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:11 am

Awesome that link should help me out alot, thanks guys.

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Tue May 13, 2008 6:49 am

dr.ona wrote:I use oven cleaner...one can is plenty.

Sounds like a good idea.

Would (car engine) degreaser spray work?

mopedman · Post by **mopedman** » Tue May 13, 2008 10:22 am

probably not, because the carbon is like cooked on the sprees muffler

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:00 am

Good point.

Oven cleaner it is.

Samargh · Post by **Samargh** » Wed May 14, 2008 7:38 am

Jen, were you thinking of Simple Green? I may give it a try as its on the "to do" list

BTW, what part of NZ are you sitting in?

Jenesis · Post by **Jenesis** » Wed May 14, 2008 8:06 am

Nah, I'll probably just bust out some Mr. Muscle from under the sink when the wife's not looking.

I'm in good old Masterton.

jwasciuk · Post by **jwasciuk** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:18 pm

Here is what i did today... with pictures because sometimes it helps...

"Okay then... if you do this, wear gloves and a *full*face*mask*. Please! Lye is used to dissolve bodies in graves to hide the evidence. It will burn your skin quickly. Don't let it contact aluminum either as it reacts violently. Please be careful.

I filled a tall, narrow plastic trashcan with a couple of bricks as filler (sideways)"

"and added the gallon of hydroxide solution. I followed that with two gallons of hot water. Then I submerged the muffler, tailpipe first, so that it was under the solution up to the pipe portion (which I had already brushed out pretty well). I gently tilted this around a bit to get the solution to fill any air pockets and let it sit for a while. "

"Every thirty minutes I pulled out the muffler and let the lye drain from the tailpipe. It was black like ink with all the loose carbon! I repeated this over the course of about 4 hours. It's a slow chemical reaction - be patient. "
This is after 30 minutes..

after 60 minutes..

A few hours later...

notice how black the water is!
"I used a garden hose and ran water in forward through the entire exhaust, then backwards through the tailpipe, etc. Just flush the heck out of it." Im letting it drip dry overnight and if any water is left, I'll use a propane torch to boil it out.
Hope this helps.
-Jason

Dac · Post by **Dac** » Fri May 16, 2008 9:27 pm

do you mind if i post that in the "tech doc' part of this site?
that is really helpful.

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Fri May 16, 2008 10:13 pm

There is no need to boil it out with a torch, just put it on the bike and go riding for 15 minutes.