# Simple Green



## cranman (Jan 23, 2016)

Greetings friends.......that storm in Ma last week was just a tease.....I can't wait to try out some of this winters projects on something heavy! I just wanted to pass on something I found interesting. Talking to a friend about rebuilding carburetors, I aske him what he used for solvent, as carb cleaner doesn't do it for me for quite a while now. He said that he used Simple Green in a sonic cleaner ( Harbor Freight) and gave it several cycles and the carbs came out looking new. I haven't tried the Simple Green on carbs yet, but I bought some and tried it on the body and engine of my latest project, and it worked better then paint thinner, carb cleaner or engine degreaser! Spray on, wait 30 seconds and wipe off....I'm going to HF and get one of those sonic blasters when I get some time and try it on some old carbs that are really rough and report back on this.


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## detdrbuzzard (Jan 20, 2012)

some guys use pine sol to clean their carbs


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## Dpregs (Jul 22, 2013)

thank you! I usually use pine sol soak first, then a follow up in the HF sonic cleaner.


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## YSHSfan (Jun 25, 2014)

I have an ultasonic cleaner, and I use simple green HD and water (40 to 60 if I remember right).
I cleaned a carb on a Yamaha YS624, and 2 carbs for Honda HS828 a few days ago, after a few cycles they came out very clean. 
On my next carb clean up I will try to take before and after pics and may revibe my old thread on the ultrasonic cleaner.


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## Dpregs (Jul 22, 2013)

be sure to know what Simple green can do. Lots of horror stories out there:

From the Simple Green Web site:

*Aluminum - Is it safe to use Simple Green® on aluminum?

When used with caution and according to the instructions, Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner has been safely and successfully used to clean aluminum. Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner, Crystal Simple Green® Cleaner/Degreaser, Simple Green Pressure Washer Concentrates, and Pro Series™ Simple Green® Automotive Cleaner have been used on aircraft, automotive, industrial and consumer aluminum items for over 20 years. However, caution and common sense must be used: aluminum is a soft metal that easily corrodes with unprotected exposure to water. The aqueous-base and alkalinity of Simple Green All-Purpose Cleaner can accelerate the corrosion process. Therefore, contact times for unprotected or unpainted aluminum surfaces should be kept as brief as the job will allow - never for more than 10 minutes. Large cleaning jobs should be conducted in smaller-area stages to achieve lower contact time. Rinsing after cleaning should always be extremely thorough - paying special attention to flush out cracks and crevices to remove all Simple Green® product residues. Unfinished, uncoated or unpainted aluminum cleaned with Simple Green products should receive some sort of protectant after cleaning to prevent oxidation. 
*
As with any product, a lot of grief can be avoided by reading the label.


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## bad69cat (Nov 30, 2015)




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## RedOctobyr (Mar 2, 2014)

Dpregs said:


> be sure to know what Simple green can do. Lots of horror stories out there:
> 
> From the Simple Green Web site:
> 
> ...


I don't use regular Simple Green in my ultrasonic cleaner, but I do use Simple Green HD: 

Simple Green Pro HD

The description mentions it being OK for aluminum. And the later part of the website text that you quoted says: 



> Simple Green has also developed break-through water based cleaners that are safe for use on metals, plastics, rubber and high tech alloys. Extreme Simple Green Aircraft & Precision Cleaner, Pro Series Simple Green Automotive Cleaner, and Simple Green Pro HD are available on both the industrial and retail markets, respectively. These products were initially developed for the aircraft industry and extensive testing shows that they are safe and effective on a variety of metals and other sensitive surfaces even in the most extreme circumstances.


I have used Simple Green HD to clean a few carbs in my ultrasonic cleaner, I thought it worked awesome. They came out looking like new (despite being nasty beforehand), and ran smoothly. I rinsed the carbs thoroughly afterwards, to be safe, and to help remove any cleaning solution before putting them back into service. I tried cleaning some things (not carbs) as tests in the ultrasonic cleaner, trying a few cleaning solutions. I tried Pine Sol, and did not see good results. Some jewelry cleaner stuff that I bought also didn't do much. But for what I was cleaning, the Simple Green HD always did a great job, so that's kind of my default cleaning solution now. 

I was starting with hot water, degassing it for maybe 15 minutes (I forget exactly), using the heater to get the water nice and hot (mine goes up to 150F), then I ran the carbs for an hour. I would turn them over, to help it access different areas. It's a great tool to have available.


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