Originally Posted by HillRider
Formerly engine cleaners were heavily loaded with Caustic Soda (lye) which woiuld be very distructive to any aluminum parts. Modern Al block and head engines have probably required these cleaners be reformulated so they aren't as caustic.
Nevertheless, why do you guys need such heavy duty cleaners for bike parts? Mineral spirits, Simple Green or one of the Citrus based cleaners (d-limonine in another formula) are plenty adequate.
Mineral spirits doesn't clean the internals of my chain with either White lightning (ATB) or Teflon-Plus (road bike) lubes. Letting it soak in Gunk (after an hour soak and a flush with mineral spirits) gets a lot more dirt out.
Simple green is simply a joke. It doesn't work for the tough stuff. I don't even use it around the house. I tried it then threw it away. Castrol Super-Clean works far better than about anything else for a general cleaner.
Al