What liquid to use in an ultrasonic cleaner.

[ANDREW 30 0]

I bought myself an ultrasonic cleaner, with the view to cleaning my bosch redtop injectors.

So whats the best fluid to clean them in?

[bristolbaron 10]

Just been reading a thread on AudiSport about ultrasonic cleaning and James Sea Clean was used with very good results.

 

I was in the jewellery industry for 10 yers and we always used Flash for gold/stone cleaning. Don't see any reason why it couldn't be used for injectors.. Only a very weak mix is required - the ultrasonic does most of the work.

[bristolbaron 10]

have posted reply but has a link in it so needs approval!

james sea clean or weak Flash floor cleaner will be fine.

[C488ADO 0]

We used ultra sonic cleaners in the mobile phone industry believe it or not for repairing water damaged mobile phones , however the solution used was methylated spirits ( the purple stuff) it absolutely stank but worked and we saved 98% of water damaged phones this way.....Just popped in the circuit boards and your away!

 

Don't know how relevant that is but not sure if meths would work on an injector???

[Roger Blassberg 0]

I would have thought that anything involving water would lead to a risk of corrosion (I assume that injectors are made of a ferrous metal of some sort, at least in part), whereas jewelry is made of gold, siver, platinum, etc., which does not corrode in water.

 

My instinct is to use alcohol (methanol or isopropanol). Continuous exposure may lead to hardening of any rubber seals but a short exposure will probably be harmless. Obviously petrol is what the injectors are designed for but will probably contaminate the ultrasonic cleaner itself.

 

Best wishes

 

RB

[ANDREW 30 0]

Cheers for all your replies that James Sea Clean stuff I can get from ebay for £7.50 delivered, to combat any risk of corrosion due to using water mixed with it I could always give them a second session in the likes of meths/petrol or alcohol.

I'm not worried about contaminating the ultrasonic cleaner, as i really bought it for this purpose.

 

On a side note how easy would it be to rig something up to get cleaner sprayed through the actual injector?

[davidwort 0]

Bit of a pain really, a vw pump needs to run in fuel and then I guess you would need a pressure regulator and then all the associated unions and lines. Fuel vapour is pretty dangerous and this sort of cleaning is usually carried out on a purpose designed rig. For a few injectors it's probably more economic to send your injectors to a cleaning company or just buy new ones but it's worth a go with them just sat in the ultrasonic bath.

[fla 9]

tribetype40 did his injectors in an ultrasonic bath - have a look at the before & after pics. Amazing results.

[andy 0]

We used to use solvent cleaner (from an aerosol, but thats not really relevant) in an ultrasonic cleaner to clean rf connectors at work, worked very well.

[science 0]

Isopropyl alcohol (IPA) worked a treat when i cleaned my injectors and isv.

I was so impressed by the IPA I made a video, sad I know but;

It did however start to melt the plastic surround on the ultrasonic cleaner.

You could always float a smaller container of IPA in a bath of water though.

I also back flushed the injectors with carb cleaner, while pulsing 12v through them.

To connect the carb cleaner (aerosol can) I used a 10ml syringe without needle and plunger, small end onto the little red tube you get with a WD40 can and large end (heated by hot water) pushed over the injector tip, forms a good seal.

Then hold the aerosol down until the syringe fills and release by quickly switching 12v through the injector terminals.

After adding some new seals and caps, came out like this..

Edited March 5, 2011 by science

[spanneredmonkey 0]

we use pet spirit or meths to clean mag detector plugs for honeywell jet turbine engines in a sonic bath works a treat and the spirit dries off quick aswell

[ANDREW 30 0]

we use pet spirit or meths to clean mag detector plugs for honeywell jet turbine engines in a sonic bath works a treat and the spirit dries off quick aswell

Cheers for the reply but what on earth is pet spirit?