Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums Modifications Duratec Maintenance UIM/LIM cleaning questions

Disclaimer: This post is just for imparting information and is in no way a suggestion that YOU, as an individual, should actually do what is outlined below. I take NO responsibility for the use of this info. Having said that:

For those of you who are chemically inclined, I took a look at the MSDS sheet for "THE" suggested cleaning solvent (Carb/Choke cleaner, pourin/spray can) for this job and found that the primary ingredients are Toluene (~50%), Acetone (~25%) and Methanol (~25%) with just a few % trace of other hydrocarbons. One could get a gallon of Xylene (very similar to Toluene, slightly lower volatility) 2 quarts of Acetone and 2 quarts of Methanol (Alcohol stove fuel) and mix one's own cleaning cocktail. I think they're all available at a paint store or Home Despot (I'm gonna check today at the store, couldn't find them on HD's website, which generally SUCKS). Just lower the volumes proportionally to make less of the mix, if desired.

I'm not sure if the pricing for buying the raw chems would be less expensive than getting a gallon of the pre-mixed stuff, but I suspect it should be. Also, I don't know if Californians can get their hands on the raw materials at the consumer level.

One BIG caveat is that while, to some extent, Acetone is not all that vapor toxic, Methanol, Toluene and Xylene can be pretty nasty. You really need to make sure that there is adequate ventilation where you do the clean-up. Plus, the mix is just about as flammable as gasoline. Also, Tol or Xyl on the skin is not a good thing either and will tear vinyl and latex gloves apart - neoprene should be OK for a while.

I wouldn't pour this home-made mix into the fuel tank either, just use it for parts cleaning. It's roughly akin to lacquer thinner so you know what it's gonna do to paint and possibly some plastics.

Regards, Kurt <-- me after sniffing this stuff!!

Update:

Prices at Home Despot:

1 gal Xylene = $9.97
1 qt Xylene = ~$4.00 (memory)
1 qt Acetone = $3.97
1 qt Alcohol = $3.97

Note: the Alcohol is "specially denatured" Ethanol which may not have the cleaning punch of Methanol. They denature the Ethanol by adding a few % of Methanol to make it undrinkable. To be quite honest, I think the biggest gum cutter in the mix is the Xylene anyway, the Acetone acts to dissolve some of the other deposits that are in the goop on the ports.

I'll try the "mix" in the next few days and let you know how it worked.

Regards, Kurt

I just finished my cleaning yester day....was more sipmpler than i thought...all i had to do was rememebr torque specs.....Thing came out beautifly, NorcalCoug form neco was there and DeviousDev...the only problem i ran into was a broken tranny mount on the driver side....i had to fix that....other that that the car has better acceleration and i can fell lost HP and tourque restored.


Reconmend getting a EGR gasket too...we had to improvise because i forgot to get one.



Roz

I got half my gaskets today. The manifold gaskets, the TB gasket, and 4 injector O-rings. I wasn't sure how many came in their "set" and for future reference, it's 4. I hope at least 2 of my O-rings look alright.

BTW, the manifold gaskets are thick! I wasn't expecting them to be so thick.

Derk2000:

The O-ring kits I got came as follows (from my local Furd dealer):

F5RZ-9229-AB (kit), Injector body O-rings, pkg of 6 = $5.28/pkg (They may have undercharged me here )
F0PZ-9229-A (kit), Injector nose O-rings, pkg of 10 = $12.36/pkg
F5RZ-9P867-A (individual), Funky fuel rail seals, $3.64 @ = $21.84 total

Both O-ring kits were M'craft packaging (evidently they come in Ford packaging as well). The fuel rail seals were FoMoCo packaging. Sounds to me like you might have gotten the left-overs from a nose O-ring package.

Edit: It just occured to me, my stuff is for a '95 SE, your injector O-rings are prolly different since there was a change in ~'98.

I haven't dived into my UIM/LIM job yet, but the fuel rail seals look to be the ones that may very well need replacing if you're going to remove the fuel rail assy.

Kurt

I've got a question about the cleaner. I've got every gasket I need, the o-rings, ect, but the cleaner is scaring the hell out of me.

I bought the B-12 Chemtool Carburetor Choke Cleaner. The whole spray can is screaming "Removes Paint". I'm scarred to use this stuff.

Is this the right crap?

Kurt, thanks for the part numbers.
You may want to add those to the 3L parts list post.

I ahve to say that lance is right.....it is really hard to mess this project up. i used the throttle body cleaner in steat of the oterh cleaners...I may do it again soon, just because i have an AUTO X challange comming up on sunday.

Roz