Cleaning underneath valve cover

[mike87]

Hey r3v,

Does anyone know the best way to clean the gunk out of the underside of the valve cover hidden under the rectangular plate (encircled in red in the photo below)? My engine ate some bearings in the past (or someone thought it was funny to pour sand in my oil, haha...) and I'm 100% certain old oil was contaminated, so I want to be as thorough and as clean as possible.

Are the nubs holding on the rectangular plate welded on, or can they be drilled out and replaced with blind rivets?



Thanks,
Mike

[Vincenze]

An engine cleaner should be pretty effective.
Also, a carb cleaner, but it can destroy you plastic plug.

[tomstin]

Try spraying some brake cleaner. That will clean it out and not leave any residue.

[Vincenze]

Try spraying some brake cleaner. That will clean it out and not leave any residue.

When I tried to use brake cleaners, they evaporated in seconds doing nothing to caked-on oil.

People often use Gunk Super Concentrate Degreaser.

[mike87]

An engine cleaner should be pretty effective.
Also, a carb cleaner, but it can destroy you plastic plug.

What plastic plug are you referring to?


Thanks all. Still debating if I just drill this rectangular plate off and do an effective cleaning that way...

Either that or I soak the entire thing in a bath of Berryman's chem-dip which is similar to Gunk's super degreaser.

[D.Martijn]

I've been able to pry the cover away from the valve cover and use a pressure washer to clean the inside. No way spraying brake cleaner will get everything out of there.
Once clean (and dry) I put the cover back on. On some rivets I used a punch to peen it over the cover again.

[roguetoaster]

I've been able to pry the cover away from the valve cover and use a pressure washer to clean the inside. No way spraying brake cleaner will get everything out of there.
Once clean (and dry) I put the cover back on. On some rivets I used a punch to peen it over the cover again.

No gasket on the M20 separator? I ask as the M42 has a crazy gasket that's impractical to replicate.

[D.Martijn]

No gasket on the M20 separator? I ask as the M42 has a crazy gasket that's impractical to replicate.

Nope, nothing. Just the aluminium sheet.

[ForcedFirebird]

Not sure if you can get it locally, but I soak them in Formula 88 overnight and the stuff just dumps right out the vent hole. Not sure what a comparable solution would be, nothing else I have tried over the years works as well, or oxidizes the aluminum if it does do a good job.

[agisthos]

You should see the state of what is under those metal plates...
I had mine drilled and tapped out when I got the cover powder coated (because its safer to do this than have sand get behind the plate, which happened to me the last time I had a valve cover done).
Only problem is there is an expansion and contraction noise as the plate now moves when cooling down.

[mike87]

Thanks! To close the loop here, what I ended up doing was soaking the valve cover up-side down in Berryman's chemdip for a few hours and then hosing it down from both ends. A lot of junk ended up coming out.

Short of boiling the entire valve cover and/or removing the metal plate, I feel like I got a lot of the inside clean now.

[JehTehsus]

You should see the state of what is under those metal plates...
I had mine drilled and tapped out when I got the cover powder coated (because its safer to do this than have sand get behind the plate, which happened to me the last time I had a valve cover done).
Only problem is there is an expansion and contraction noise as the plate now moves when cooling down.

I think I may end up doing this with mine... I had my valve cover powder coated as well and am slowly approaching startup on my new stroker; I am highly suspicious that it is not very clean under there. Did you actually have issues with sand in your motor or did you just find some residue in your valve cover behind the baffles?

[agisthos]

I think I may end up doing this with mine... I had my valve cover powder coated as well and am slowly approaching startup on my new stroker; I am highly suspicious that it is not very clean under there. Did you actually have issues with sand in your motor or did you just find some residue in your valve cover behind the baffles?

No sand in motor, but I did an M20 valve cover and noticed some blasting particles came out when it got knocked, so I then drilled out the plate and there was sand behind there. So I will never trust a powder coater again on this issue.
When you are spending a fortune in time and money on an engine I think its worth doing to be safe. Also, you can periodically take the plate off to clean behind it, you just need to carefully loctite those bolts when re assembling.

Otherwise getting the valve cover chemically dipped is the only way to clean behind the plate, normal pressure washing will NOT get the collected gunk out.

[mike87]

No sand in motor, but I did an M20 valve cover and noticed some blasting particles came out when it got knocked, so I then drilled out the plate and there was sand behind there. So I will never trust a powder coater again on this issue.
When you are spending a fortune in time and money on an engine I think its worth doing to be safe. Also, you can periodically take the plate off to clean behind it, you just need to carefully loctite those bolts when re assembling.

Otherwise getting the valve cover chemically dipped is the only way to clean behind the plate, normal pressure washing will NOT get the collected gunk out.

[JehTehsus]

No sand in motor, but I did an M20 valve cover and noticed some blasting particles came out when it got knocked, so I then drilled out the plate and there was sand behind there. So I will never trust a powder coater again on this issue.
When you are spending a fortune in time and money on an engine I think its worth doing to be safe. Also, you can periodically take the plate off to clean behind it, you just need to carefully loctite those bolts when re assembling.

Otherwise getting the valve cover chemically dipped is the only way to clean behind the plate, normal pressure washing will NOT get the collected gunk out.

I think I will do the same as you then, drill and tap. I know my powder coater was aware, but even so.