Home › Forum › Ask A Member › Cleaning mag plates
- This topic has 13 replies, 10 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 6 months ago by garry-in-michigan.
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April 25, 2015 at 1:03 am #14686
Brake clean is good stuff, HOWEVER, it can be FATAL if it used it to clean metal as a preparation for welding as super-heating the chemical residues can create poison gasses.
Do yourself or your welder buddy a favor and read THIS http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety- … -gas.html3
before you clean anything for weldingApril 25, 2015 at 2:52 pm #14720On any outboard I take Dawn dish soap & a tooth brush to wash the stater plate. Only item to be careful is the older magnetos be so careful of the windings & removing from the magneto. Members in the past have destroyed primary windings by removing the coil from the plate.
April 25, 2015 at 4:01 pm #14734quote ShoestringMariner:Brake clean is good stuff, HOWEVER, it can be FATAL if it used it to clean metal as a preparation for welding as super-heating the chemical residues can create poison gasses.
Do yourself or your welder buddy a favor and read THIS http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety- … -gas.html3
before you clean anything for weldingYour URL is dead, this one seems to work: http://www.brewracingframes.com/safety-alert-brake-cleaner–phosgene-gas.html
Scary, ain’t it? But this one is raising some red flags for me..
For one thing, a search on "brake cleaner phosgene" gives quite a few hits, and there’s even a Popular Science (yuk yuk!) article about it. But ultimately, all of the articles appear to link back to +one+ single report, that was published in American Iron back in 2009. I’m not familiar with American Iron but I can infer that it’s probably a motorcycle-related publication, web-based or otherwise.
One thing it’s not is a refereed journal.. or even a known and trusted source of properly-researched content.
Then we have the fact that the article in question isn’t a scientific paper or other scholarly piece – it’s an anecdote – and apparently by an anonymous individual at that. Then there’s a problem with the science. The writer mentions that chlorinated solvent decomposes in the presence of extreme heat and an argon atmosphere – but a quick read of the ‘phosgene’ article on Wiki states that the phosgene decomposition reaction is actually driven by oxygen and UV light, quite a different set of circumstances.
What to make of that?
So anyway, I’m not saying that brake cleaner can’t be dangerous, it can.. even at standard temperature and pressure. But that said, it looks to me like we’re witnessing the birth of an urban legend.. and ultimately, the truth of the matter remains to be seen.
April 25, 2015 at 6:09 pm #14747I have seen Steve Woods at meets clean off a cranky motor with WD-40 and put it on a boat and have it run like a top in the time it takes to do it. Not factory recommended, but he made a believer out of me.
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