MTFCA Forum

Thinking of buying an automatic parts washer cabinet.
There are two types on the market,
(that I am aware of) the solvent and water type
Having not used either, what are the pros and cons?

Some water-base cleaning solutions will attack babbitt bearings.

The water based "cleaner" is worthless. Solvent based is the best.

Don't waste your time and money on the water-based parts washer. As others have said - go with the washer that uses real solvent. I have an older one and replenish the solvent with paint thinner. I remember seeing 5 gallon cans of parts washer solvent at a local Northern Tool store, but it's available other places too. Be sure to wear good rubber gloves that come up at least to your elbows and a shop apron.

Thanks, sounds like the solvent type is the way to go.

In my experience, solvent based always works best. Mineral spirits works well for cutting carbon and grease.

Find a machine shop that has a hot lye tank. Let them vat your parts. Lots cheaper than dealing with the cost of maintenance on your own tank.

I'm with Dan. A hot tank at a machine shop is the way to go. Trust the pros to know what is best. The only proviso is that all babbit material must be removed. This includes the tiny bits in the holes that help to locate the main bearings. Otherwise, anything in the tank with your parts will be coated with babbit, and that mix in the tank will have to be discarded. It is the surest way to eliminate crud in the axle housings and driveshaft tube.
My Godson puts my T stuff in on Friday afternoon and it is cooked over the weekend. I'm fortunate. if my stuff will fit in with whatever they are stripping, it is done at no charge to me, as the tank will be running anyway.

Allan from down under.

Yes you must remove the Babbitt. But are you going to use 100 year bearings in an engine rebuild? Oh, I forgot. We are talking to ModelT people about spending money.

Around here environmental issues with disposal of anything like parts washer stuff is outrageous.

Remember Lye eats Babbitt and Aluminum and Zinc plus other soft metals so unless you want them to disappear keep them apart.
It will help remove rust also.

I use an old school sink type cleaner and Kerosene.
But for a high quality cleaning I let someone else do it.
Mike

A few months ago I rebuilt an engine and cleaned the block best I could, then bought it to the machine shop to clean in a tank. Dirt and scum does not clean off too well in the tank. So, do that yourself first.

My guy has a tank that takes off everything! Don’t have to worry about pre cleaning. Corse his old school, grandfather in cause he has been there forever.
You can not get a permit now for vat tank like his. That is why you should find an old school shop.

Dan Hatch, I resemble that!
Tractor Supply sells Stoddard solvent in
5 Gal cans. I have converted my Enviro
Clean solvent tank to stoddard solvent
Because the water based cleaner eats Babbitt
& other soft metal like aluminum that the pump is made of. If you use water based cleaner install
A hot water heater element with a reostat
To heat the solution to 110-120 degrees it
Will clean much better than cold does!
Do Not heat stoddard solvent that way it
May not end well if the level gets low

My thoughts are coming from a Restoration Shop that also rebuilds Engines.

We use a soak tank (-a/k/a hot tank) with about a 15% solution of Sodium Hydroxide that is heated to around 200°. Ours has an agitation system where the basket is slowly rocked back & forth. Our usual cycle time is 8-12 hours. The biggest thing this does is soften grease and sludge. Most Jet Wash cabinets do not have the capability (-or cycle time) to ever heat the item enough where the grease will be removed. We only run our solution to about 175°, and it uses a 7½ hp pump with multiple nozzles to pressure wash the grime away. We use a cleaner made by Zep in the Jet Washer. Contrary to what I am reading above, solvent-based cleaners are not the hot ticket in a heated Wash Cabinet. I doubt you will find a heated Jet Wash Cabinet that will recommend using solvent as a cleaning solution in them.

I will also add that you need to understand the 'work-flow' process of how to effectively clean items. To begin with, I would not want my Jet Washer to do heavy cleaning. They are designed to be a final clean & rinsing machine. If you are trying to eliminate heavy accumulations of oil & grease, then either a soak tank (-not eco friendly), -or a thermal oven is needed. The thermal oven heats the organic materials to around 400° which cooks the oil & grease deposits to an ash. Then after the items are removed, the oven incinerates the ash. If we are rebuilding an engine, we soak tank first, then Jet Wash second, and then do the machine work followed by a cycle back thru the Jet Washer to remove honing oils and other chemicals along with any metal shavings or particles prior to assembly. Again, if the Jet Wash cabinet is contaminated from doing the heavy grease removal, I do not want the freshly machined parts being subjected to that filth.

One other cleaning tool is we use an ultrasonic cleaner, -however like the pieces above, you do not want to use a petroleum-based solvent in a machine with a heating element that is not intended for using solvent.

Oh, and don't kid yourself with thinking that solvent-based cleaners are better that water-based cleaners. I can mix a 40% solution of Sodium Hydroxide in Water in my soak tank which would remove the flesh right off of your hand & arm in a NY minute!! It does the same thing with anything that has an organic composition.

all great information from posters above, but when I think of a Parts Washer, I envision something akin to a kitchen sink with a lid, mounted over a tall wastebasket with a tiny fluid pump (yes, I know they are not kitchen sinks mounted on wastebaskets - there's no need to waste time explaining that to me)

I really cannot imagine a hobbyist wanting to invest in a commercial hot tank - and I am going to bet that my vision of a Parts Washer is exactly what Dave is envisioning, so maybe some advice toward that end would be useful...including brand and size of unit and source for same.

As an aside, like Brent mentioned, I use lye in water, in a covered Rubbermaid tub sitting in the sun, to strip grease off of antique cast iron and brother does it do a job on that (and would do a marvelous job on cast iron and steel automotive parts, too, for very little money. JUST BE CAREFUL!!! It would NOT be a suitable solvent/fluid for an actual Parts Washer AND I AM NOT SUGGESTING THAT IT IS.

Many years ago, when our shop was in Detroit, we had an ultrasonic, hot washing tank. The ultrasonic part stopped working long before I came on the scene. (It used vacuum tubes in its power supply) However, the "hot" part worked great. I would bring in car parts and hot dip them overnight using water and lots of Tide powdered laundry detergent. The next morning everything was perfectly clean. Paint, rust, grease, all gone. Not sure it this is helpful, but I'd rather use the Tide than a flammable solvent.

That neighbor no one likes....., when they go on vacation next time, turn up the temp on their hot tub, borax soap, done. When they come home they will think an animal got into it!

Scott_Conger wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 26, 2026 2:48 pm

all great information from posters above, but when I think of a Parts Washer, I envision something akin to a kitchen sink with a lid, mounted over a tall wastebasket with a tiny fluid pump (yes, I know they are not kitchen sinks mounted on wastebaskets - there's no need to waste time explaining that to me)

I would agree with your visual of a parts washer. I understood Dave to say he wanted to purchase an automatic parts washer. I guess we need Dave's definition of "automatic". My parts washer is an automatic parts washer. I load the pieces inside, close & lock the door, and then turn the knob and it washes everything automatically.

I guess I understand where the confusion might be. For example, I recently decided to get Missie a new Dish Washer for her Birthday. Matter of fact, since WalMart had them on sale 3 for $1.00, I just got her 3 brand new Dish Washers.

well, I DID misunderstand the "automatic" part perhaps - I assumed it to be one that closed in event of fire and did not even consider it was something that agitated parts...this is one sophisticated group of hobbyists', if that's the case

We use a spray type automatic parts washer for cleaning industrial gearboxes and axles. It's 2m x 2m x 2.5m. The product we use with this is a water based alkaline cleaner which gets heated up to 80°C. The attached photos shows a Timken crownwheel/differential off a 1916 Cole V8. For stubborn gaskets and 100 year old grease it still sometimes needs some manual scraping.

We used to have an agitation type parts washer but found the rotating table/spray bar washer works better at cleaning off the type of debris we come across (grease/soil, clumped coal, chicken manure, etc).

We also have a basin style parts washer which we've used with a variety of different products. We currently use this with Simple Green SG13484 Gearbox Cleaner. The best product for the basin styler washer was the Safety-Kleen solvent type cleaner but we moved away from that for health reasons.

https://cdn.simplegreen.com/downloads/F ... gFluid.pdf

Like Loctite, Simple Green have a lot of different products and its worth looking at their complete range to find what works best for different parts.

Curious - anyone out there ever use TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) to clean parts? I had a wreck of a South Bend lathe about 30 years ago - tons of grease and built up layers of lead paint on it from WWII on. I got a big metal tub and put the dismantled parts in it with a TSP solution (can't remember concentration, probably about a cup per gallon) and lit a fire under the tub. Several hours later, the parts came out with no paint, grease - just shiny metal. Put a fresh coat of paint on things and it looked like a new machine.

Also wonder if you can substitute Potassium Hydroxide for Sodium Hydroxide in the parts cleaner solution mentioned above.

Wobbly Dave wrote: ↑

Thu Feb 26, 2026 11:01 pm

Curious - anyone out there ever use TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) to clean parts? I had a wreck of a South Bend lathe about 30 years ago - tons of grease and built up layers of lead paint on it from WWII on. I got a big metal tub and put the dismantled parts in it with a TSP solution (can't remember concentration, probably about a cup per gallon) and lit a fire under the tub. Several hours later, the parts came out with no paint, grease - just shiny metal. Put a fresh coat of paint on things and it looked like a new machine.

Also wonder if you can substitute Potassium Hydroxide for Sodium Hydroxide in the parts cleaner solution mentioned above.

I cannot speak for the Potassium Hydroxide, but in the 1960s & 70s. My Dad (-he was a Chemist) used TSP to clean parts for his projects. I remember it being stored behind the garage in a large brown plastic garbage can with lid. He hung parts onto coat hanger wire and hung it off the sides of the garbage can. It was slow (-like days) to act, and when it was removed from the TSP, flushed and dried, it left a white powdery coating on it. Likely for him back then, it was an affordable method for him to be able to restore his cars. My guess is now use of better methods, tools & degreasers have vastly improved the efficiency.