Cleaning old oil/grease off truck parts

[dujobu]

Does anyone know of a relatively easy way to clean old oil and grease off of old truck parts?

[mcampbell]

Oven cleaner. $5 at grocery store but the dollar store cheap stuff seems to work, it might need to soak longer. It will take some of the old paint off also so be kind of careful. Underside of my hood is bare now.

[leddzepp]

POR marine clean. Years of caked up grease and junk falls off like butter.

[Rooster's 67]

watch the oven cleaner around any painted surface, also aluminum anodized or not. it will cause damage to those surfaces quick.
like leddzepp said, Por's marine clean is a very good cleaner too.
I have used Castrol superclean (available at WM) it works very well and is like $7.00 a gal

[dujobu]

With any of these cleaners mentioned above, do you just soak the part / spray it on the part and it dissolves right off? Or use a hose to get it off? Or what? I tried Pine Sol today and it softened up the oil, then I hit it with a hose and it didn't budge. It wipes off easy enough, but some of these parts are not conducive to being wiped off due to too much intricate facets. The thought crossed my mind to try blowing it off with a pressure washer after soaking it in a cleaner.

[Rooster's 67]

The castrol Superclean works well with nylon bristled scrub brushes, after you scrape the thick stuff off. I use it in a spray bottle and spray continuously while scraping/brushing works pretty good. Better yet is when I had my steam pressure cleaner before it was stolen, little cleaner and then use pressure washer.....CLEAN!
Some car washes make decent pressure, but the owners of them don't care for all the grease.

[vectorit]

My favorite is Castrol Superclean, since it doesn't leave a toxic mess.

I tend to move slow on stuff like this, so if you are in a hurry the best thing is to take all your stuff to a shop.

If you don't mind taking your time, then the do it yourself cleaners are good.
My thing is, is to do it on hot days. But if you are in a cold climate, then hook up a hose to your water heater and fill up a bucket with the cleaner. Then drop your parts in there and let them soak for a couple hours, and if they are really caked with grime let them soak for days.

[donut]

How clean do you want things and how much effort are you willing to put into it?
My fathers truck, I wouldn't check the oil without using a spray degreaser and a hose on the engine.

My truck I went into a little more detail. Putty knife for the big chunks, Castrol Super-Clean was in there, I used a brass wire brush or nylon brush for scrubbing. Hose off (or pressure wash if available).
On mine it was in stages. I wasn't afraid to hit the part on the truck, just so I wasn't going to get covered in crud, then pull it off to do a better job. All summer long I had a stack of parts waiting to be cleaned up. As I got to a stopping point working on the truck, or waiting point, parts got cleaned up.

[72BlckButy]

Superclean or Simple Green

[john_p]

the wife stopped by the local dollar store today and picked up a spray can of grill and oven cleaner. since i just pulled the bed i sprayed some of the worst areas.. one water hose later and the grease was gone... not bad for a buck are two..