Serpentine Belt Dust Question

[brewster16]

After having a belt shred then replaced I have this greasy black "dust" all over the place on my engines. Of course as the engines are Cummins white I want to know if it is safe to wash down the engines as I would like to clean them up. If not any other solutions you can recommend?

 

[Little Ducky]

If it's just belt dust from being shredded I would just take a small vacuum and try to clean it up that way or just dampen a rag and wipe it down.

I know my gas 5.0's have so much electrical crap hanging off the top I would hate to knowingly get all that wet and be dead in the water even though you would think it would be water resistant.

 

[All's Well]

I just replaced belt along with an alternator change and t-stat -
While I had the belt guard / cover removed I just used spray 9 and paper towels and it cleaned up great. Depends on how clean that you want it, I tend to go overboard here and it was a bit of a challenge to get into all recessed areas but it is certainly doable - much easier with cover removed

 

[j98052]

Our mechanic recommended that we regularly wipe down the motors, as this makes it easier to detect issues such as leaks. He suggested using brake or carburetor cleaner.

 

[Little Ducky]

Our mechanic recommended that we regularly wipe down the motors, as this makes it easier to detect issues such as leaks. He suggested using brake or carburetor cleaner.

Just be careful using aerosols in a confined space. Always choose or at least try to non-flammable aerosols..... or better yet buy cleaner in liquid form and place into a trigger spray bottle. Would hate to hear someone lit themselves up.

 

[Espos4]

Brake and carb cleaners are very good cleaners, but they are also very good at softening and removing paint. Be careful with those two.

Me personally, I don't recommend or use brake parts cleaner or carb cleaner on my engine.

 

[Carpediem44DB]

Those engines are just fine getting wet with just about any degreaser that will emulsify with water and be rinsed out of the bilge. Good idea to avoid blasting the electronics with a water stream but even those are designed to be water tight. It is a boat after all. You can spray rinse afterwards with denatured alcohol to aid in drying. Problem with just vacuuming and wiping is you can't effectively get into the nooks and crannies for complete cleaning if you really want to keep it tightly white.