I have some oil and fuel stains on the engine cases as well as some grit/dust around the circumfrence of my open clutch, which i inherited when i bought my S4R, i have tried pretty much everything i can think of to get rid of it or to even get a little off, but to no effect.
Does anyone have any tips, tricks or suggestions, short of getting it resprayed.
Thanks
no first hand experience
but if it wont wash off then you have to go further
i would look at some polishes
further from there either jiff or gumption creme cleansers
usual rules apply test on an inconspicuous spot , maybe bottom of the sump ?
iirc i read on a can of bon ami cleaner guarenteed not to scratch
ive had zero luck with getting oil stains of my engine, they are caked on there pretty good. I was going to strip it and repaint it with something thats more resistant to oil. cause whatever ducati uses is flaking off.
I don't know what you have used so far. I've used some undiluted Citri-Solve (from my job, don't know brand) and it cleaned mine up with no scrubbing. This stuff is probably the same as the citrus based Engine-Brite. But again, I don't know what you have tried so far.
Best of Luck
Mag wheel cleaner does it for me. The only thing is that you need to rinse it down with water afterwards (with in a couple of minutes or so)otherwise you risk having the paint come off.
It got tar off my lower part of my engine case with ease.
Try clean gasoline, IME it easily dissolves baked and varnished oil. Just be careful, dont be smoking or anything like that.
Quote from: mendoje on November 21, 2010, 02:28:46 PM
Just be careful, dont be smoking or anything like that.
no fun
have you tried S100 or Castrol Super Clean Degreaser?
'skrat gives the dirty parts a quick wipe down with denatured alcohol i think to get dirt and grime off when its fresh. his s4r has plenty of miles on it and looks clean enough to eat off of. thats more preventative than damage control though
I have a dremel carbon steel cup brush I use on my die grinder, very soft, takes a fair bit of effort to take off paint, but light pressure takes off stained oil and fuel for me.
My bike had oil drip stains from the fill plug, and gas/carbon stains on the clutch cover from the old emissions tubes (don't ask), both of which defied every attempt and cleaning agent. Until Simple Green. For years I refused to try this stuff, thinking it was some ineffective biodegradable foo-foo crap. But it works! Rinse promptly and thoroughly, though, it's corrosive if left on for a while.
total cycle cleaner S-100 is my cleaner of choice for road bikes. If you have stubborn stains a stiff bristle brush after you have sparayed the s-100 on will usually free up any krud. For dirt when I worked for Suzuki many years ago, we used Westleys bleach white , but make sure you wash that crap off in zero seconds. It is very corrosive to plastics and alloys but boy does it get rid of dirt! [thumbsup]
Ive attached a pic.... see the engine case in the right of the pick (under the clutch), it is very orange, yellow...... I was told today that it might be from the head of the oil INSIDE the case doing the damage to the exterior paint.........
(http://i728.photobucket.com/albums/ww283/alosurdo/photo.jpg)
Gosh, that orange takes the cake. (Sorry cakeman) Some Aluminum alloys have some documented porosity, mostly to gases, so that may be a stretch. More than likely it is caused by lowest-bidder paint supplier to Borgo Panigale. The heads in my 800 have similar burned paint around the exhaust ports.
Quote from: battlecry on November 27, 2010, 06:11:24 AM
Gosh, that takes orange the cake. Some Aluminum alloys have some documented porosity, mostly to gases, so that may be a stretch. More than likely it is caused by lowest-bidder paint supplier to Borgo Panigale. The heads in my 800 have similar burned paint around the exhaust ports.
So is there anything i can use to fix/minimise the discolouration?
Check with your dealer, cakeman. A few years ago Ducati picked up the repaint tab for some 2V engines with defective paint on the heads. But the owners had to complain before anything got done. There are issues with cracking ST engine cases and expanding tanks, so they may be sensitive and want to address the issue.
BTW, great looking bike.