# cleaning carbon and burnt oil off pistons?
**URL:** https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169
**Category:** NYSpeed Automotive
**Created:** [June 19, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169 "2007-06-19T15:10:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Zer0DazE](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Zer0DazE)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/1 "2007-06-19T15:10:01Z")
it took hours to get the rings out of the pistons… ugh
there is some nasty shit built up in the ring lands. whats the best way to clean them up?
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### Author:  [@bracketracer](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/bracketracer)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/2 "2007-06-19T15:12:28Z")
[quote=“Zer0DazE”"]
it took hours to get the rings out of the pistons… ugh
there is some nasty shit built up in the ring lands. whats the best way to clean them up?
[/quote]
If you can find the equipment, I remember back in the day using an air gun setup that used crushed up walnut shells as a blast agent. However, doing my best to stay away from rebuilds over the past 10 years or so, I can’t say if there’s a newer, better way.
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### Author:  [@Viper966](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Viper966)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 3:52pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/3 "2007-06-19T15:52:29Z")
wheel acid dip, or soaking in concentrated degreaser or throttle body cleaner or fuel system cleaner
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### Author:  [@ieatpaint](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/ieatpaint)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 5:35pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/4 "2007-06-19T17:35:02Z")
Just drop them on the floor a few times, shit will fall right off…
lol, +1 for throttle body cleaner.
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### Author:  [@HotRodKid](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/HotRodKid)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 5:47pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/5 "2007-06-19T17:47:15Z")
good wheel acid will cloud the surface of bare aluminium
if the rings are all out use a brokenring toscrub the grooves, and use a white scotch brite for the flats
brass brushes also work well on the piston top
and oh yea, let them soak overnight in kero / gasoline or something else thats not enviromentaly friendly
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### Author:  [@catalyst](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/catalyst)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 5:49pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/6 "2007-06-19T17:49:07Z")
[quote=“Viper966,post:3,topic:31169"”]
wheel acid dip, or soaking in concentrated degreaser or throttle body cleaner or fuel system cleaner
[/quote]
+1 for soaking in concentrated degreaser. I used Purple Power degreaser from Clean-Rite.
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### Author:  [@MXS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/MXS)
#### Post date: [June 19, 2007, 7:49pm UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/7 "2007-06-19T19:49:16Z")
why did it take so long to get the rings out, was there so much buildup that they were just stuck, or what? that’s a lot of crap 😛
[quote=“HotRodKid,post:5,topic:31169"”]
use a broken ring to scrub the grooves
[/quote]
:tup: yeah, scrape it out this way
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### Author:  [@Final\_GTS](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Final_GTS)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2007, 12:03am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/8 "2007-06-20T00:03:49Z")
Laquer Thinner will eat this type of residue for lunch… FYI
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### Author:  [@Zer0DazE](https://forums.speedlife.net/u/Zer0DazE)
#### Post date: [June 20, 2007, 4:57am UTC](https://forums.speedlife.net/t/cleaning-carbon-and-burnt-oil-off-pistons/31169/9 "2007-06-20T04:57:08Z")
[quote=“MXS,post:7,topic:31169"”]
why did it take so long to get the rings out, was there so much buildup that they were just stuck, or what? that’s a lot of crap 😛
[/quote]
yeah, there is a metric ass ton of shit in in the grooves