Brake cleaner safe to spray anywhere in engine compartment?

[pretzelboy]

Was under the car today cleaning off my 94 active underside---as I was spraying hoses and stuff I began to wonder if it was safe for rubber and electrical.....

[Jesda]

Its pretty strong stuff. I suggest using an engine degreaser for other things. Its only a dollar, usually less.

[maxnix]

Largely it is percholroethylene. Not good for breathing nor petroleum based products.

That would include, rubber, plastic, polyurethane, etc.
Modified by maxnix at 8:38 AM 3/9/2005

[vicQ45]

That stuff's pretty hard on plastics. be careful with it

[SOCAL91Q45a]

Lots and Lots and Lots o Simple green

[qship96]

be careful with undiluted simple green,i used this and it caused some discoloration to all underhood aluminum parts.

[hal90000]

Just as an anecdote along these lines, I used to work for a company that supplied a major, national package delivery service company with their car wash soap. About 6 months after the start of the project their maint. people started complaining about premature deterioration of rubber hoses under the hood. Apparantly they used the same soap to wash out the engine compartment. It was determined that one of the ingredients was to blame. It was their formula so we were off the hook. I believe the culprit was delimonene or something like that. A citrus extract I think.

[pretzelboy]

96 with 70,000 miles? Wow!

[Q451990]

96 with 70,000 miles? Wow!

Try 90 with 72K

[hal90000]

I'm up to 76,000, guess I should update the profile.

[pretzelboy]

o.k.---if were starting a low mileage war my customer has a 97-25k...that he's selling in Sept....

[JedCoop]

Was under the car today cleaning off my 94 active underside---as I was spraying hoses and stuff I began to wonder if it was safe for rubber and electrical.....

Brake cleaner, carb cleaner, WD-40 and friends all contain chlorinated hydrocarbons. Chlorinated hydrocarbons ruin most any non-flourinated plastic and rubber, which means most plastics that are in use. WD-40, for example, has wrecked a lot of good plastic car parts and home products.

Chlorinated Hydrocarbons generally in use are Methylene Chloride, Perclorethylene, and Trichlorethylene.

A plastic can be chemically resistant to hydrocarbons and still be attacked by chlorinated hydrocarbons. I try to stay away from using chloribated products unless I am sure I am not going to wreck any plastic parts. Some plastics can handle spray with carb cleaner if they are quickly wiped/rinsed off. Don't soak plastics in carb cleaner.

[DAEDALUS]

I see cans of Brakleen that advertise "non-chlorinated". Would this be OK then?

[JedCoop]

I see cans of Brakleen that advertise "non-chlorinated". Would this be OK then?

for anything that resists gasoline the various non-chlorinated alternatives are all OK.

An aside, the only other common substance I know of that attacks plastics so generally is submersion in coffee (really!)