Engine cleaning

Mike, do a search on this newsgroup for threads referring to using auto anitfreeze and a crockpot to clean engines. Sounds strange but it really works. Also, see article in Aug 2003 RCM, describes the entire process with pictures.

Don Atwood

They used to put antifreeze in wine and Dr. Pepper. It can't be that bad for you.

Where did you hear that?

Here is the REAL story from the Unofficial Dr Pepper site:

Q: Does Dr Pepper have Antifreeze in it? A: NO! (ok, so maybe everything in Dr Pepper isn't "good for you") "Polyethylene glycol is polymerized ethylene glycol. Dr Pepper reportedly uses it as an antifoaming agent." snipped-for-privacy@ssrl01.slac.stanford.edu (Jeff Terry)

"Ethylene glycol (commonly called antifreeze): HO-CH2-CH2-OH, is a small, toxic compound which dissolves readily in water and lowers its freezing point. Polyethylene glycol HO-CH2CH2-O-CH2CH2-O-CH2CH2-O-.. is a very large, inert, gelatinous compound which can be used to thicken foods. It's completely non-toxic, probably indigestible"

"Where did you hear that?"

You can find all sorts of information about the use of Antifreeze in Wine on the Internet. They use it to give the wine a more full body flavor, unfortunately several winerys in Germany, Austria and Italy put way too much in and people died. But it is legal to have a very small percentage, something like .3%.

As for Dr. Pepper, I knew it was one of those urban legends. But did you notice that they no longer list polyethelyne glycol in the ingredients. However according to the MSDS documents polypropelene isn't non toxic: Polyethylene Glycol (PEG) which is found mainly in skin cleansers is a caustic used in industry to dissolve grease. Both of these are strong skin irritants and can cause contact dermatitis, liver abnormalities and kidney damage. Implicated in contact dermatitis, kidney damage and liver abnormalities; can inhibit cell growth in human tests and can damage membranes causing rashes, dry skin and surface damage. -From Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) I guess again it's all a matter of percentages.

Sorry for the Off Topic post,

I wonder if Dr. Pepper would do a good job of cleaning engines?