How To Clean A Dirt Bike Engine

One of the most effective ways to prolong engine life is to keep it clean and maintain its performance. There are many different tasks that should be performed on your dirt bike’s engine. These include regular maintenance, oil changes, cleaning the drive chain and drive train, inspecting air filters, replacing spark plugs and timing chain components, changing coolant in warm climates, etc. Other than pollution in water sources if you do not change your oil regularly. The following are tips on How To Clean A Dirt Bike Engine:

1. ASSEMBLE THE THINGS THAT YOU REQUIRE

You need to have an oil drain plug wrench, oil filter wrench, wire brush (medium/fine), small motor clamps like vice grips, bungee cords for a small spare tire and a towel or rag. Let’s take a look at the things you require.

* Aluminum Wheel Cleaner
* Toothbrush
* Simple Green
* Plastic bags Or Tape
* Scotch Brite Pads
* Mag Wheel Cleaner
* Soda Blast
* Power Washer
* Rubber Pad
* Air Tool
* Water Hose
* Parts Washer
* Pump

2. CLEANING INSIDE OF THE DIRT BIKE ENGINE:

Before you start cleaning the bike’s engine, prepare a tray where you can place the parts that you remove. This will avoid the dirt and debris from flying around while cleaning and will make your job easier. Take a small water hose and clean out all the dirt in there. Use power washer to wash out all the oil, dirt that may have accumulated at the cylinder head area. Use scotch brite pad for this entire process of removing big chunks of metal and rust from your engine block. The suggestions below will help you with the inside cleaning process. So let’s get started.

TEAR THE ENGINE DOWN INTO CASES:

Now remove the engine from the bike and split it into cases. You have a left case and a right case. Case covers need to be removed with a valve spring compressor or an impact gun if you have one. After removing the covers, clean all the dirt around the case cover gaskets with a toothbrush soaked in simple green.

GET THE CASES SOAK INTO THE WATER:

Get the cases into a tub full of water to soak them down. It is appropriate to use a parts washer for this job. If you don’t have it, you can use a bucket or a garden hose just as well. Keep the cases in the water for about 20 – 30 minutes and get them ready to wash off with power washer.

APPLY DEGREASER:

While the cases are soaking up in water, mix the degreaser with hot water and place it in a spray bottle. This will help you to clean out the grease from all the hard to reach areas.

PUT THE ENGINE CYLINDERS STRAIGHT:

You can use power washer for this step as well. After your cylinder head is cleaned, next step is to straighten out those bent valves using a valve spring compressor or an impact gun if you have one.

3. CLEANING OUTSIDE OF THE DIRT BIKE ENGINE:

The best way to clean your engine’s outside is to remove the exhaust manifold, transmission and engine oil pan. This way you have more space to spray with simple green and oil remover. Remove the drive chain before you start cleaning your engine, so the parts can be washed off easily and without damaging any part of your bike.

4. CLEANING THE EXHAUST MANIFOLD:

The process of cleaning the exhaust is almost similar to that of the cylinder head cleaning process explained above. You can use a power tool to remove all of the gunk. It will take you longer time to clean heat shield, manifold and manifold gaskets.

5. CLEANING THE TRANSMISSION:

The transmission needs to be completely drain before it is cleaned by using an oil extractor machine or a power washer with hot water. After that clean off all the gasket layer from transmission body, pan and case covers.

6. CLEANING THE ENGINE OIL PAN

Follow the same process as the cylinder head. Use scotch brite pad and power washer for this process. You can use hot water or soda blast to remove the oil stains from spots that are hard to reach.

TIPS TO MAKE DIRT BIKE ENGINE CLEAN EASIER:

You can do these steps before you start the engine cleaning process. Use an air tool for all of these steps.

1. CHECK THE HOSES BEFORE STARTING:

Clean the air and fuel lines to avoid any kind of trouble with your engine. Loose hoses can cause big problems like loss of pressure and even blow up your engine with extra pressure in your fuel line.

2. CLEAN THE DRIVE CHAIN:

Clean the drive chain and drive train with degreaser. Use wire brush to remove all the rust and build up of dirt.

3. REMOVE THE OILING CLAMPS AND USE A TOOTHBRUSH:

There are many ways to clean the engine’s oil cap, but the best way is to use a toothbrush. You can also use a plastic bag or tape to make it easier for you by removing it from inside its cylinder head and then removing oil cap from its place.

4. CLEAN THE SPARK PLUG:

Cleaning the spark plug and its terminal is a very important step because this part leads to ignition of the fuel in your engine. Dirty spark plugs can cause engine problems that can be hard to diagnose later on.

5. REMOVE THE AIR FILTER AND USE A PUMP:

Try using a vacuum pump and a rubber pad to remove all of the dirt from air filter. This step is very important for your engine to run smoothly and also it will give you a better air flow from the carburetor.

6. CLEAN THE CARBURETOR WITH A PLASTIC PAD:

Use a vacuum pump and a plastic pad to clean the carburetor inside, where all the gunk gets accumulated. This step is very important because this part of your motor leads fuel into your engine from air filter. And you don’t want foreign substances in the fuel that can damage your engine permanently.

These are the steps that you can use to clean your dirt bike engine. Doing the process step by step makes cleaning your dirt bike engine easier and reasonable.