cleaning out the exhaust

twist · Post by **twist** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:17 pm

I just recently got a exhaust that appeared to be in better shape than the one on my '86 spree. When i put it on, my scoot smoked pretty bad after warming up. Do you thinking de-carbonizing the exhaust would help this? Also, have you used Drano to clean it out? I don't think I'll be able to find Lye in my area.

thanks for your help!

EvilCrayon · Post by **EvilCrayon** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:30 pm

go to your local rite-aid or luckys. most grocery stores have oven cleaner which has lye in it and is perfect for the application.

keithw · Post by **keithw** » Mon Aug 25, 2008 2:38 pm

The good Draino is mostly lye. Just used some to clean out a muffler, works good. Get the stuff covered with caution labels.

keithw

twist · Post by **twist** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 11:48 am

Thanks for the tips guys!

Wow, So i started cleaning out my exhaust and found it was basically clogged. Unbelievable. But the Drano it doing it's job and getting all the gunk out!

evilone · Post by **evilone** » Tue Aug 26, 2008 9:00 pm

They have 100% lye at my local Hardings, It's in powder form though.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Thu Aug 28, 2008 10:43 pm

so what, you just pour draino in the exhaust and shake it around in there?

Kenny_McCormic · Post by **Kenny_McCormic** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 12:57 am

Its best to soak it in a trash can.

keithw · Post by **keithw** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 10:36 am

I used a cat litter bucket. With the crystal lye disolve a few caps full in a bucket of water.

keithw

da808fokai · Post by **da808fokai** » Fri Aug 29, 2008 3:23 pm

I used 3/4 lye 1/4 acetone mixture and plugged the bottom end. Fill the exuast up from the head side and let it sit for a few hours. Shake it around a bit every 30 mins or so. After, unplug it and drain/rinse with a water hose.

MAKE SURE to use chemical gloves. You don't want lye on any part of your skin.

steffen707 · Post by **steffen707** » Sat Aug 30, 2008 9:56 am

i dunno if I can get lye anywhere. I know I can get bad * draino though. I'm in Wisconsin.

da808fokai · Post by **da808fokai** » Mon Sep 01, 2008 9:32 pm

jonsteffen wrote:i dunno if I can get lye anywhere. I know I can get bad * draino though. I'm in Wisconsin.

I got mine at home depot. Its not pure lye, but its still pretty strong. Especially when mixed with the acetone. Look in the chemical section towards the gardening side.

wilsoniya · Post by **wilsoniya** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 2:21 pm

Be prepared to get strange looks from the home depot employees when you're buying this stuff. lol. Reminds me of trips to the local hardware shop asking for a funnel and lengths of plastic tube back in college.

adark248 · Post by **adark248** » Tue Sep 02, 2008 4:48 pm

Lol, our ACE here in Oxford keeps the funnels by the tubing and the ping-pong balls

I decided to clean my exhaust since there's a good chance that I will be getting a title for my scoot after all this time.

I started simple: bonfire. I built a bonfire and dumped the exhaust on top. I left it outside all night to cook and checked back this afternoon. It seemed to knock a bunch of junk loose, but I guess the pieces were too big to shake out. Next I tried flushing them out with a hose. I got a few pieces out, but not much, and then everything else inside turned to some kind of slush and wouldn't come out at all.

After class I bought a can of Kroger Brand Over cleaner. It was a spray foam so I tried to spray it in both ends which proved to be harder than I thought. It would foam up so quickly that I'm not sure enough of it got into the muffler to do a whole lot. So I sprayed it in, then flushed a little water in to try and force it into the big cavity.

Still had a lot of gunk (I didn't let it sit very long, because I was constantly adding foam and water to try and keep it as full as possible).

To get all the water out that I couldn't shake out, I threw it on another bonfire. I cooled it off and now it is noticeably lighter and I can't hear as much stuff rattling around.

Upside: I think it worked OK
Downside: My muffler looks like a crisp piece of (even worse than before) crap, and is going to need painting.