Ammonia used to clean pistons?

[motosierra]

Has anyone used house hold ammonia to dissolve and clean carbon from aluminum pistons? I tried it on a piston that had the worse case of frozen ring I have ever seen. Also the top (and inside) of the piston were coated with a thick layer of carbon. Not only did it free the ring but it removed about 80 percent of the the carbon .....and softened the rest so it could easily be removed with a scoring pad .....and an improvised scraper for the ring grove. It left the piston.... carbon free but black in color. I suppose there was some oxidization going on. Do you suppose this (black coat) will effect the performance of the piston?

 

[PWB]

If you actually took any material off the piston it will. I'd get rid of the oxidation before putting it back in the saw. Don't want that stuff floating around in there when it comes off.

 

[ErrolC]

Try Tergo Strip - industrial paint stripper (about 15mins), will remove ALL the carbon with an absolute minimal effect on the piston..if need, brush off with soft brass wire brush but preferably waterblast & dry

 

[motosierra]

thank you both for your excellent advise....

 

[Blowdown1]

Ammonia will dissolve aluminum oxide that forms as a result of galvanic corrosion when aluminum is in contact with steel.

So that might explain why it appears to have removed some of the oxidation. I imagine it might work on other forms of oxides as would possibly be on the piston/rings.