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I've got to scrub down the entire rolling chassis so I can get started on repairs/boxing and was wondering where would be the best place to do this, not my driveway. I was thinking of trailering it down to the local DIY car wash and shoveling/pressure washing off the last 49 years of caked on grease and road grime. Any thoughts on how you all approach this?
I was wondering if that would be frowned upon. I can pressure wash a complete car, including engine bay, suspension, etc, when the car is complete no problem but if I do it in pieces then that is now bad... One of the options on the built-in pressure washer is even engine degreaser. A tarp will help with the solid chunks but what do you do if you are hosing the whole thing down with degreaser and a scrub brush?
Just checked at a local place and they will let me wash the frame there. Its just a set of bays with each having a pressure washer wand that you choose the cleaner and go for it. For those without this option, what else is out there?
Last edited by Natedawg; Sep 15, 2020 at 04:41 PM.
Between the engine, trans, suspension, frame, etc., there is a ton of grime that is going to come off. Luckily the local car wash is ok with it, otherwise it would be a major hassle to deal with all the gunk. The kid pool is a great idea for everything but the frame! I am definitely going to go that route in the future.
If you think it's OK to degrease your engine bay at the car wash you are sadly mistaken and must be doing it at midnight and the attendant is not there. You aren't even suppose to clean off your truck after 4 wheeling. I remember back when you used to call them the Quarter car wash and the bay is just loaded with mud to the point you couldn't wash your car.
If you think it's OK to degrease your engine bay at the car wash you are sadly mistaken and must be doing it at midnight and the attendant is not there. You aren't even suppose to clean off your truck after 4 wheeling. I remember back when you used to call them the Quarter car wash and the bay is just loaded with mud to the point you couldn't wash your car.
As said, around here the car wash control box has a specific setting for "engine degreasing". Far as I know, the EPA makes the car wash install an oil separator, so that excess oil/grease doesn't go into the city sewer; and most recycle the wash water after allowing the dirt to settle out--it saves them on detergent costs.
The big problem is 4X4 morons who dump cubic meters of dirt into the car wash; it overloads the settling-pond and the clumps and clods left on the floor are an eyesore and unsafe for the next customer.
The attended automatic car wash that I frequent has an option for washing the underside of the car as you are pulled through the system. This would lead me to believe that they must have some form of contaminate recovery system as Schurkey mentioned. I can't imagine that they would be blatantly illegal. Anyway, I was just checking on legitimate methods for cleaning large parts without coating my property with road grime that has worked for others.
As I read it. Modem car washes are build to handle oil and grease. Older washes may not have big enough tanks. Again check with the car wash first.
From both a practical and a regulatory basis it is the POTW that provides pretreatment guidance or rules for discharge limits. This is usually accomplished through local municipal ordinance or regulation of a sanitary sewer district. Regulatory structures will be examined in the following section. Pretreatment in a professional car wash is accomplished through a tank, or series of tanks, that are known as an oil/water separator or a clarifier. The tank is usually buried underground and water from the car wash drains by gravity into the first compartment which is separated from following compartments by a baffle or piping which allows only water from within the tank below the surface to flow into subsequent compartments of the separator. The tank, or tanks, needs to be large enough in volume so that the water slows and heavier particles are allowed to drop out, while oil and grease, with specific gravity lighter than water, rise to the surface and are captured in the initial compartment. Grit collected in the oil/water separator is pumped out on a periodic basis, dewatered and sent to a properly licensed landfill. Proper chain of custody and testing of materials is maintained by the waste disposal industry, which services commercial car washes in most communities. The growing public concern for the health and safety of the public water supply and the environmental health of streams, rivers and waterways has led to a number of environmental regulatory structures designed to protect our drinking water and watersheds.
As with earlier studies by the EPA, the data collected in this study indicates that the oil/water separator tanks in professional car washes perform pretreatment of the effluent as expected. With regular maintenance and cleaning of the accumulated grit, the car wash operator can expect the oil/water separator tank to perform adequate pretreatment.
