Oven cleaner Aluminum engine part

hi guys, I have a project 4.0 engine. I bought a used upper oil pan and used easy off heavy duty for about 5 min to clean the sludge and dirt. It left a white powder on the internal and external surfaces and probably inside the oil pickup tube. The machined sealing surfaces look and feel smooth albeit a bit dull color now. Is this part safe to use for a rebuild? I can upload pics if requested. Thanks

 

Oven cleaner is caustic and you have mildly (hopefully) etched your parts. The white powder residue is the aluminum starting to oxidize.

 

Oven cleaner and aluminum don't like each other....at all. I’d be leery of it.

 

No offense OP but why do people use products on items they are not intended for use?

 

My bad. Didn’t read the label until it was already too late. I got a used part because the brand new one is on back order until the week of my vacation I picked to do engine install.

 

Part had some scratches from the recycler. This is the X-Runner style upper oil pan. Part looks fine to me apart from a little powder. If I used the part, would the powder contaminate the oil system? Is it possible to use this part still. I got a brand new one on the way hopefully soon anyways.

 

You eteched the metal with the oven cleaner. It already is eating into the aluminum where you can't see and will weaken in time and leak. Get another pan, this one is wrecked. You can spray the areas with vinegar to try and neutralize the cleaner than scrub with baking soda. Do it as soon as you can. Alum. is super porus.

 

It’s been 5-6 hours. Used pressurized water the first time. May just get another pan. Very frustrated right now.

 

Try the vinegar, water won't work.

 

it’s been a few days and this pan hasn’t melted yet. I cleaned most of the dust off and looks ok to me. I got a brand new pan and I’m thinking of using the studs from the old one. Don’t think this would cause any harm would it? Any one interested in my old xrunner pan?

 

you can clean that off with stainless steel wire brushes, stainless steel wool, scotch bright pads and a lot of elbow grease - just use WD40. I've done a lot of aluminum work on old BMW airheads and that is how we cleaned the cast alum parts.

 

Or have it bead blasted but that makes it look different and you have to clean the shit out of it so that you don't wind up with a glass bead oil contamination issue. Do not use sand, glass bead or plastic media/wallnut or perhaps soda blasting but NOT sand!