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It should be all right to wash these things out with gasoline. Rubber and gasoline can co-exist for quite a long time before the gas kills the rubber. Gas probably is the quickest and easiest solvent to use in this case, although I like the idea of a mixture like TJC is using. Paint thinner is a pretty good solvent to use in a mixture, too. I am going to use gas to clean mine and then blow it out with compressed air and load it up pretty good with WD-40. If you're nervous about the gas leaving a residue then you can wash it with soapy water after you've cleaned it with gas. The gas will float away as you use water.
When you stop and think about it though, these things are designed to be in an environment that is loaded up with petroleum by-products, first with the oil vapor that it is ventilating and then with diesel vapor that makes its way into the crankcase through by-pass. I'm pretty sure that they use a pretty thick piece of rubber inside these things and it will hold up for our cleaning no matter what we use.
Well fellas, tonight I spent about an hour cleaning up the CDR. First I used some Super-Tech degreaser and sprayed it down good. I then filled an old coffee can with gas and let it soak while I did some chores. Came back about 10 min later to check on it and I went ahead and took it out. I filled the diaphram with gas, covered both holes and swished the gasoline around inside to clean it up. A bit of gunk came out but not as bad as what I got out of my old CDR. Although I was very alarmed when I noticed METAL fragments comming out of the CDR. I continued to clean and made dang sure I got every piece out. Now these metal chunks could have been easily picked up from my workbench so I proceded without worry. I let it sit to air out ofter that was all done and kept checking to see if gas was still inside. After about a half hour I took a can of air and sprayed in that pin-hole in the back of the CDR. It was able to hold pressure and pushed it all out once I stopped spraying. I did that a couple times and went to put it on the truck. I cleaned up the air cleaner, put in the CDR and put the rest of her back together. I started her up first try and she smoked a little (as usual). I took her for a drive once she warmed up a bit. I stopped and reved it and the first few times she smoked a little, after that she was clean and clear! I tell yeah, BIG difference from the cloud of smoke it was putting out a couple days ago. Heck, I was killing bugs lol! I want to thank everyone for their help and ideas. Saved me a lot of time and headache! Not to forget saving me some cash too
-Dave
< Sorry for the long post, just good to have her goin again >
OK, What is a CDR and where is? Also, have you tried GREASED LIGHTENING cleaner? I run SVO(straight vegetable oil) and the only thing I have found that cleans SVO is GREASED LIGHTENING. Diesel, the same. That is some BAD cleaner!!