Washing greasy parts in the dishwasher: which soap/detergent

I had the bright idea to wash my underhood wiring harnesses in the dishwasher to remove the 4+ decades of grease and grime. After two runs, they are still not much cleaner than when I started.

I'm thinking dishwashing detergent isn't the best thing to cut this type of grime. I fear using the wrong soap and finding my kitchen knee deep in soap suds too.

Has anyone perfected this technique, or should I just scrub the things clean by hand at this point?

Thanks!

JimmyG the JB weldmaster! You know I woulda thought that dish soap would be the ticket for that as they all tout their grease cutting ability in the ads tho the water getting in the harness would concern me so then I'd have to put em in the oven to dry em out!. what I would do is what you said, scrub em by hand then run em thru the machine

Please tell me you are kidding ?


How did you plan to handle all the corrosion that will happen internally from having the wire soaking in water now too perhaps ?

(Not like just hosing off the engine bay, where the water is going to run off the loom)

I would have just used some liquid/spray degreaser and wiped down the loom with a rag. Orange hand cleaner and a rag works good for cleaning wiring too. Just take your time and do each wire at a time pretty much.


Don't even want to think about what chemicals and residue might be left in the dish washer now if you ever washed dishes in it again too.

In my crazy bachelor days, I used to wash parts in my dishwasher. I always de-greased first, then put into the washer. I ALWAYS used the dish washer soap. Using anything else will result in bad foam problems.

Did you type that with a straight face ?

Yeah, that one made me chuckle too.

Well, it was either that or ask how eating spaghetti off a plate washed in with the wiring loom gunk would have made it taste.

Trust me on this one. Do not try this if you are married.

Holy crap, I'm a bachelor guy, living alone, and i wouldn't even think of doing something like that, at my place.

I think the PH level of ordinary dishwashing detergent limits its grease cutting ability. A cabinet washer detergent might work better but whatever you use it has to have anti-foaming agents AMHIK

Does your wife know you did that? A little off topic but it reminded me when I first went over to my neighbors house, the back deck was covered with dishes and pans for the dog and cats. Told the wife when I got home , DON"T EVER ACCEPT A DINNER INVITATION OVER THERE.

Buddy of mine washed his Quadrajet for his Stage 1 in his wife's dishwasher after he had soaked it. He bought her a new dishwasher.

Gotta admit I'm guilty of this one...but all I washed was a bunch of light lens...They weren't super grimy but needed cleaned up...It worked pretty good...

Did a carb. years ago and no problems.

I used Calgonite to flush out the mess an NTC Cummins oil cooler failure leaves behind in the cooling system. Flush the system twice one box per and milkshake all gone everything shiny new.

Don't know if they still make it or not.

If you aren't already single, there's a good chance you maybe soon.

Kevin

I washed the main dash harness for my Dart in the dishwasher. It came out looking better but still needed some cleaning. I also put my Challenger seat belts in an old pillow case and ran them through the washing machine. That worked pretty good actually. My Dart seat belts are really nasty though. I don't think I'm even going to try cleaning those up.

I've had good luck soaking seat belts in simple green for a while then rinsing a few times over and soaking in clean water when done then letting them air dry..