[Vwdiesel] Bead blasting pistons

[Roger Brown]

Shawn Wright wrote:
> 
> I've spent a fair bit of time trying to clean my TD pistons by hand, by soaking
> in laquer thinner, and using a broken ring. I now have significantly less skin
> on fingers (they are *sharp*), and a long way to go. I've been quoted $40 to
> bead blast them. I forgot to ask if this will remove all the carbon from in the
> ring grooves, does anyone know? I'm getting a little worried about damaging
> the edges of the grooves during the cleaner, so was thinking bead blasting
> might be a safer way, especially with these expensive TD pistons...

One thing I found that worked surpisingly well on my Toyota pistons was WD-40.  Spray it on, let it sit a few hours or even overnight and it'll bubble up the carbon deposits like paint stripper does with paint.  I found this by accident, after having
sprayed some into the cylinder bores to prevent rust.  Looked in the next day and found the carbon deposits peeling off.  Did not have the pistons out of the block, so don't know how it would do on the grooves.

-- 
   Roger