Itinerant Air-Cooled

My engine has taken an oil bath. I am tracking down an oil leak (originally thought it was oil cooler but am now thinking main bearing, aarghh!)

The alternator has been coated with oil and I would like to clean it. Any suggestions as to the best way.
Must I disassemble? Spray electric parts cleaner? Air? Nanobots?
Here are some pix though they are not great.
[albumimg]491[/albumimg] [albumimg]492[/albumimg]

P.S. The engine is sitting on a seweet ATV stand in the garage (Thanks Westy78) and I am stripping it down to clean it off thoroughly. I can post some more pics and just might if I can't figure out what is leaking.

Hmm...If it were me I would probably pull the housing apart to get at the windings that look like they are well coated with gunk. I wouldn't use anything but some kind of electrical parts cleaner on it though and be careful with it on the plastic bits.

WD-40, toothbrush.

Electromotive cleaner is safe for cleaning including plastic.

Bill

New alternator? I know it sucks but sometimes peace of mind is more important than $ - especially in the boonies with your family.
Try taking it apart but it would suck to do all that work and put it all together and have it fail. What the hell, try it you got nothin' ta lose.

I would only use an electrical spray cleaner from back to front, in the same direction as the cooling air flow. Because the temperatures drop as you spray, don't go hog-wild with long sprays. You can insta-freeze the shellac on the windings which will then crack due to thermal shock. I do not see a need to disassemble the whole thing. Once you have the worst of out, just drive it. Alternators and starters like a little benign neglect. Old windings and diode solder joints hate your playing with them.
Colin

Just in the nick of time. I was just about to dissassemble. I will spray it out and go from there. (easy enougn to get to if it fails.)