Bugger ! *&%^$#@ burnt stuff on my header !

[TonyT607]

I roll in to the garage yesterday after a nice 3 hour loop around the hills in NW NJ. As soon as I shut down and get off the bike this burning odor hits me - like burning rubber or plastic.

A quick inspection reveals this:
http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/70944792-M.jpg
I know it wasn't on there when I pulled out because I washed the bike top to bottom. The crap is dripped/wrapped around the bottom of the pipe as well.
The only thing I can think of is a plastic bag must have been floating around and must have gotten stuck/melted on to the pipe. I didn't make any stops on my ride yesterday, and didn't notice the burning smell until I dismounted in the garage. It is now kind of hardened on the pipe.

Any ideas or suggestions as to how I can remove this ? Should I just let it "cook" away ? Are there any type of cleaners/chemicals I should try ? :013:

Thanks guys

[Tipstall]

Wow, What a mess. I don't have any idea how to clean that up but good luck.

Ken

[Deano]

I've melted cordura on my pipes a couple of times. After a ride or two, the residue was sufficiently ashed that it generally disappeared on it's own accord. My "incidents" occurred a bit closer to the head, so the pipe temperature may have been somewhat greater. If it hangs about, I would be tempted to work it over with some steel wool while it's still hot.

Good luck.

[Promethean]

I've had that happen to my bike. All I did was, ran the bike for about 30 minutes on the highway...came back into the garage....grabbed a bunch of disposable kitchen towels and wiped the muck off.

Gone in 30 seconds!

[DJ Down Under]

What a bad smell...I can smell it from here..:icon_mrgreen:

Don't worry...It'll come off ok...you can just let it cook away.

While it's hot try scrapping it with a wooden ice cream stick..you can use steelwool..even sandpaper.

A good metal polish with bring the S/S back to a chrome like finish.

Elbow grease is the key...I've melted a plastic cover on mine...it's a bugger!

DJ

[jamming]

Tony, looks like you melted a bag on it. It'll burn off, OR like DJ said, get it hot and scrape it off with a wooden popsickle stick.
Roger

[Wild Will]

I'd try a hand held LPG torch, with a flame spreader attachment, and get that shiite off there asap. Undignified sight, a BMW with the dross O' the road stuck there like three feet of toilet paper stuck to your date's shoe as she returns to the ball after a visit to the powder room! I hate it when that happens.

And while we're on the subject, I tried every known method to get my brown stained stainless (that's a laugh) steel headers to polish up nice and clean, to absolutely no avail. I ended up pulling them off during the rain season (winter to you who dwell to the right of me) and having them ceramic coated silver. That was 5 years ago and they still look better than those stock shiite brown stained headers.

[TorqueMonsterMT-01]

Tony;
Abhijeet's method will get most if not all of it off.
After that, get some toulene from the local hobby shop and wipe the remianing gook off of the pipes. The wooden tongue depressor works great with the toulene.

Cheers,
Jeff

[BobFV1]

That looks awful - hope it comes off as easily as the guys suggest. You could always use it as a "sign from God" to get a new set of Remus headers.:eusa_drool:

[arkline]

I have heard, though never tried it, that oven cleaner will get a lot or this sort of stuff off. If I were to try it, I'd be careful, extra careful of where the spray went.

[DarthRider]

Easy-Off Oven Cleaner will pretty much take anything off anything.
Get the brush-on to avoid overspray, if they still make it that way.
It will also remove anodizing from aluminum but will quickly pit the base aluminum if not washed off.