# Remove dirt dauber nests from bolt holes?



## wmk0002 (Oct 18, 2018)

Re-assembling a motor I have had sitting torn down over two years and am finding dirt dauber nests in bolt holes. I can scrape them pretty good with a pick and then blow out with compressed air but it's not quite good enough. Any tips for cleaning them out?


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## MrGiggles (Oct 18, 2018)

wmk0002 said:


> Re-assembling a motor I have had sitting torn down over two years and am finding dirt dauber nests in bolt holes. I can scrape them pretty good with a pick and then blow out with compressed air but it's not quite good enough. Any tips for cleaning them out?



You will have to run a tap through them.

The buggers filled the air fitting of my favorite impact wrench.


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## KMixson (Oct 18, 2018)

Use a bottoming tap. A starter tap will only clean a couple of threads at the beginning of the hole.


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## Rumblejohn (Oct 18, 2018)

Try soapy water in a spray bottle, then hit it with compressed air. If you have a nozzle that will go into the bolt hole it works better.
Be sure to use eye protection, because it will blow it right back in your face. If the motor is not already partially assembled, a pressure washer does wonders.

John


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## turbotodd (Oct 18, 2018)

Very good time to remind folks that those little dirt bugs (mud bugs, dirt dobbers, mud wasps, whatever you call them) and their nests can wreak havoc on outboards. In fact, of the 2 or 3 powerheads I've had to replace or rebuild, all of them were preventable. Whaddya mean?

Those bugs build their nest as the rig is sitting, and out here boats tend to sit a LOT. Years in some cases. Then it's the night before the big trip, dig it out from underneath all of the junk stacked on top of it, fire the motor up, and it runs. Great. Shut it down and continue your readiness preparations. 

BUT...the discussion here is dirt dobbers. Those cute little dirt nests. They build a nest on the side of a motor, under a cowling, in an air intake, bolt hole, flywheel, stator, wherever they think is a good spot. Then you go use the boat/motor. As you're running, those nests (which are DIRT) begin to come apart due to the vibrations among other things. There IS some air flowing under there with the engine running, and that air flowing is what does the work here. That dirt that has gotten broken loose or has been flung or ground off of the flywheel gets into the engine. Why? Outboards typically don't have air filters. They dont' need them. There's not much dirt out on the waterways. All that dirt goes right into the engine where it turns to basically sandpaper. Scores cylinder walls, eats up crank & rod bearings, etc. Basically destroys the engine, and it doesn't happen immediately-it can take years after the dirt entry for it to finally show it's effects.

I suggest pulling the cowling before starting the engine. Just pull it anyway once in a while to inspect everything, and look for the evidence of rodents and dirt dobbers. If you see nests, clean them-and I use permatex Grez-off, which works absolutely wonderful-and safer than using compressed air-by far. I love that stuff for a lot of different things from degreasing to cleaning parts to outboard powerhead cleaning. No, cleaning the powerhead won't hurt it UNLESS there's other problems, but I do suggest being mindful in spraying the coils off AND plug or put a bag over the air intake to keep water out. Doing this and doing it carefully, you'll get all of the dirt off of the engine-and the engine itself will look nearly brand new. I make a practice to do it every time I service a customer's outboard, but that's just me looking out for other folks' investments.


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## wmk0002 (Oct 22, 2018)

Thanks for the tips. Haven't tried again yet but sounds like I need to go get a tap set since I don't have one already.


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## wmk0002 (Oct 26, 2018)

I soaked the holes with WD-40 brand degreaser and then chased the threads with a tap and finished with compressed air and freed them all up. Wasn't too bad just had to run it down the really bad holes a few times to remove all of the grit. Appreciate the help.


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