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I’ve been cleaning the deck of my 6.0L LQ4 to prep for reinstalling the heads and gaskets. I’ve done numerous methods of cleaning, none of which include any sanding or scotch brite because of the uneven wear patterns and the grits that come off sand paper.
So far I’ve used a gasket scraper, carb cleaner, and acetone many times. And have spent about 3 hours total cleaning. The deck is clean and smooth to the touch and really just gasket colored. I’ll post photos down below, if anyone can give me any advice or tips to help get the deck cleaner if it needs to be it would be appreciated.
It looks good to me. The only way to get the discoloration off the deck is to use a sanding block, or machining…which makes a big mess. Use a shop vac for a good while on the area. Concentrate on nooks and crannies…head bolt holes, lifter valley areas, etc. You can not get it clean enough after a scrape-down like this.
Those are just stains from the old gasket, That looks good to me, I’d send it on its way. Just make sure you also clean out the head bolt holes as well as remove coolant out of them
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Advice needed for cleaning deck surfaces 
