Getting Rid Of Engine Gunk

[razorboy]

Hey Guys,

Pulled the valve cover from my 3.0 today and as I suspected, there is a lot of engine gunk in the cover and around the head. Even though I just gave it a fresh oil change, the oil is brown so I have a few oil changes to do before I suspect it starts to clean up in there a bit. Damn neglect of the PO to not even change the oil.........

So my question is regarding the cover itself.
Has anyone successfully cleaned gunk off the inside of the valve cover? There are so many nooks and crannies on this thing that a hand clean is pretty much out of the question. Just wondering if carb cleaner or something else might allow this crap to break down and flush off the inside of the cover?

I may just grin and bear it by putting the lid back on as-is but I really hate doing work that way. Just looking for ideas.

Cheers
Bernie