HCL Acid Bath Lesson in Stupidity

[Redneck]

Well in a search to find a way to get grease out of crevices and remove or soften paint for removal, I thought I would make my own acid bath. Found a suitable container found suitable hand and eye protection. Created solution. I used Acid Magic an HCL that supposedly does not interact with the protiens in our skin. Dont' worry this is not a horror story. Recommeded solution was 1 acid 4 water. Well I made mine a little weaker more like 1:7 because i only had one bottle of this stuff and wanted to make sure I could immerse the parts. I did the jugs first I left them in for about 30 min apiece and then thoroughly washed them clean with water hose. It worked like a champ to get the grease out from places I could not reash with a brush. So I decided to do the side covers. So took all my side covers through them in the bath and left them over night. Next day went out and thouroughly cleaned them with warm water and a little dawn. They were discolored but looked smooth and clean. So they set in the sink to dry. This was a couple of days ago. I went back down to the garage last night after fighting with the rocky New England soil ( i was trying to dig post holes for a dog pen) and was going to brush off the remaining paint on the covers. What I found instead was the aluminum was flaking apart. Just like big chunks of rust flack you get off some thick steel that has been rotting for a while. Man I was bummed. The good news is I had the other engine sitting on the shelf. I will replace the covers on my bike with those. But let this be a lesson learned. Do your research when messing with chemical combinations. I am just luck I had spare parts kicking around to replace mine with.

Paul

 

[tas850g]

Have any pictures of the aftermath???

 

[Adler]

I too would like to see pictures of the crime scene.

 

[tkent02]

Same here, I might even want the covers for one of my uglier projects, does it still hold oil?

 

[Redneck]

As requested here is the aftermath:

Needless to say I don't recommend HCl for use on aluminum.

Paul

 

[Nessism]

Needless to say I don't recommend HCl for use on aluminum.

Paul

Better yet, don't use HCl on anything. It's extremely corrosive and should be neutralized with a basic solution at minimum. Using it as a degreaser is inappropriate to say the least.

 

[crag antler]

Better yet, don't use HCl on anything. It's extremely corrosive and should be neutralized with a basic solution at minimum. Using it as a degreaser is inappropriate to say the least.

It looks like he figured that out.
Glad to see you kept the parts bike.
How is the project coming along besides this ?

 

[Redneck]

Well doug I am up to putting the engine back together. I have all the parts but just haven't found the time yet. Wife is on crutches and I have to do all the cleaning and cooking, and keeping the six year old occupied. Plus, I have to get a dog pen done to keep the dogs out of the neighbors yard.... wow I think I am whining... dooh its going great.

 

[bonanzadave]

A lot of those aluminum de-greasers will etch like that. I took a squirt bottle up to the car wash. Sprayed it on, changed a couple dollar bills, fed the machine some quarters. 2 minuets max. Rinsed it off and all my shinny parts were etched dull. Nasty stuff !

 

[tas850g]

I didn't think it would be quite that bad, sorry to see it now. Looks it was in a fire.

 

[jimfj]

I had the same problem with some polished bits on my bike using S100 cleaner. I was hand washing, sprayed it on and rinsed it almost immediately and had some problems as well.
Not anything like the pictures but still enough to make you angry.

Simple Green and a soft bristled brush and it works wonders.

Sorry you had the trouble.

 

[Allie]

Sigh, those poor cases. I'm glad you have extra ones for it, that bike is really looking fine!

 

[Rudeman]

Better yet, don't use HCl on anything. It's extremely corrosive and should be neutralized with a basic solution at minimum. Using it as a degreaser is inappropriate to say the least.

He may have been okay if he had thoroughly rinsed everything off instead of leaving it in the sink. The water evaporates and the concentration of the HCL increases proportionally.

Next time use a good parts cleaner.

 

[Allie]

Simple Green seems to degrease better than anything else I've tried.

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

A lot of those aluminum de-greasers will etch like that. I took a squirt bottle up to the car wash. Sprayed it on, changed a couple dollar bills, fed the machine some quarters. 2 minuets max. Rinsed it off and all my shinny parts were etched dull. Nasty stuff !

Some solvents have a pretty high sulphur content. These contribute to acid etching as well. I find if you use kerosene and wash the parts thouroughly with a lot of hot water and soap then things work fine.

 

[Allie]

Don't leave simple green on the part too long and be sure to rinse it all off. It has a bad long term effect on aluminum. IIRC, An aircraft company was using it to clean the planes, which worked quite nicely.

Except it pooled at the rivets, concentrated when the water evaporated, and compromised the rivets on the aircraft

I looked this up after our carbs were "growing" gunk (looked like soft silicon gel bits) after cleaning and rinsing with simple green.

BTW, we now rinse again with water and spray with WD40, which fixed the problem.

- John

That's good to know!

 

[Rudeman]

I like contact cleaner or brake cleaner for small jobs and good ol' elbow grease. I've sed the "green" brake cleaner and it is still very effective.

 

[Redneck]

I did elbow grease on most parts but I had heard of the acid bath... though I should have paid more attention to the type of acid.. and was trying to see if it would work to help remove some of the old paint along with the grease down in hard to get areas. It seemed to be working great.. unfortunately I did not apparently rinse enough... that or the aluminum absorbed the HCl. Anyway the simple green information is good. I have run into that problem during my cleaning. I would spray it on leave it come back and scrub out the grease... then would find a new type of residue left over.

Paul

 

[janner]

I have recently cleaned all my carbs with neat solution truck wash, aggravated it into a foam and rinsed immediately, then used my blow gun thoroughly on all surfaces to dry then immediately sprayed carbs with wd40, result is mint carbs with absolutely no residue whatsoever and looking like they have been vapour blasted, result