Engine Cleaning with Muriatic Acid

A. Hi Mark, just as it's hard to find any single animal which will eat both the carrion & the clover to clean up a field, rust and grease are very different problems so a single chemical to handle both problems probably isn't a great idea. Grease is best removed with solvents or caustics and rust is removed with acid. Get the grease off first, and if you then see a problem with rust, look for a rust remover/convertor. A commercial phosphoric acid based one will be safer for you and your parts than messing with muriatic acid, and it can be dipped or brushed. Good luck!

A. Mark,

To be brief, short and succinct, D O N ' T !

Any acid will cause problems. HCl, ie. muriatic will attack chrome very nicely let alone ss fastener clamps etcetera. Go and see 6a # 12044 for more advice on using HCl ...

Consider using a proprietary cleaner. Such materials will dissolve oils and are water miscible. Any automotive store should have one! Pour some into an old plastic spray bottle so that you can access hard to reach spots. OK?

Re rust removal, I'm not sure. I really don't know. Personally I would never, ever have contemplated using an acid to remove any engine rust. Maybe HCl or sulfuric with immediate wash-off, drying and then painting. Better still use 00 steel wool [on eBay or Amazon].

A. I rebuilt the engine out of my '62 International Scout, it had a bad rust problem on the outside of the crank case, I used a wire cup and a drill to get it all clean, followed that with a nice sandblasting to smooth out the casting marks, finally polished the block to a mild shine, primed with ceramic based primers and painted with ceramic paint. That was 4 years ago and it still looks like factory new.

Just my 2 cents.

A. Hi Shedrick. This site is about metal finishing than assistance with consumer issues, but sure, it sounds like they forgot to put enough oil in. My guess, but I'm no mechanic, is that if you hear no funny noises your engine is going to be okay.

Regards,