Cleaning Engine

[Roy Smith]

Is it true that if you want to realy clean the salt deposits from your engine
you can use cheep vinagar/water to flush though the engine.
My wife uses white vingar to descale the kettle is it the same.

[tue]

Don't see why not. I use a 50/50 pickling vinegar/water mix to periodically rinse my Scuba regs in to de-salt them. You would need alot of vinegar though to fill a dustbin

[Poly]

Probably NOT a good idea!

The deposit in the kettle is Calcium Carbonate (limescale). This is very insoluble in water and precipitates out of water when it is heated (most salts increase in solubility when heated). It reacts with acid (such as vinegar) to form soluble calcium acetate and carbon dioxide gas.

The deposit in your engine is much more likely to be sodium chloride from sea water. This doesn't react with acids. It is soluble in water so flushing thoroughly with fresh water should remove it eventually.

Acid - even vinegar, is likely to accelerate corrosion so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are sure the problem is Calcium Carbonate.

If you can get to the "deposit" then carefully scrap a little off - add some to tap water and leave overnight, and add some to vinegar. If it bubbles in the vinegar its calcium carbonate. If it disolves in tap water overnight its not calcium carbonate and is probably sodium chloride.

Neil

[Swifty]

Originally Posted by tue

You would need alot of vinegar though to fill a dustbin

Never tried French beer then, its cheap enough...

[Scary Des]

Originally Posted by Polwart

Probably NOT a good idea!

The deposit in the kettle is Calcium Carbonate (limescale). This is very insoluble in water and precipitates out of water when it is heated (most salts increase in solubility when heated). It reacts with acid (such as vinegar) to form soluble calcium acetate and carbon dioxide gas.

The deposit in your engine is much more likely to be sodium chloride from sea water. This doesn't react with acids. It is soluble in water so flushing thoroughly with fresh water should remove it eventually.

Acid - even vinegar, is likely to accelerate corrosion so I wouldn't recommend it unless you are sure the problem is Calcium Carbonate.

If you can get to the "deposit" then carefully scrap a little off - add some to tap water and leave overnight, and add some to vinegar. If it bubbles in the vinegar its calcium carbonate. If it disolves in tap water overnight its not calcium carbonate and is probably sodium chloride.

Neil

Interesting post Neil, do you know what Volvo’s Neutra-salt is doing chemically Des

[Poly]

Originally Posted by Scary Des

Interesting post Neil, do you know what Volvo’s Neutra-salt is doing chemically Des

I have to confess I hadn't heard of Volvo's "Neutra salt" until I read your message. I will do some investigating and see if I can find out what the "active" ingredients are.

Neil