While my cores were out i figured i would give them a good cleaning because they looked awful, assuming from a coolant leak

Let them soak in something close to simple green for a few hours, then, looking at the bottle label it said not to use on aluminum

Sooo i removed them immediately and air dried them off with an air hose, then sprayed the crap out of them with throttle body cleaner... at the time they looked okay minus a bit of white crap gunked up here and there, but now they look white as chaulk and i do not wish to run them like that.

So does anyone have any suggestions? Clr is not for aluminum and other methods include scrubbing pads, wire brushes and other things that would certainly damage the fragile fins.

Thanks in advance for any pointers.

 

get some alluminum cleaner and soak them in it or simple green or replace them or get a brand new manifold from amazon for 350 bucks

 

Not only does the OP rap he also provides us with these information rich threads

 

brake clean. lots of it. and a blow gun

 

^^This and/or Do what I did and take them to work for a nice Varsol cleaning (This way you don't need to scrub lol just let it sit)

Also after you rinse/clean them, Personally I rinse the part with hot water and then air blow it dry(This way your not leaving what ever your cleaning with on that part)

 

Air conditioner coil cleaner.

 

His problem was using simple green

 

simple green is safe to use on aluminum.

 

You can check my thread in the 2.4 forum but, youre fine with CLR, simple green, brake clean, or basically any other solvent you can possibly think of. CLR will not damage the cores so long as they dont spend a prolonged period (24 hours plus) in the solution. The cores are also not as fragile as you think, compressed air will actually do more damaged then a brush will if you do it incorrectly. Needless to say, a tooth brush going in the direction the fines allow air to pass through will work just fine, as will compressed air in the same direction, not left to right against the fin position. I used 100psi on my cores and had zero issues at all with the fins.

Post some pictures up of what you are seeing, and you said it was something close to simple green...what exactly was it?

 

I was using 'super clean'

 

This.

Try the Al cleaner first (if you can find someone who has worked with one that has HF in it that probably will work), but given you probably ruined the surface layer replacement coils is going to be the best bet.

 

hard to say exactly if its a chemical reaction that caused oxidation or if its calcium deposits, im more inclined to think calcium then anything. I would mix a 50/50 mix of CLR and scorching hot water in a bucket and let them sit for an hour. I have used CLR on the cores before and never had results like that.

This is a 3 hour bath with CLR from the last set I did....



and this is 50/50 simple green/hot water

 

Well I'd bet he made some sodium aluminate, the main chemical agent in super clean is sodium hydroxide, and when you contact that with aluminum it can react to form sodium aluminate.

Rice did you see any bubbles in the solution?

 

That be it then. lol

 

It should of produced bubbles (hydrogen gas) thats how to tell if that reaction occurs, but i'm leaning towards thats what rice did.

 

My cores.... wiped off with diluted simple green

 

hey rice, check out duragloss they make an aluminum brightner i used it on my intercooler and the damn thing looked all but brand new really cleaned it great

 

he said he used something close to simple green(not simple green) go read again

 

yes there were bubbles! thank you for the observation that's awesome

 

Save up and buy new ones now, maybe a good HF bath could help, but that **** is dangerous and you need to know what you're doing.

 

im sorry guys what is HF?

 

Hydrofloric acid aka alumabrite.

 

is that safe on the plastic bits?

 

Yes it does not harm plastic but not on glass or painted things. Dilute it well it is quite strong normally.

 

And for the love of whatever god or lack of a god you believe in wear gloves and don't splash the stuff on you. Straight hydrofloric acid will kill you if you splash some on yourself, the alumbrite i would assume is buffered so its a little safer but you still need to be damn careful.