cleaning white oxide off aluminum

[flyingbrick]

MY motors covered in it.

Not sure what the hell the motor went through to get this bad.

Anyone got any ideas on how to remove it with as little physical work as possible. Some areas are hard to access.

[nissangirl74]

I did some research and it doesn't look good. Most anything that would effectively remove the Al oxide would destroy the aluminum because it is softer. Any of the traditional types of blasting media will damage the AL and it might not be effective at completely removing the funk. What kind of motor is it?

[Carl H]

you could look into soda blasting the block...else its fun times with a wire wheel!

[flyingbrick]

yeah this sucks! Its purely cosmetic but something I want to sort. Looks like I'll be wire brushing everything!!!!

Its a vh45. Only around 40,000 miles on it but where it was in storage allowed some external corrosion. You should see the alternator bracket that he left outside!!!!!!! its just WHITE and soft with oxide.

Thankfully the throttle and everything else had caps so nothing could get inside.

[djwarner]

If you take the time to remove, you better figure out a way to prevent it from reccurring. Aluminum is one of the most reactive metal in common use. Remove the oxide and the next layer will oxidize in short order, though Aluminum Oxide is chemically very inert.

Aircraft skins are made from an aluminum alloy and then covered with a very fine layer of pure aluminum. Upon exposure to air and moisture, the aluminum converts to a very thin, protective coat of aluminum-oxide. Polish this layer away and you end up with exposed alloy that oxidizes again, but without the same protective capability. Sounds like you may be at this stage.

[Carl H]

engine clear seems to work well, i buffed off the corrosion on my rb's cas (which was quite crusty) and then clear'ed it...seems to be holding up thus far.

[gs14racer]

go buy some clr... calcium lime and rust remover. They sell it at most home improvement stores. it cleans the aluminum and doesnt damage anything else. I have done this numerous times.

[flyingbrick]

brilliant! I'll try CLR tomorrow.

Thanks :-D