Coolant tank

[colcol]

Anybody have any idea how to clean the mud and sludge out of a Alfasud \ 33 \Sprint coolant tank?, i have soaked it for a week in radiator cleaner, soaked it for another week in sugar soap, then tried some caustic soda for another week, now i am trying truck wash and it has barely made a difference, and i always use corrosion inhibutor, there are many baffles and galleries in the tank, so its hard to direct a jet of water into it, an old Volksy i used to have, had a straight forward tank with no baffles, i used to put pebbles in it and shake them around, this used to clean it out beautifully, the Alfa tank with all of  its baffles, i may not be able to get the pebbles out, any idea's?, Colin.

[Barry Edmunds]

ColCol

Try a handful of ball bearings or, as Choderboy suggests, a handful of nuts, bolts, or small pebbles.

If all else fails why not a new tank?

Barry

[colcol]

The problem with a handfull of nuts or pebbles is that for sure they will clean it up, but i may not get them out, and a new tank, i don't think you could buy them now, although i havn't tried, and the price of one may exceed the value of my car, and looking at the 156, i reckon i will have the same problem in a few years, Colin.

[Neil Choi]

Colin,

All have described a mechanic method of removing the "mud and sludge".  You tried caustic soda and sugar soap, both of which are basic, to dissolve the stuff.

When you say "mud and sludge", presume you mean stuff which came out of the block (I don't what boxer engines are made of), I would presume then it could also rust or iron oxide and other mineral salts, probably aluminum salts.

You could try hydrochloric (HCl) acid, say 10% solution to start off with, concentrated solution is 37% or 10 molar.  HCl can be bought at hardware store or if not in a hurry, let me know and I can get you some top quality analytical stuff out of my drug lab!!!

HCl will dissolve the Fe2O3 rust (if it is that) and the basic mineral salts.

But the mechanic method as you and all suggested is fine.  If you can't get the small nuts and bolts out, don't worry, you have just made yourself a maraca, and then you can shake it to your heart's contend in pitlane next time.

Neil

PS you can try acetic acid or vinegar first if HCl is not available immediately.

[Mika]

Hi Colin,

You helped me with advice about hanging the engine gearbox in my sud - thanks for that.

I have tried the small  nuts in the coolant tank and i can tell you that you will get them all out, it won't be a problem, however i don't think you will remove the amount of sludge and discoloration that you would like.

I have cleaned the coolant tanks on both my 164 and Sud, the 164 came up quite well using the method you described and the sud one improved but not greatly. I think the issue is that the plastic the bottle is made of becomes impregnated and depending how bad it is i don't think you will ever be able to remove it all, the best you can hope for is to improve it.

[colcol]

Ok, here is the solution, after months of soaking in various cleaners, [see above], inspired by watching someone on telly the other night, panning for gold, i went to the local pet shop, and purchased $5 worth of fishtank pebbles \ sand, they are about 2-3mm in size, put hoses on all the outlets, closed up the hoses, poured some pebbles in, some water, and just like KC and The Sunshine Band, i started to 'Shake - Shake - Shake' for about an hour, changing the water as it turned to mud cleaning all the rubbish out, just keep looking at where the mud is, and make sure the pebbles are rattling on the dirty bits, and keep changing the water so you can see whats clean and dirty, cleaned up a spare tank i had for my 33 and it came up nearly new, but this exposed a few cracks in it, but i put it in the car and it seems to hold water pressure, the other one has gone from dark brown to light brown, the good thing about a clean tank, is that when you lift the bonnet to check your oil, you can eyeball your coolant tank to see if its full of green coolant and not have to remove the cap, which you don't do, because it is extra work, and the pebbles all came out quite easily, and if the don't, they won't rust, Colin.