hot tanking

[geckonz08]

It seems to me ,from reading only,that after an engine is hot tanked we are generally accepting of the fact that all galleys are clean . The consequences of this NOT BEING SO could ,I imagine ,be fairly dire.
It also appears that the common agent used in the cleaning process is Sodium Hydroxide .
Does anyone recommend a further 'home'cleanup with a water blaster after a dipping in NaOH ??
Or am I being paranoid?????
Anyone got any bad experiences in this line ??

mike

[Danny Wiseley]

DEFINITELY!!!
You can't get it too clean. The Sodium Hydroxide soak is just one of the steps in cleaning a block.
Run a brush through every oil passage, and wash the whole thing with soap and (preferably HOT) soapy water, until it passes a "white glove" test!

[don71]

Yea, I agree. Time spent cleaning won't be wasted. Being anal retentive will pay off in this exercise. I hav'nt had any bad experiences....yet.

You might follow up after the hot soap water with compressed air. Some of usual shop solvents like wd40,brake clean or paint thinner after that.This will help deal with a little flash rust that often appears quickly. You could reverse this procedure, use the solvents first, then hot soapy water. Either way is fine.

BTW, the little oil gally brushes are available in a set, from the usual mail order-internet- catalog stores.

[Olds64]

I used either Simple Green and hot water or Comet and hot water to clean the engine after it is hot tanked. Apply a thin coat of oil or cosmoline to the block with a wire brush after cleaning it to prevent flash rust. Then when you paint it, you can clean it again with denatured alcohol.

That is what I have done and it works well.

[joe_padavano]

You are completely correct. Normal engine building practice is to use a gun cleaning kit to clean out the oil galleries and other passageways in addition to a hot water overall washdown. I should also add that I've found the disturbing trend lately that machine shops are replacing their hot tanks with steam cleaners. I suspect there are two reasons for this. One is the environmental impact of the caustic cleaner in the hot tank and two is the large number of aluminum blocks and heads on newer cars, which cannot go in a conventional hot tank.

[geckonz08]

To All the above thanks --all good info to me n hopefully others I heard about the steam cleaning "substitute "if we can call it that -visions of the engine disappearing to the workshop beyond,out the back door and a steam blaster being reclassified as hot tanking .I am going to be so anal !!!!! cleaning this block n heads

You may find the below link interesting --electrolytic cleaning

http://users.eastlink.ca/~pspencer/n...ctrolysis.html

[J-(Chicago)]

I tried the electrolysis thing with my bumper impact pistons. Takes too long.
I had it in the bath for 5 days and the piece was still a mess.

Dropped the other in a bucket of white vinegar and got it done in 2 days.

Sandblasting is still the trump card in my opinion.