TheSamba.com :: View topic - cleaning old grime from plastic coolant reservoir and T pipe

Thu May 21, 2015 11:13 am

Hello all, I am currently in the process of replacing all of my coolant hoses around the engine. I have removed the coolant reservoir and plastic T pipe and would like to clean them up, as they are really grungy inside. Any tips/tricks/or secrets to getting all of the 30 year grime out of the insides of these? I have them soaking in a small tub of soap and hot water currently but the stuff still isn't breaking up inside. Anything helps! Cheers.

Thu May 21, 2015 11:17 am

Muriatic acid.

Thu May 21, 2015 11:25 am

True ^^^^^

But be careful!

Nasty stuff!

Dave

Thu May 21, 2015 12:03 pm

Eco friendly stuff won't cut the crud outa that tank.
Muriatic acid will in short order.

The stuff will take your breath away,and burn like all get out.
Wear some rubber gloves.

Thu May 21, 2015 12:15 pm

I didn't think of muriatic acid when I cleaned mine. I used a sleeve of .177 caliber BB's and some strong detergent. Shook it for about 15 minutes.

Thu May 21, 2015 12:38 pm

mosqutio_control wrote: ...I have them soaking in a small tub of soap and hot water...

Soaking isn't likely to get you anywhere (unless it is something really strong like the acid mentioned).

An alternative is applying some mechanical means like a brush or cloth. Much of the interior can be reached with a thin brush, even a toothbrush will help. A length of wire can be used with patches of terry cloth to scrub the inside - and the wire can be bent to get around to the top inside area.

I used Simple Green or Purple Power on mine.

Thu May 21, 2015 12:59 pm

I used crushed ice and salt. Swirl it around in there with some brute force came out looking great.

Thu May 21, 2015 1:27 pm

I guess it boils down to;
How clean do you want whatever your cleaning, how much time you wanna put into the job.

Get a plastic bucket, put enough water into it to sink the tank, toss the fitiing in there, drop about a guart of muriatic in there & walk away from it for 20 minutes.

Pull the parts out with a hook rinse it off, your done.

It'll clean all of the lime& calcium, plus the other garbage outa there in a heartbeat,

without any scrubbing.
Poof, your done--

Thu May 21, 2015 2:03 pm

Oh--
Don't toss the acid out.

Got some steel parts you wanna get the rust off of?
Toss them in the bucket.

Got some concrete you need cleaned up?

Toss the bucket of acid on it, broom around rinse well.

You've just got 4 birds with one stone.

Ta-Da.

Thu May 21, 2015 2:04 pm

thank you all for the replies! I will try out the acid mentioned. I think the washer fluid reservoir will benefit from this treatment, as well. I tried to clean it up last week and couldn't get all the crud out either. Also, edit for H pipe, not T pipe. Got my alphabet wrong, apparently :lol: