Underhood corrosion

[JHZR2]

Of Aluminum parts...

How would one best remove it, and more importantly, protect against it? All my vehicles have this under hood, even the ones that don't see salt in the winter... I guess just from AM condensation...

Thanks!

 

[qwertydude]

They may not see the salt but the salt is still in the road and during rains will mist up and dry on the parts causing corrosion.

You can remove some of it by first cleaning it with car wash and rinsing with water. Then scrubbing it with WD-40 and a stiff bristle brush.

To prevent it from happening again or getting worse regular underhood washings every month or so help along with spraying exposed metals with WD-40.

 

[spasm3]

I was about to say the salt must be brutal there. Then i read that you have the same issue on parked cars. I used to use a product called cd2 engine detailer. I have not used this in about 15 years so i don't know if its the same. No one seems to carry it but i still see it on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-YEAR-CD2-CD-...ols&vxp=mtr

I can't say if this is the same formula, but it worked well for me. I did mask off the fenders then spray away. I think in your case, you will have to get the corrosion off first and then spray something to keep the oxygen/moisture off the aluminum.

 

[rslifkin]

I'm pretty sure it's condensation related. I've popped the hood on the Jeep a few times on a summer morning after a cool night and found the entire engine bay soaked in condensation. My aluminum all has the same corrosion. It'll polish off, but without a coating of some form, it will come back.

 

[Merkava_4]

There must be some kind of salt mist getting sprayed up onto the engine somehow. I'd be spraying everything metal down with WD-40.

 

[Merkava_4]

Here's a look at what WD-40 can do:

http://forums.nwp4life.com/zerothread?id=43767

 

[Robenstein]

On things like intake manifolds and parts where i would not worry about buggering up electrical parts I actually use barkeepers friend and a good nylon bristle brush. The oxalic acid and abrasives in the cleaner really take off corrosion.

 

[Olas]

replace the ally bits with stainless

 

[NHGUY]

Eastwood has a clear aluminum spray that will coat parts and protect them.

 

[demarpaint]

Originally Posted By: NHGUY
Eastwood has a clear aluminum spray that will coat parts and protect them.


That's what I was thinking once everything is cleaned up.

 

[ronbo]

Not sure you have a problem. Al will form an oxide over it to protect it from corrosion. It may look unsightly but it's not corroded. If your old enough you may remember the old aluminum storm doors on houses that did the same thing.

Got this info from my high school chemistry class, back in the day.

 

[Robenstein]

Oxides are a form of corrosion, I mean iron oxide is something we call rust. Now controlled oxidation can itself prevent further corrosion (bluing/browning on steel and anodizing on aluminum). As I mentioned something acid based like the Barkeepers Friend will clean the corrosion from the steel and alloy parts you have there.

I would think something like sharkhide protectant would protect the parts once cleaned.

 

[IndyIan]

I think all the dissimilar metals underhood promote some corrision as well.
I would think though that almost any aluminum part would not corrode enough to fail before the rest of the car is scrap?

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: ronbo
Not sure you have a problem. Al will form an oxide over it to protect it from corrosion. It may look unsightly but it's not corroded. If your old enough you may remember the old aluminum storm doors on houses that did the same thing.

Got this info from my high school chemistry class, back in the day.


Sure it will, but the protective oxide coating need not be more than a few monolayers of atoms, so in this form, a few layers of the Al2O3 crystal.

My concern is more of the spalling or raising of the corroded material (probably with matching pitting underneath if it were removed). It seems to be dropping flakes of material that look similar to sand.

 

[Wheel]

I'm thinking it may be from your battery venting off. Are the hold down and tray corroded as well ? If it ends up in the underhood insulator, it travels really quickly and makes that sort of mess.

 

[qwertydude]

Battery venting is just hydrogen gas. That's definitely salt mist from the road.

Even when it's rainy in southern California, cars simply don't corrode like that.

 

[Robenstein]

Looks a lot like the old UJM 80's and 70's bike engines around here that have had been victim to many years of condensation and riding in the early spring when the salt is crusted to the road and gets in everywhere.

 

[JHZR2]

My truck hasn't seen salt in years. If it's battery offgassing (hydrogen reduction or acid issues), it sure hasn't caused corrosion of the battery, it's wires, or anything metallic nearby.

 

[hattaresguy]

Its from salt melt and that horrible pre treat brine they spray on the roads, I'm guessing you do a fair amount of highway driving.

Its purely cosmetic, so I'd just ignore it.

I guess a proper fix would be to remove and powder coat or anodize each part individually. But that seems like over kill for anything short of a show car.

Spraying the salt off under the hood helps.

 

[supton]

I think some of my rust issues come from being parked near a road. The passing cars keep the salt in the air. I wonder if the same is impacting you.