Greetings, I just joined this group and I own a 1971 VW Standard Beetle with a 1600 DP engine. I have looked at the threads regarding cleaning the heat riser tube but wanted to know if anyone has tried hydrochloric (or muriatic) acid? I saw this mentioned on thebugshop.org (by a contributor to that site) but wondered if the procedure worked well.
Has anyone tried this?
Thanks in advance.
i havent done it personally... but was with a friend when he did his... toss the hydrachloric in... then spray it down with water after a couple seconds... viola done and done. works like a charm
-Brian
69 - semi cal workin on a new motor =\
SAFETY PLEASE!!! Eye and skin protection as well as good ventilation.
I use a drill and a cut-off clutch cable to rod it out and can do it with it installed on the engine. Of course the muffler is off! ;-)
later, dave (One out of many daves)
Well, I got it done. I did this outside with long sleeves, rubber gloves, and goggles. No problems, but the first time did not remove much. I filled the tube and let it sit about 10 minutes, dumped the acid and flushed with water. The tube was not plugged solid but it still looked pretty sooty to me.
So, I went to Home Depot and bought two feet of 3/16 uncoated steel cable. I haven't been doing this long enough to have an old clutch cable around. I used the cable in my drill from both directions and then did another acid bath. This time what came out was black! More blackness came out during the water flush and I was done!
Anyway, thanks for the tips, the worst part of the job was raising the fan housing to get the generator/fan out. After I removed the engine lid, it was a lot easier to get the back housing bolts out.
-Scott S.
dave AKA vwdoc1 wrote:
ahhh sounds like you will have fun this winter with your engine running smoothly! ;-)
Great job Scott! Now what is next on the "To Do List"? lol
Yes, I used "off the self" Muratic acid which was used for cleaning d-earth pool filters. I had some left over that I got at a pool supply store. The bottle said it was 34% hydrochloric acid and I used it full strength.
I think the first application of the acid possibly softened the carbon, which the cable then broke up easily. The second application flushed the tube. I could see bare metal at the ends of the tube when I was finished. There was a thin layer of very hard material in one corner, but I figured I wasn't going to get it much cleaner.
Now I just need to restore the heated air system to the air cleaner and I should be all set...but that's a subject of a new post!
- Scott
vg> Did you just use off the shelf Muratic acid? I had tried the clutch
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