Living in California we are chemically challenged here. I’ve had
my block cleaned in one of those block cleaning cabinets that
sort of resembles a giant dishwasher. It sprays high pressure
solvent at the block until all the dirt is gone, or so the theory
goes. After this process, which the shop swears gets it as clean
as it could be(given the watered down cleaners we’re allowed
here), there is still gasket material and/or gasket sealer on the
front face where the thin paper gasket goes between the block and
the timing cover. Not too bad, I can scrape this off with a
steel brush. The BIG problem is that there doesn’t seem to be
anything available that will get rid of the heavy 30 year old
mineral deposits that have accumulated in the waterjacket. So
far I have tried Kroil, WD40, PB Blaster, Rust Eater, radiater
system flush(straight), CLR, and muriatic acid. Looking ahead to
possibly having to wire brush out all of this crud, I’m not sure
all of those areas can even be reached. There must be SOMETHING
that will break down this junk without eating away the machined
areas that the cylinders seal up against. After all, Murphy’s
Law says that if I leave it alone, it will loosen up after the
engine is running again and clog up my nice new radiater. Any
tried and true recipes out there?
Thanks,
Steve Dinse–
71 S III E Type 2+2
Montebello, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
-To unsubscribe go to
That’s what CLR is Calcium, Lime, and Rust remover. I have heard that the
deposits may actually be salts from the aluminum rea\leased in the corrosion
process. Maybe I need to know what would break down aluminum salts?
Steve-----Original Message-----
From: Rob Warnicke [mailto:robert@warnickelittler.com]
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 5:13 PM
To: Steve D
Subject: Re: [v12-engine] Cleaning the waterjacket - HELP!!
Try bathroom tile cleaner, you know, the stuff that gets rid of water
deposits…
good luck
----- Original Message -----
From: “Steve D” <@Steve_Dinse>
To: v12-engine@jag-lovers.org
Sent: Wednesday, July 24, 2002 4:13 PM
Subject: [v12-engine] Cleaning the waterjacket - HELP!!
Living in California we are chemically challenged here. I’ve had
my block cleaned in one of those block cleaning cabinets that
sort of resembles a giant dishwasher. It sprays high pressure
solvent at the block until all the dirt is gone, or so the theory
goes. After this process, which the shop swears gets it as clean
as it could be(given the watered down cleaners we’re allowed
here), there is still gasket material and/or gasket sealer on the
front face where the thin paper gasket goes between the block and
the timing cover. Not too bad, I can scrape this off with a
steel brush. The BIG problem is that there doesn’t seem to be
anything available that will get rid of the heavy 30 year old
mineral deposits that have accumulated in the waterjacket. So
far I have tried Kroil, WD40, PB Blaster, Rust Eater, radiater
system flush(straight), CLR, and muriatic acid. Looking ahead to
possibly having to wire brush out all of this crud, I’m not sure
all of those areas can even be reached. There must be SOMETHING
that will break down this junk without eating away the machined
areas that the cylinders seal up against. After all, Murphy’s
Law says that if I leave it alone, it will loosen up after the
engine is running again and clog up my nice new radiater. Any
tried and true recipes out there?
Thanks,
Steve Dinse
71 S III E Type 2+2
Montebello, United States
–Posted using Jag-lovers JagFORUM [forums.jag-lovers.org]–
-To unsubscribe go to
http://www.jag-lovers.org/cgi-bin/majordomo
-To unsubscribe go to
For one thing, get an engine block brush kit. It’ll allow you to get into
passages you can’t get into with a regular wire brush. Can you get or import
cresylic acid carburator cleaner? I’m not sure how it will do on inorganic
deposits, but supposedly it’ll take every last bit of organic material off
of metal. Supposedly these guys sell it
http://www.berrymanproducts.com/default.htm (quickly look for the link to
stop the friggin music.)
There’s also molten salt bath cleanings:
http://www.finishing.com/kolene/index.html Dunno how well they work on
inorganic salts.
Er… I’m surprised that the Muratic acid didn’t do the trick. Try “The
Works” drain cleaner… let it sit for about 5-10 minutes before
scrubbing… just don’t let it sit on any critical surfaces. It WILL eat
aluminum, it just takes a few minutes before it begins to work. (It eats up
aluminum foil, so it might help get some of that corrosion off.)
Just rembember that the non-water containing areas of the engine must be
ABSOLUTELY clean before reassembly. One little grain of aluminum oxide could
tear up a bearing pretty quickly.
Paul Kobres
85’ XJS
Good luck
-To unsubscribe go to