Rust stained/yellowed coolant reservoir - Can it be cleaned?

[element6]

I'm tearing everything down at the moment and looking at what I should and shouldn't replace.

My entire coolant system was full of rust from the last dumbass owner never replacing fluids. Sidenote: you wouldn't believe how terrible the green coolant smelled when I pulled all of my cooling hoses off.. not to mention it was dark orange.

So the inside of my coolant reservoir has a rusty red coating and the outside is kind of yellowed. I tried cleaning with degreaser (formula 99 or purple power) and gasoline.. no dice. The rust layer remains, if I could just get a brush in there I could get it off.

Any way to clean it or should I toss it?

[fronton]

toss. $80 for a new one, does wonders for an engine bay.

[dnguyen1963]

Try some rust removal products from Home Depot. But, unless you can get your hand on some nitric acid, it would be hard to completely remove the rust color.

[element6]

That's why I was asking.. $80 is quite a bit for a little plastic container.

I forgot I had some evaporust on the shelf. I'll give that a try and then some brake fluid and see what happens.

[dnguyen1963]

With all the elements, why C 12?

[nrubenstein]

Quit applying chemicals to fragile plastic. It's probably already weakened quite a bit. If you *insist* on not replacing it, then paint it black.

[element6]

It's going to get thrown in the trash in 6 months anyways when I strip the shell down.. It's 1/8" thick ABS plastic.. what's it going to do? Crack?

[AndrewBird]

Nothing you do to it will make it white again. It yellows due to the plastic chemically changing as it gets older. This means that the yellow is not a coating, but goes thought the plastic. The plastic it self has turned yellow. You can get it clean, but it will still be yellow.

[jeffnhiscars]

Doesnt anyone price shop ? You can buy an early reservoir for $56 shipped

[M-technik-3]

I'm tearing everything down at the moment and looking at what I should and shouldn't replace.

My entire coolant system was full of rust from the last dumbass owner never replacing fluids. Sidenote: you wouldn't believe how terrible the green coolant smelled when I pulled all of my cooling hoses off.. not to mention it was dark orange.

So the inside of my coolant reservoir has a rusty red coating and the outside is kind of yellowed. I tried cleaning with degreaser (formula 99 or purple power) and gasoline.. no dice. The rust layer remains, if I could just get a brush in there I could get it off.

Any way to clean it or should I toss it?

Quit applying chemicals to fragile plastic. It's probably already weakened quite a bit. If you *insist* on not replacing it, then paint it black.

It's going to get thrown in the trash in 6 months anyways when I strip the shell down.. It's 1/8" thick ABS plastic.. what's it going to do? Crack?

When you ask a question and a og on site say don't bother...then I hate to say it there is a reason. CRL rust remover will remove the rust but won't make it clear again. It yellows with age.

Take our suggestions with a grain of salt but remember most of the questions have been asked more than dozens of times in the 18 years of internet time.

Some of us are old hats.

[element6]

Some of us are old hats.

That's why I asked! :p

I didn't go into details on my situation because I figured someone out there had tried cleaning one out before, but I searched for about 10 minutes and came up empty handed. I just asked the question because I hadn't tried anything except some degreaser and water on the reservoir.

I'm more interested in getting the little rust particles out.

Like I said.. I am just giving the motor a light rebuild for now. I want to have some fun with the e30 on the weekends.. and then it is getting stripped so I can put it away before I buy a house in about 8 months. I bought the car planning to do an S52 swap but most of us know; you don't buy the car without a place to put it and work on it.

Thanks for the replies.

[M-technik-3]

Buy the house first....Don't get stuck with rebuilding from inside out either if you can. I have been rebuilding mine for two years.