Iridescent polished aluminum

[Wheelie]

I was cleaning up the '78 after getting it running. The engine covers were looking sad (2 winters unconditioned storage). So I decided to swap them out with the '80 pieces since they are already polished. These have been sitting on the shelf for a while. Since the wife wasn't home, and I was feeling a bit lazy, I threw them in the dishwasher to clean them up.

Now I have real clean and shiney iridescent polished alluminum parts.

What caused it? (Heat, Cascade, Jet-Dri??)

What to do since I don't want the iridescent look. I don't have any Mothers or anything like that here. Chrome polish didn't do the trick . Just take them back to the polisher?

Steve

 

[Boondocks]

Diswashing detergent is caustic and can damage aluminum. You're lucky that you didn't have worse results. You should be able to polish it back to a normal shiny finish.

 

[Zooks]

It is a very common phenomenon. It's caused by a combination of heat, chemicals and metal. In this case it is dishwashing powder, hot water and your engine covers.

It is a common trick for jewelers to use to get colours into sculpted metal like silver or bronze. I have used it in creating sculptures in the past.

The good news is that it is only on the outside few microns of metal. Hit them with 600 grit wet sand paper and then polish them and they will come up good as new.

Hint: Always use a small drop of dishwashing liquid or shampoo in your water when 'wet rubbing' and your paper will last longer. It also makes rubbing easier.

 

[Wheelie]

Thank you gentlmen.
On the plus side, the oil level sight glass is clean as a whistle.

 

[Red Rocket GS1100]

Question is....

Question is....

How do the dishes look now-a-days now that the oil from the nooks and crannies have been washed out to take up a new residence in your dish washer...lol. :shock: [-o< :-D

 

[Steve]

You don't have any Mother's? :shock: Shame on you.

Other choices can include SimiChrome, Never-Dull, and many others that are available in the auto-supply aisles at Wally World. Another one that I have found somewhat recently is Diamond Brite Truck Box Polish. It can be found at Lowe's, right next to the shiny diamond-plate truck boxes. It's about $12-13 for an 8 oz bottle of liquid, but it's really good stuff. \\/


.

 

[Zooks]

http://www.autosol.com/ - without doubt the best metal polish on the market. IMHO

 

[RaZ]

I was cleaning up the '78 after getting it running. The engine covers were looking sad (2 winters unconditioned storage). So I decided to swap them out with the '80 pieces since they are already polished. These have been sitting on the shelf for a while. Since the wife wasn't home, and I was feeling a bit lazy, I threw them in the dishwasher to clean them up.

Now I have real clean and shiney iridescent polished alluminum parts.

What caused it? (Heat, Cascade, Jet-Dri??)

What to do since I don't want the iridescent look. I don't have any Mothers or anything like that here. Chrome polish didn't do the trick . Just take them back to the polisher?

Steve

got pictures?

 

[Guest]

Dishwasher detergent is mostly sodium carbonate and sodium percarbonate. It also has some surfactants to get water to sheet off of the dishes for spot-free drying. Another name for a mixture of sodium carbonate with sodium percarbonate is, oxyclean! If you wash water glasses for years in this mixture, you'll see that it eventually dulls even glass by etching it. This is harsh stuff!