cleaning heavy soot in exhaust

[themess]

Cautic soda's chemical nameis sodium hydroxide, and its formula is

NaOH.

Mixing NaOH and hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid, HCl) yields

H20 = water and NaCl, sodium chloride = table salt and A LOT OF HEAT, ENOUGH TO BOIL ALL OF THE MIXTURES AND SPATTER DANGEROUS CHEMICALS INTO YOUR EYES

[themess]

Cautic soda's chemical name is sodium hydroxide, and its formula is

NaOH.

Mixing NaOH and hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid, HCl) yields

H20 = water and NaCl, sodium chloride = table salt and A LOT OF HEAT, ENOUGH TO BOIL ALL OF THE MIXTURES AND SPATTER DANGEROUS CHEMICALS INTO YOUR EYES!

Solid NaOH is sold as pellets for about a dollar per pound as drain cleaner. When it is dissolved in water, the water gets very hot and starts to spatter. The stuff that spatters can eat holes in your skin. I'm not kidding or exaggerating here. If you decide to become a serial killer, start by buying a lot of NaOH pellets and dissolving it in water in 55 gallon drums, because it is the best way to dissolve a human body. (Gallstones will remain.)

I used to have a GT550, a two stroke. About every 10K miles I pulled the exhaust and took it to a machine shop to be "boiled' the way that engine blocks are treated to remove crud from the oil and water passages. I don't know what chemicals were used, but the exhaust came back each time in great condition, with the dinged up chrome shining.

[TheCafeKid]

Cautic soda's chemical name is sodium hydroxide, and its formula is

NaOH.

Mixing NaOH and hydrochloric acid (muriatic acid, HCl) yields

H20 = water and NaCl, sodium chloride = table salt and A LOT OF HEAT, ENOUGH TO BOIL ALL OF THE MIXTURES AND SPATTER DANGEROUS CHEMICALS INTO YOUR EYES!

Solid NaOH is sold as pellets for about a dollar per pound as drain cleaner. When it is dissolved in water, the water gets very hot and starts to spatter. The stuff that spatters can eat holes in your skin. I'm not kidding or exaggerating here. If you decide to become a serial killer, start by buying a lot of NaOH pellets and dissolving it in water in 55 gallon drums, because it is the best way to dissolve a human body. (Gallstones will remain.)

I used to have a GT550, a two stroke. About every 10K miles I pulled the exhaust and took it to a machine shop to be "boiled' the way that engine blocks are treated to remove crud from the oil and water passages. I don't know what chemicals were used, but the exhaust came back each time in great condition, with the dinged up chrome shining.

Woah...ima have to keep my eye on this guy...lol

[dardoonk]

The stuff that spatters can eat holes in your skin. I'm not kidding or exaggerating here. If you decide to become a serial killer, start by buying a lot of NaOH pellets and dissolving it in water in 55 gallon drums, because it is the best way to dissolve a human body. (Gallstones will remain.)

I guess the Dark Side of somebody has come out..
Now, how can I get rid of those Gallstones??

[TheCafeKid]

I guess the Dark Side of somebody has come out..
Now, how can I get rid of those Gallstones??

Feed them to pigs....

[Mark M]

Ok, this has me wondering, would this procedure be harmful to the aluminum that is the engine of our wonderful bikes, to remove years and years of oil grime..... I'm thinking that the aluminum would be too porous for this to work without damage, but if it would work, would save HOURS of cleaning.

Amos

Caustic soda will cheerfully eat all the aluminum you put into it. Porosity has nothing to do with it, the aluminum is simply too reactive and will be badly damaged.

An additional caution - any steel you clean with caustic (NaOH if anybody cares...) is completely bare when you are done and needs to be either painted or coated with a protectant or it will form surface rust in no time flat. Especially in the more humid climates. Where I live it is very dry, so we can leave bare steel for a few days before it gets red, but it will rust up in a few hours or less in high humidity locations.

Mark

[dardoonk]

If your wondering what happens to HCl & Aluminum,
clicky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmgFA2yvnY

[TheCafeKid]

If your wondering what happens to HCl & Aluminum,
clicky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmgFA2yvnY

Used to blow up wooden mailboxes with those in my younger and dumber days

Some kid tossed one in the commons area in between classes when i was highschool...took a while to go off, but when it did it scared the bejezzus out of everyone. Evactuated the school untill they found out what happened. Thankfully no one was around in the commons when it went off, or it could have done some hella damage to them. HCl in your face:shock:

[Mark M]

If your wondering what happens to HCl & Aluminum,
clicky: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksmgFA2yvnY

Big Fun!:-D

That is hydrochloric acid, though. Caustic will not be so dramatic, but it will attack the aluminum the same way.

Mark

[Dink]

Heavy "sooting" of a four stroke motorcycle exhaust is not an issue!!!
Leave it alone.
However having said that, heavy sooting is indicative of overly rich fuelling, this is an issue that should be dealt with.
So I suggest a thorough carb clean and balance, at least.
Is the bike modified from stock?? When were valve clearences last done??
Has ignition timing been checked??

Dink

[robtronic]

Glad I found this. On other bikes I have also torched the baffles and smaller scooters like vespa's it's suggested to stick them in a gas barbque on high for an hour or two (preferably one you won't be using that weekend), and then hammering lightly and shaking out the loosened carbon. But I think the exhaust on my 650 is too big for either. I have heard of the draino cleaning, but wanted to hear from what others had done to clean out thiers.

Thanks again.