Hate that your car is giving you issues due to a rusty engine block? And you don’t just know how to remove rust from inside the engine block. Then this article is for you.
It is a known fact that your engine block is essential in your engine system’s proper functioning. Still, the engine block’s efficiency is sometimes affected by the accumulation of debris, oil, or coolant within and outside its interior surface. All these accumulations are causes of the formation of rust in your engine block. Therefore, you should know how to remove rust from your engine block.
This knowledge will also help you remove rust from engine water jackets and other engine rusty components and elongate your engine system’s lifespan, keeping it running at optimum efficiency.
What Causes Rust Inside Engine Block?
Rusting of engine blocks in automobile engine system are mostly believed to be because of the formation of sulfuric acid, which occurs due to the mixture of sulfur majorly seen in low-quality gas or oil and water that penetrates your engine. This mostly occurs during winter and can be directly pointed to water condensation inside your engine block.
The accumulation of moisture in these components sinks pass the oil coating and gets in contact with your engine block’s metal surface. This action also causes rust in coolant system and various metal surfaces in the engine system. When this happens, and your vehicle’s lubricating system does not give out enough oil to the surfaces when you start your engine, this will increase the action of corrosion on the metal surfaces and cause it to wear out quickly.
If you stop or your engine stops abruptly before warming up, the moisture accumulated in your system will quickly rust your engine’s metal components due to condensation.
It is not sure that poor-quality oil causes rapid corrosion of the engine block and other engine parts. Though oil change at the right time can slow down the corrosion rate. Interior rusting of your engine block can be mostly traced to the effect of sulfuric acid, condensation of water and air moisture on the engine block’s cold surfaces.
Iron rusts faster than steel; that’s why most metal components of vehicle systems are made of steel. So iron engine blocks corrode at a higher rate than steel engine blocks. That’s why the process of removing rust from cast iron engine blocks is done more frequently compared to steel blocks.
Your environment, the steel alloy components, and the heating treatment used on the steel determine the rate at which your engine block will corrode.
When You Need To Clean Inside Engine Block
It is necessary to clean your car engine, especially when you have oil leaking from your car, sludge, and grease.
Without cleaning properly, accumulating this dirt can cause flash rust cylinder bore and damage your car’s camshaft load and the crankshaft bearings and lifters. This can also block oil galleries, restricting oil access to your car engine’s vital parts, and all these can lead to engine knocking.
The engine of your car does most of the hard job, allowing you to use your car by powering a lot of moving parts. Most of these parts contact oil, accumulation of grit, leaking fluids, and debris and chemicals picked from the road, which causes the engine to become dirty. You can use a coolant rust inhibitor to slow down the corrosion rate of metal components due to this effect.
An appropriate time to get your engine block cleaned is when you notice any leaking part around its surface; when those areas start leaking, especially with oil, they attract dirt that tends to form a build-up of hardened parts that cause a blockage in some engine components (not inside engine block) So cleaning your engine system regularly will quickly deal with this and ensure the engine is functioning smoothly.
The different working parts found in the engine are not washed like many other vehicle parts. They are crucial procedures to follow when attempting to get your engine parts cleaned up.
Cleaning your engine regularly reduces the rate of corrosion in your engine components, including cylinder wall rust pitting, and keeps the engine resale value high.
If your engine block is all clogged up with grease or dirt, premature wear will occur in the sleeves and bearings, or other severe issues like gasket leaks will occur.
This cleaning process is needed to maintain the effective performance of your car engine. You should read more on how to clean coolant passages in block; it will help with this.
A clean engine will make your engine stay cool, increasing the operation skill and keep your engine resale value high. If your engine is dirty due to dirt accumulation, apply rust remover to eliminate the build-up of rust over the years. When it is recommended to care out this procedure I when there are amount of sludge inside your engine to an extent, and when you notice that your engine is rusting away.
How You Should Remove Rust From Inside Engine Block: Step By Step Guide
Cleaning your engine block can be very technical. If not done correctly, you run the risk of damaging other parts of the engine. However, it is essential to know how to remove rust from engine parts. But that’s when you have a good understanding of the technical know-how needed to pull this off, and as long as you have the right set of a toolbox and take the necessary caution, you will be able to do this in no time.
You can use simple tools in your toolsbox to remove the rust in your engine. You don’t need to own any unique tool for this process.
If you want to have your engine neat and shiny like when you initially bought your vehicle, then you need to adhere to this process:
You need to have the cleaning materials on standby: bucket or bowl, degreaser, wire cups, wire brush, rags, and your rust remover.
To thoroughly clean the inside of your engine block you to detach it from your vehicle.
You need to remove any adjoining component holding the engine block in place, so you can take it out from your vehicle’s engine system. The engine block as a major component in your system houses several other components, and there are different types of engine blocks used in vehicle design.
You need to know how to disassemble engine components before learning how to clean rust from engine bay. It is necessary you detach your engine block and disassemble it first before starting the cleaning process.
When you’ve got your engine block taken-out from your engine system, disassemble it, you need to immerse it inside the water; preferably hot, mixed with your rust remover solution for some hours ( Recommend this product Thermocure Rust Remover ). You can even leave it in there for about two to three days. This will make the rust easier to brush off, and no need to worry, it doesn’t have any negative effect on your skin.
Soaking your block will allow the rust remover to wash off most of the rust in hidden and open areas even before using your wire brush or wire cup.
After soaking your engine block, bring it out from the mixed solution and then use your rag to wipe washed-off rust from the block, so you can see the areas that need attention. Use your wire brush to remove any left rust or dirt within and on the surface of your engine block.
Ensure you also apply a degreaser on the various parts of the engine block to make it easier to remove grease on the block’s surface. While brushing, pay attention to all areas like the coolant passages, mountings, camshaft bearing and other holes within the block.
Check for any leakage when you are done removing the rust from the engine block. Check for oil leaks or any other external leakages. Oil leakage amongst the primary factors that cause surface rust on engine block. So, after scraping your engine block, make sure it does not have any leakages.
After all these, use your rag to wipe off your engine block completely. You can do this by spraying the block with water or use a clean rag that has already been soaked for a while in hot water. Finally, use a dry rag to clean off any moisture on your engine block.
When you are done with this procedure (please read this procedure thoroughly because this is also how to remove rust from the engine cooling system) leave the block out to dry properly for a while, and you can couple it back to your engine system, make sure you do this correctly.
After complete reassembling, start your engine and idle for about 20-40 minutes. This is to allow your engine to return to its average running temperature.
This is the best process on how to get rid of rust from your engine block. Anyone can use this guide to remove rust from aluminum engine steel, or iron engines. Yeah! Super easy. Make sure you get the procedure right, and you will get this done the right way.
Cleaning your engine block is not just for aesthetic purposes but also for cooling. If the engine’s block passageway is rusted, it can cause engine overheating issues, which can’t be fixed with a bigger radiator or better water pump.
If you want to prepare your vehicle for sale or are trying to clean up your engine system, you need to know how to remove rust from inside your engine block. For mechanics out there, with our procedure given, it should be an easy process for you to carry-out. Make sure you exercise the stated caution during this cleaning process. It is not advisable for non-mechanics to carry-out this process without processional help due to the technicalities involved before and after the cleaning process.
If this steps seems a bit complicated to you, try to watch the video that is embed on this post, it’ll help you to have a visual understanding and easily carry out these steps with ease.
If you still have any concerns on this topic, you can contact our team now or use the comment section below to air your view.
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