I love muratic acid,i leave suff for days and i comeback to clean parts after a quick wash. But i just sorta noticed that is a good degreaser,as long as theres paint underneath the grease.. The video below was taken afert a c20 lower arm suspension was dipped in water+acid for a week.. The grease and paint just peels off effortlessly and if you pressure wash it,even better but i noticed that machined parts get completely eaten away, What do the metal geeks think? https://youtube.com/shorts/gzZTP9KBH8k?feature=shared
Three questions come to mind. 1) How badly were the parts rusted or pitted before the acid bath? 2) How long did the parts actually sit in the acid and how strong was the solution? 3) Were the parts ever neutralized after they were exposed to the Muritac acid? To remove that acids effect on the metal it has to be neutralized, the acid does not stop eating away at the metal parts if it has not been neutralized. It is possible the damage was already present on the machined parts that were covered with a surface rust. Muratic acid is pretty powerful right out of the bottle, if it is not diluted, damage can occurre over time, especially to thin light weight material like tin. Another variable is if the submerged parts are no longer submerged, the effects of the acid embedded into the parts that are now exposed to air can deteriorate much faster. The length of time the metal was exposed to the acid also becomes critical, "a few days" can mean anything from 2-3 days to several weeks if forgotten. Acid continues to eat metal. The strength of it and the time exposed, both submerged and the time exposed to air no longer submerged, and the fact it was never neutralized can all can cause damage. If the plan is to submerge the metal into a "dip" and leave it there, muratic acid may not be the chemical of choice, critic acid, or mol***es may be better options.
I added 2 gallons of Home depot,weak muriátic acid to 45 gallons of water. Are you surprised that It worked or? Yeah its weird..only machined steel, The parts were just greasy but not rusty in anyway,they were left in the bath for 2 weeks.. The weird thing is that it only ate at the machined parts but none of the regular steel,it won't damage rubber and it won't dissolve grease,,only softened grease/dirt mix and the paint just peels off with the grease cake on top of it. Oh it seems to like eat parts that have that black coating too. Parts were not neutrlized,,they were pulled out of the bath like that..
You should see what that stuff does to potmetal . Even cleaning vinegar eats potmetal. ( badges, dash pieces, taillight housings, art-deco heaters, old door handles etc, etc )
When I was young, I worked in a hard chrome shop. Hard chrome differs from decorative in that it is plated directly to the base metal and is much thicker. We could build up worn areas of machine parts to bring 'em back to the original dimensions. We kept a big vat of muriatic acid at full strength. It would strip chrome right off. So if a piece came in with hard chrome already on it, such as pump shifting, hydraulic rams, PVC pipe dies, they would get stripped of chrome this way. It'll eat aluminum quickly, it'll etch steel, and it will attack cast iron. It'll eat rust. The vat left uncovered...it would cause flash rusting on everything around it. Nasty stuff. But, it'll clean out a br*** radiator in short order! It either needs to be rinsed in a vat of water, or with a slightly caustic solution to neutralize the action. At full strength, don't get it on your skin or eyes! Burns like a sum*****!
"Acid Magic" works almost as good as muriatic acid. My local Ace Hardware sells it. Lot safer to use than muriatic acid. If you use it inside it doesn't rust tools or clean metal like muriatic
I quit using muriatic acid twenty years ago when I figured out the fumes were corroding any bare metal in the shop that they came in contact with. Too nasty for me. I use diluted powdered citric acid with some washing soda added now. Doesn’t cut grease as well as oven cleaner, though.
Always some of that muriatic on hand here, but I treat it with great respect. Works great to clean old stuff you need to solder.
Muriatic acid removes grease/paint by attacking the metal too Causes pitting, damage, and eats machined parts Don’t soak parts for long or use on precision pieces Only OK for quick rust removal on rough parts
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