Salt Away in engine compartment

[sscully]

Wanted to get some ideas on the use of Salt away from the group, considering we have a boat person here.

I have what is best called salt barnacles under the hood of the truck.

Once it gets warm enough I am going to go after them with APC in the tornador black, but I was curious if going after them with a spray bottle of Salt away 1st would help.

I used one of the grit hand wipes on the side of the power steering pump reservoir, which helped but there is still a build up there.

Just curious if any boat people in the north ( might just be fresh water - so not their area ) have tried this under the hood to remove the bulk of the salt build up, or if this stuff is just snake oil and I should stick with the APC.

Thanks

[Too Stroked]

Any chance you could post up pics of the salt buildup you're talking about? I'm kind of struggling with what it might be. Sure it could be an actual deposit of salt, but I kind of doubt that. (And if it was, soaking it with water should dissolve it.) There is also a good deal of aluminum under your hood and oxidation on aluminum looks for all the world like salt.

As for the boating connection, sorry, I'm a fresh water guy.

[sscully]

I'll take a picture of what is left on the side of the plastic power steering pump reservoir.

I scrubbed it for some time with 2 ideal monster wipes
- Textured wipes for cleaning tools and the likes.



There is the metal bracket that also has some on it, but the focus point I was posting about was the plastic power steering pump reservoir.

[sscully]

Here is the picture, this is after using up 2 wipes on it ( it was much worse ).



Guess what ?

Did not need the tornador black to get it off, normal tap water in the double spray bottle and it melted right off.

Strange, I go after it with 2 serious wipes and after 10 min I started to put a dent in it.  1 quart of water I cleaned the remainder of this, the top of the ABS module and a few other parts.

How many times has it been said : Least aggressive 1st 

Thanks Tom, straight water was the cure when the tool wipe failed.

[Kitzy]

If those wipes are anything like the gojo brand wipes, they're pretty dry.  It probably wasn't able to re-liquify the salt(?). I bet if you would have run the wipes under water first it would have suds-ed up and did a better job.  However it probably would have left soap behind.  I do this all the time at work just to clean epoxy coatings from my body.

[sscully]

The Ideal ones have a fair amount of wet to them, but I think you are right.  I started in a section and the salt dried them out straight away.
- Hence the reason Tom's suggestion worked so quick, only needed water not scrubbing.

I have not had this before, as we normally get snow and then rain right after it.  This year we had a stupid amount of snow and metric tons of salt were dumped on the roads.  Then to the melt, huge snow piles melting and not an open storm drain in sight.  At least most of the lakes drained off before the snow this AM.
- I feel like I am in MSP....

The other thing is I do not use the pull through on wipe dispensers, be it these or Clorox wipes in the kitchen.  I open the top take out the wipe(s) and close it back up so there is not a wick for evaporation to work on.

This is why I ask with my hair brain ideas, they can usually be tossed in the trash.
- Yesterday I got both my stupid questions, here on the site, done right quick

[Too Stroked]

Glad the water worked for you Steve. If you think under your hood looks bad, you ought to see what they look like up here!

I'm actually looking forward to being able to use a hose under my hood on the new truck. My son (Lexus Service Technician) informs me that unlike my previous trucks, I can blast away under the hood of the Taco to my heart's content. So for the first time since the early 1990's, I'll be able to keep my under hood area looking as good as the outside of the truck. You should have seen the engine on the 2010 I traded in. It was criminal, but I refused to touch it after two very bad experiences with other modular motors.