[1947Chevy1989]

Hello,
My dad and I tried the muriatic acid trick on our old tractor rim, it removed the rust, but it damn near killed both of us at one point with the fumes, and we were outside in my driveway. it didn't do much good for the rim either, we found another after than, needed to really patch that one we had....but I wouldn't recommend doing that, sand blasting or other alternatives would do just as nice a job in my opinion...

[ChevyThunder]

They hydrogen cracking is an excellent point. Hydrogen atoms are small enough they can penetrate the crystal structure of steel (unless you have a very small grain size even then hydrogen doesn't help) This will cause stress corrosion cracking as the hydrogen which pentrates the steel helps corrode the steel fromt he inside and creates pits.

Similiar to what H2S gas will do to pipelines and pressure vessels if they aren't the right type of steel.

[jimlinhill]

Convert the rust (iron oxide) to iron tannate by wetting the rusted surface down with tannic acid. The the surface will turn black. If it doesn't, then the surface wasn't rusted or the rust was not treated sufficiently. Tea has tannic acid and is the reason why you shouldn't drink tea with meals. It will convert the iron compounds to iron tannate and may result in being anemic.

[Rendus]

Originally Posted by jimlinhill

. Tea has tannic acid and is the reason why you shouldn't drink tea with meals. It will convert the iron compounds to iron tannate and may result in being anemic.

There is no evidence to suggest that tea drinking should be restricted in healthy individuals who are not at risk of iron deficiency and are consuming a well balanced, mixed diet.

[dksurfer]

Hi, Everyone,

Thanks for the very valuable information on NOT using muriatic acid on metal but using phophoric acid instead. That is worth knowing, and I'll pass it on to my mechanic who told me I could use muriatic acid!

Thanks again!

dksurfer

[adantessr]

According to all the info in this old tread, muriatic acid is death for iron or steel, but how about cleaning a heater core ? I used it about 30 years ago for cleaning heater cores still installed in the vehicle. Just rinsed good with water afterwards and hooked the hoses back up. Will the corrosion inhibitors in anti-freeze keep the muriatic acid from doing any damage ? I need to clean the heater core on my recently acquired (march 5th of 2012) C-1500 . Thanks, Big Al

[Silver Shadow]

Acid eats rust.
Acid also eats metal parts.

Any acid will quickly remove rust, so will sand blasting or an angle grinder.
Fast brutal and usually very damaging.

Try putting a piece of iron or steel into ANY acid, and leave it there for a month, there will be nothing left to remove.

Now try something very different.
Make up a VERY strong alkali solution of lye (caustic soda) (NaOH) in water.
Toss in some Zinc chips, and boil it up in a steel container.
It will convert Iron oxide (rust) back to pure iron. The hotter and stronger the solution, the faster it works.
It not only stops rust, it actually reverses the rusting process.
Very strong alkali has no effect whatsoever on iron or steel, you can leave a part in there for a year and it will not have any effect at all. That is the secret.
It will however rapidly dissolve any non ferrous metal parts, so make absolutely sure there are no brass or aluminium parts in what you are de rusting.
Not only will it reverse the rusting process, the part will stay rust resistant for a very long time without painting or any other treatment.

The trick is not to remove rust, but to reverse the rusting process.

The strong alkali solution also quickly strips and dissolves paint and grease, which is an added bonus.

Putting iron or steel parts into any strong acid to remove rust, is like using a shotgun to clean a wound.

[41 kustom]

Why not use POR or some other rust stop paint. I used a popular brand on some jack stands years ago and they still look fine. Just a thought.