Well, after all the trouble of getting the new motor in, the voltage regulator went and caused the battery to boil, resulting in acid covering a good bit under the hood. Got it neutralized with baking soda, but now I'm faced with the task of cleaning all that crap out. Any ideas of how to effectively get rid of the white residue? Sometimes I feel like I just can't win... Thanks JLB
i've used baking soda and water to neutralize the acid before and just rinsed it off with more water. just make sure you don't get it in the carb or on the electrical parts such as the alternator.
as don said, baking soda mixed with water will neutralize it. remove whatever you can in that area, wear rubber gloves. be careful as it will react as your adding it. do it a few times until it is no longer reacting. then wash it with clean water for about 20 minutes. you will also want to flush the concrete with water, and will probably have a clean spot on your concrete. be careful not to splash back in your eyes, maybe wear some goggles.
Excellent advise!! Some people are actually using baking soda in their power washers to strip paint off of cars. I know it's off topic, just interesting to me. Good 'ole lye soap is fairly basic too. It will also neutralize the acid and clean everything up real good. I don't know if you can still get lye at a feed and supply or not anymore. We used it to keep the bugs off the crops.
rubber gloves... a rubber apron and a pair of goggles MINIMUM... and a lot of water... do not use anything that causes the water to spray out.. as it could very likely spray back onto you... battery acid is very nasty.. and it will eat flesh just as easily as it eats metal
Yep, battery acid is nasty stuff. Will eat about anything it gets on. I've got a pair of holy pants to prove it.
A good power wash will help remove the residue as stated before. Safety is the priority while doing it. I don't think baking soda in the powet washer will remove paint because it dissolves to a liquid form. Some body restorer's use it in a dry form, instead of sand or glass bead to take off the paint without damageing the metal. Have not tried it myself but seems like a good idea for that type work. Don't know about the lye soap, making it is a bit dangerous. Adding caustic lye to boiling water, always scared me and granny both at the time, but it does work for the bugs and cleanning, great stuff.
I had the same problem. I neutralized the acid, and took it down to the do it ur self car wash. turned the nob to underhood cleaning and it worked. got it all off. the down side was that it ate off the paint in certain areas, and it had started to rust.
