salt away concentrate for atomic 4

[wchevron]

anyone ever use Salt-away treatment to flush out their inboard engine. my atomic 4 is starting to overheat and my moyer marine said to flush with muriatic acid but i'm having trouble finding a place to get some. i found this stuff at west marine.

[sailingdog]

Saltaway won't really help. You've got calcium deposits clogging up the cooling system and flushing with an acid is the only thing that will help. If you can't find muriatic acid... use vinegar. It'll take longer, but it will help. Basically any acid will dissolve the calcium deposits that are blocking the cooling passage.

[wchevron]

sd
thanks, i just found some muriatic acid at jamestown dist. in bristol.

[Hawkeye25]

Muriatic Acid can be found at any hardware store or garden shop. Its most common use is the cleaning of concrete and stonework. It is extremely caustic and will do the job you need, but I must suggest some precautions.

1. Seperate the raw water circuit on the engine. Attach an inlet hose to the raw water inlet of the engine, bypassing the raw water pump - about six feet or so - and lead it to the cockpit, where it needs to be secured. Stick a long automatic transmission funnel into it and secure that.

2. Attach a second hose to the exhaust elbow feeder - if there is one - or remove the exhaust hose itself and position a 5 gallon bucket there to catch the flow. Secure it and be sure you can see it.

3. Bring a garden hose with a nozzle into the cockpit and squirt some water into the funnel to be sure you have the circuit isolated properly, then open every hatch and porthole on the boat for ventilation. This **** is NASTY, man.

4. Empty the five gallon bucket - from the flow test - and begin to slowly add straight muriatic acid down the funnel. Do NOT rush, if you go to fast, breakaway crud can clog the outlet and acid might back up into the exhaust manifold and flood a cyclinder. Easy does it.

5. Watch the buck for results, and as the flow improves, speed up the application of the acid. Use the whole gallon, then flush fresh water through the engine. Remember not to overflow the 5 gallon bucket. Fill and empty it at least twice.

[CLucas]

Originally Posted by wchevron

anyone ever use Salt-away treatment to flush out their inboard engine. my atomic 4 is starting to overheat and my moyer marine said to flush with muriatic acid but i'm having trouble finding a place to get some. i found this stuff at west marine.

My raw-water cooled Atomic 4 had been running hot (180+) and was becoming a source of concern. The volume of water being discharged seemed low -- I did a vinegar flush and let it sit for 24 hours. Worked like a charm, it's environmentally friendly and I'm back to a steady 140*. Here's what I did...

First, make certain the raw water seacock is closed. Remove the raw water intake hose and insert into a gallon jug of distilled white vinegar (I have an extension for my raw water intake hose so I can keep the jug outside of the engine compartment). Clamp off the bypass hose before the thermostat so the vinegar goes to where it's needed. Start up the engine and make certain the raw water pump is pulling in the vinegar -- I swapped jugs and ran close to 2 gals of vinegar through, but probably didn't need to do that. Stop the engine, re-attach the raw water intake to the seacock (leave the seacock closed -- which you do anyway when you're not going to be onboard, right?), and let it sit for 24 hours and then run as usual. Done.

When I started it up the next day, the initial discharge from the exhaust showed the work the vinegar had done and the temp never went above 140* (first time all season). Yea! This couldn't have been easier and was a heck of a lot better for the environment than muriatic acid -- no dis-assembling any part of the engine, no noxious fumes, no acid burns, cheap (I paid $1.99/gal).

Standard disclaimer applies, your mileage may vary, blah, blah, blah. If you are FWC, normal operating temps are 160-180* IIRC. Also, I'm assuming you (meaning the boat...) are discharging water. When was the last time you changed or inspected the impeller? Running the engine with the bypass hose clamped off may also by you some time, but that's just treating the symptom and not the cause.

Interested to hear other suggestions/experiences with this method...

[wchevron]

i ended up going the muriatic acid route. i had bought a manual from moyer marine a while back which detailed how to flush the engine. worked pretty well. went from 190* to 165*. then checked the impeller. it was cracked. replaced it and now the temp is down to 150* where it should be. clucus, thanks for the vinegar route. i like that rather than the muriatic acid.

[Quickstep192]

Deos anyone thing doing the vinegar flush periodically has any merit as a preventative measure?

[CLucas]

Originally Posted by Quickstep192

Deos anyone thing doing the vinegar flush periodically has any merit as a preventative measure?

Don Moyer and many posters at Moyer Marine advocate it as a seasonal or semi-annual procedure and go on further to recommend soaking the thermostat overnight in vinegar pre-season. I can only speak from my one-time experience, but since distilled vinegar is only a 5% solution, it's very mild and I can't see it doing any harm. Do a search on 'vinegar' at Moyermarine.com.

[JimsCAL]

Another choice is oxalic acid. Not as strong as muriatic acid and much stronger than vinegar. You can buy it in crystal form in any hardware store. you just dissolve them in water. Works great for dissolving the scale in raw water cooled engines (I've used it on my Universal 5411 diesel) and also does a great job for cleaning waterline stains.

[Northbeach]

I own a 2 cycle Yamaha 15 hp outboard that I bought second hand from a reputable dealer. Looking over it is obvious that at one time (or more) it got too hot as both cylinder heads show overheat discoloration. I have replaced the impeller and flush it at the end of each season.
On more than one occasion the discharge tube, allowing you to verify the water pump is working, has become blocked. Is there any reason I should not run vinegar or oxalic acid through this 2 cycle outboard in an attempt to thoroughly clean out the water passages in the power head? I have no idea what the previous history on this engine is and I am speculating on the overheat but the evidence is there.