Josh asked 6 days ago
I was trying to clean carbon build up off of some cast aluminum pistons. I accidentally left them in longer than i was supposed to. When i pulled them out they had a slight coloration change. I did some research and apparently its just a chemical reaction that causes a discoloration. But i’m uncertain if this chemical reaction has eaten away surface material on the piston causing it to have ill effect to my piston to cylinder wall clearance.?
1 Answers
chemtooler Staff answered 3 days ago
The discoloration you observed IS the result of a chemical reaction where the top layer of aluminum oxide is slowly dissolved on a molecular level. Then, if the piston is left in the cleaner, the next layer of aluminum will be dissolved a while later, maybe 30 minutes to 4 hours. Over time, this can be a measurable phenomenon, but if you just left the piston in the product overnight, for instance, the difference in clearances is likely to be entirely insignificant and probably not even measurable.
Please login or Register to submit your answer