Treating/preventing aluminium from oxidising

[Jozi]

Anyone know how to treat aluminium from oxidation and how to prevent it from happening? I pulled the engine yesterday only to be greated by lots of white powder all over the engine

[Morat]

It's ugly, but the oxidised layer forms a barrier that prevents further corrosion. I'd leave it.

[Jozi]

It's horrible, I'm going to have a shiny clean bay and really don't want the engine to let it down looking like that. I got some stuff thats meant to clean up the powdery oxidation and then I applied another product to protect the alloy, I only really tested it on the oil filter housing, clearly it didn't work to well

The stat housing is new, only been on there maybe 3-4 months.

[maxfield]

Strip it then anodise.

[Jozi]

Strip it then anodise.

Anodise a whole engine?

[maxfield]

Just components - we anodise all sorts of brackets and stuff at work, for the engine just paint it.

[Jozi]

I've not got access to anodising (or money to fund it). I'm thinking of painting the lot tbh

[DanThe]

Diddler had his alloy bits soda blasted, they also put them on a vibrating table with a load of plastic/waxy bits that polish/coat it. No idea how long it lasts but they looked good when they came back. I just use spray oil of some sort and wipe over every now and again, but getting them clean is the difficult bit, brake cleaner/toothbrush/wirebrush/screwdriver etc etc

[penton08]

I spent fooking hours cleaning everything before fitting my s50 only to find it furry a few weeks later a good squirt of wd40 wiped off seems to stop most of it, regular cleaning is also required.

[dirtee-herbert]

I've not got access to anodising (or money to fund it). I'm thinking of painting the lot tbh

apparently you can do anodizing at home.

i have heard of people doing it with bike parts and things. Might be worth looking in too.

[capnmchl]

Car battery and some bits of metal for the electrodes and an electrolyte. Called electrolysis.

The only way you'll stop it is by forming a barrier between the aluminium and the air. So coating it in oil or plating it with an inert metal such as gold.