TCH engine wash.

[andym1978]

I washed my TCH engine over the weekend to get rid of the corrosive salt covering everything. It came out pretty well and wasn't much work. It doesn't look brand new (I couldn't remove the existing corosion from aluminum parts), but is still much improved. Of course, there is risk to doing this, so be very careful! I ONLY did this because I noticed that the coating of salt all over the engine was causing the exhaust manifold to rust faster than usual.

MATERIALS USED:
* SimpleGreen in a spray bottle with NO dilution.
* Plastic shopping bags to protect sensitive areas from water.
* Water hose with sprayer.

STEPS:
1) Cover the sensitive components with plastic bags to be on the safe side. See my 1st picture for more info.

2) Take your hose and spray the engine to get it wet. This may not be needed, but I didn't want to spray raw SimpleGreen on a dry engine.

3) Spray the simple green over the dirty parts of the engine and let it sit for a few minutes. I have heard that simple green can corrode Aluminum, so I didn't let it soak for longer. Use a brush to scrub any areas that are very dirty. I really didn't need to scrub much.

4) Hose down the engine to rinse it off. Make sure you THOROUGHLY rinse off the simple green, since it will corrode the aluminum. Be careful around the areas with electrical connectors and try not to hit them with too much water pressure.

5) Remove the plastic bags and make sure there is no simple green stuck around those areas. Gently rinse it off if found.

6) Use some paper towels or rags to drive off the areas that may be sensitive, such as inverter, AC, etc.

7) Run the engine for a few minutes with the heater on HOT (prevents engine shutoff) to burn off the remaining moisture. TIP: Also turn on the A/C so that the 2 fans are spun, drying them off. This will also help dry the compressor.


Plastic bags covering sensitive locations:
1) High voltage connector to AC compressor.
2) Oxygen sensor.
3) High and low voltage connectors surrounding the inverter.
4) Main engine computer.


The BEFORE picture.



AFTER the wash.

[babyjoker33]

it looks good i did the same thing on my 91 celica and it came out looking better also, sorry no pic yet..

[ukrkoz]

your HSD coolant level is low, btw.

[ukrkoz]

here's what I call a "pre-filter" for my air filter. you can clearly see all the dirt that DID NOT go into the air filter. 2nd install in 7 000 miles since i bought her. it's a regular nurse's nylon, one leg cut off and installed over the air intake.

[ukrkoz]

andy, are you familiar with annealing colors? yes, those are the colors that metals go through when they are subject to high temperatures. so, after your post, i took a better look at mine. i do not think exhaust manifold cover is rusted. it simply looks like it. what it is, it starts running one of them annealing colors, as exhaust can get quite hot. from what i remember back from my tool making times, dark straw color is around 600 degrees Celsius.
unless yours is truly rusted. sorry then, bud.

[andym1978]

1st, I love that pre-filter idea. I'm always trying to clean sand and dirt from that intake opening, and I don't like the thought of it clogging up my air filter.

Hmm... My HSD coolant level is definitely lower than yours. Since that coolant should NOT be evaporating, I will definitely check to make sure my pump is not failing and/or leaking. I already went through that with the engine coolant pump.

Regarding the annealing colors, I knew very little about that subject. Your post was very interesting indeed and I will research that interesting topic more. Regarding the rust, I was actually referring to the steal panel that the manifold is welded to. I'm used to a coating of powdery rust on parts like this, but mine was actually starting to flake rust particles off. It was a bit more rust than I was comfortable with. I could also see white, powdery ice melt chemicals (our roads are covered in the stuff in winter) covering parts of this steel.

The annealed part of my exhaust has very little signs of rust, which was a relief to me.

[andym1978]

I checked online for other pictures of TCH engines, and the few that I saw showed a similar level to mine. I'm hoping that's a good sign, but I will still be looking at the markers on the tank after work today to see where the low/full marks are.

Here is one of the images I found.

[ukrkoz]

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...1t:429,r:4,s:0

http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=...1t:429,r:3,s:0

sorry for russian table. it is hard for me to translate into english any better than annealing colors. basically, when steels are heated up, a thin film of oxide is created on the metal surface, resulting in colors that much so correspond to a specific temperature. hence, when you have something heat treated, to preven it from being too brittle/hard, you anneal it - slowly heat it up to a specific temperature, so that it softens some. those colors are very good visual clue to what you can expect hardness wise in final product. anything that turns blue becomes useless, it's a butter knife hardness thereafter.
oh, and i was very off on temp for the exhaust color. it's around 270 celsius. i think, it is around 600 F though.
i have been doing pre-filtering on most of my cars. i have infinite supply of those nylons from work, he-he.
my HSD coolant level is simply too high. i overfilled it - and marked - level on purpose. but it should not be lower than arrow tip on the canister, and it is on your pic. so was mine. before they did water pump job, then they refilled it all. and i added some. it stays at mark.

[andym1978]

So you had your HSD water pump replaced? If your pump failed in the past, I wonder if it was for the same reason that the pre-2010 Priuses has pump problems (where only half of the "axle" was supported and the pump ran 100%, even when not needed, thus causing failure).

I'll take good look around my pump tomorrow to see if any residue is forming.

[ukrkoz]

unfortunately, it turned out to be a notorious issue with TCHs. water pump prone to failure at early mileage.

you can prolly look up my post on this at green hybrid, with all the pics. hold on, lemme see...

here ya go



it was quite tricky to spot. there was no drippage or puddling underneath, as coolant was falling down on belt and then was scdattered all over the engine. but i kep losing it, and finally posted question at a forum. guys told me "water pump" right away, so i went back and found all that pink beard everywhere. fortunately, was way before 60K powertrain expiration. they did not find anything else wrong.

[ukrkoz]

[andym1978]

What a relief... I already had that engine coolant pump fail on me with the same characteristics as your failure. I thought you were talking about the INVERTER coolant pump failing, which had me worried.

[Pipemajor]

Our 2007 TCH was in for service when they told me the water pump was weeping, resulting in the 2nd warranty repair.

First repair was the TSB for the squeaks/rattles in the dash during cold weather.

[ukrkoz]

yep. they ain't like like they were before.
i'll start looking into Hyundais. i think, they are getting to a very decent level.