Dan Bise

Can anyone recommend a solution to clean gunk out of plastic reservoirs? I sloshed around a water/C.L.R. solution in my washer tank, but there's still crud clinging to the plastic.

I'll probably need to do this to the high intesity washer reservoir, too.

Dan Bise
Pasadena, CA
'83S

Drewster67

With the res removed - I cleaned out my brake master cyclinder res. using dawn dish soap and warm water - The stuff works like magic on the plastic.

Make certain you rinse it thouroughly before renistallation.

Ron_H

Anything with citric acid should cut grease and oil and remove stains from plastic.

dr bob

The Dawn is a good idea.

If you have hard water staining along with rust (how would that happen???) consider using a strong solution of Cascade dishwasher detergent. Make a rich mixture in hot water, fill the reservoir, let it stand over night. Drain and rinse with hot water again when done. I use a couple tablespoons of detergent in each quart of hot water.

Lots of things like coffee pots, drinking water glasses, etc, get coatings of minerals on them that don't come off easily. Ceramic tile countertops and the group seem to get dull over time. My favorites are Karen's flower vases, which get a nice crystal coating on the insides at the water line area. Anyway, the Cascade soak in hot water overnight does the trick. Beware the "Cascade Complete" product, which is so good that it will etch glass if used in too high a concentration.

Disclaimer--

Last time I made Cascade (mid '80's), it had some interesting ingredients like silicates and some chlorine bleach in it, among other things. Neither is good for metal or paint. So use care when you pour, and care when you drain, to make sure that you don't leave any on the paint for any length of time. Garden hose is a good safety wash tool.


and a FWIW--

I've never found anything that will un-yellow plastic that's suffering from old age or UV discoloration. We can get that stuff super clean, but that's only skin deep.

Drewster67

MCguires makes this plastic restoration liquid that is suppose to remove the yellow - For clear plastic such as headlamp covers,rear tail light covers etc .....

dr bob

Most plastic lenses, headlight or taillight, are made of polycarbonate plastic. Short of accidents, the biggest damage to lenses is caused by wax and polish that contains petroleum distillates as a solvent. Damage shows up as crazing, so the "cure" is to use a rubbing/polishing product that is water based I guess.

Best advice for long lens life is to keep the wax and polish away from them.


At least that's my experience.

Dan Bise

Thanks for the tips, everyone. I hate tips topics that drift off into nothing with no final resolution, so I always make a point to reply with results of things I tried based on the information provided by you helpful folk.

drBob> If you have hard water staining along with rust (how would that happen???) <

Easy when the end of the filler neck is reinforced with a steel sleeve that rusts...BAD. :-) There was gooey, rusty sludge everywhere. A short battle on the bench and I was able to remove the sleeve so it won't continue to be a problem.

I actually tried everything that was suggested. I did the Cascade soak, I also did the Dawn soak and rinse. I also tried some soaking with Dawn Power Dissolver. The results were about even for all these products, but the real big cleaning came from a strong hose stream (no doubt helped by the loosening provided by the chemical soaks). The final step was to snake a shop rag through the openings (held by the claws of my parts retriever) where rust and scale had settled.

Now, on to the rest of the system.

Dan
Pasadena, CA
'83S