Hi All, looking for thoughts on how to treat B&S Vangard engines that have been submerged in salt water, currently we have drained oil changed filters twice, turned over by hand , aside from the obvious , batteries destroyed, will be replaced, concerned about alternators , voltage reg / rectifier, starter motor, solenoid, all fuses, I am sure we are missing something.
Thanks
Geo🇺🇸

 

I probably would have submerged them in fresh water a couple times to rinse the salt off... before changing all the oil or doing anything else.

 

If you did not SUPER thoroughly rinse the machine the instant it came out of salt water then I'd consider removing anything electrical and replace. Salt water is really hard on an engine and worse on the tight little spaces inside electrical components. Salt water even seeps into the wiring.

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If you really want to save something keep it under water, even salt water until you are ready to hit it hard. Get a fresh water hose ready and a container big enough to hold the engine/machine. Fill the container completely with fresh water. Do all this before taking the engine out of the water. Then as soon as you lift the engine out of salt water give it a thorough rinse with fresh water. Salt exposure and air is absolutely the worst so don't let the engine see air or dry until you've thoroughly removed ALL the salt.

Drain all the fluids and open up everything you can. Give it a few more thorough rinses with the hose. Then repeatedly dunk the machine in fresh water. Drain the water from the container and do a few more dunk cycles. This is really important to get the salt out from tight, difficult to access spots like alternator/starter windings, brush slots, electrical connectors, bearings and to remove salt from small passages inside the engine and carburetor. Then, when absolutely sure you've done everything you can to remove the salt. Dry the engine and add oil. Also, dielectric electronics cleaner spray can be used to help get residual water out of electrical components. Carb cleaner or brake cleaner can be used to dry out the carburetor, valve area, cam, crank and any other hardened steel parts that tend to rust quickly. Dry the engine and try to get it running. Run it long enough to get up to full temperature and dump that oil and toss the oil filter. Refill with oil and install a fresh filter. You can repeat the oil change cycle again depending on how well you think you rinsed the engine to begin with.

 

Mr. Pilot, that all makes a lot of sense, salt water drained away before anyone could access it , motor is on a small locomotive and quite hard to dissemble, it was flushed with water but there is much electrical damage, I am assuming that at the very least the alternator, ignition module, rectifier/ voltage reg, starter motor should be replaced as well as all corroded wiring, it not up to me to make that call, oil and filters have been changed a couple of times, as well as hydraulic oil and filter.
Geo🇺🇸

 

The electricals may be toast. The polished steel surfaces inside are the most critical and can rust quickly. If the engine may go a while before getting good attention you can submerge it in a bucket/barrel of diesel or kerosene. Remove spark plugs, valve cover and hopefully something into the lower case so the fuel can get into everywhere. Submerge the engine and turn it slowly in multiple directions until no more bubbles come to the surface.

Or, if it's a garden variety small engine that costs a few hundred it may be a good time for a new engine and spare all the work of saving the dunked one.

 

Agreed-
I'd make a slight change- not just fresh water, but add a mild acid- dilute acid, or even better cheap gallon jugs of white vineagar.
My father worked at a machine shop, then as engineer, what he taught me was to dunk parts in a mild acidic solution, THEN when you're about to remove it, add a thin layer of oil on top of the water then slowly extract the part so that the water drains off and the oil flows around the part- that way the metal is NEVER exposed to air and doesn't oxidize. (best-case, WD-40 or a light machine oil, worst-case used motor oil)


Agreed, but I'd ALSO mix in some isopropyl alcohol, gasoline stabilizer, or 'dry gas'.
The idea is that the additive allows water to dissolve INTO the oil/hydrocarbon, thus extracting the water and salt. Another option is to add a mild acid (as mentioned above) to the mixture.
OR to add some dish-soap to the diesel or kerosene. so that the water will dissolve into the hydrocarbon.
(So, dish soap works to clean dishes by remove oil by making oil dissolve into water- it also works the other way, by allowing water to dissolve into oils & hydrocarbons.

 

would likely just try to get it running as soon as possible after oiling cylinders and changing oil and gas would attempt to dry out everything else and try it, the electrical may have the most issues any wiring that had battery voltage at it is likely damaged from at least some corrosion, would likely just dry it all out and start replacing components as they test bad to get the engine running again.