Pickling a diesel

[Jack Long]

I read a thing on another site where they were talking about pickling your diesel to get rid of salt deposits that can inhibit water flow and cause overheating. My diesel book doesn't seem to mention this and I don't see any talk about this here...

Are they a bunch of crank pots? It sounded compelling. I even put it on my to-do list. It wasn't until I did some searches here to see how to do it that I got suspicious...

Thanks,
J

[Tellie]

Pickling is a term used for preparing an engine for long term storage or when an engine has been submerged. If you're relying on an owners manuel to tell you everything it won't. Yanmars owner manuels are limited, they like to hit you up for the big dollar engine manuel. Personally, unless your engine will be exposed to feezing temps. I prefer to run it often.

[w42]

I tried something similar to this with our old Volvo. I rigged a closed freshwater system to the normally raw water cooling using some hose and a 5 gallon bucket. Ran water with that radiator cleaning chemical (that is to get rid of buildup). Ran it for a while (watching the temperature) also left it sitting few days. Then cleaned it out. Success was limited.

Best thing that worked was remove the cooling/exhaust manifold and had it boiled out.