Author Topic: corrosion on intake and valve cover? (Read 2650 times)

highlandmiata · « **on:** March 29, 2007, 05:40:45 PM »

found a car with just over 100k on the clock. some issues I can live with, but has pretty bad corrosion on the intake manifold and the valve cover. Is this a sign of something bad?

b318isp · « **Reply #1 on:** March 30, 2007, 03:26:49 AM »

What sort of corrosion? Never heard of them being bad - they are aluminium.

shutter · « **Reply #2 on:** March 30, 2007, 04:31:19 PM »

Is it goldish color? If so, it's like that from the factory. It tends to get a bit flaky at this age, but nothing to worry about. It just looks bogus!

highlandmiata · « **Reply #3 on:** March 30, 2007, 10:54:45 PM »

yeah, part of it is goldish and flakey, part of it is white powder. I took the plunge and now own a 91 318is with 103K (guess what color)

sumyungguy · « **Reply #4 on:** March 30, 2007, 11:28:14 PM »

alpinwei� ll??

kowalski · « **Reply #5 on:** March 31, 2007, 06:10:33 AM »

thats not corrosion. they put it on for who know's why. but its like a grease coating. you can take it off with a steam cleaner.

an318is · « **Reply #6 on:** April 01, 2007, 07:09:05 AM »

The yellowish stuff is called Kosmoline, Its basically a protective coating to help the durability and corrosion resistance of the aluminium. Aluminium can corrode if the aluminium oxide layer is broken down and cant regenerate. This will happen at certain PH levels. If youd like to try it put some aluminium in engine decrease, no matter how watered down, a smooth surface will start to pit. There are other factors that influence this too though.

In short i think it was placed there to help protect the aluminium from cleaning with most engine degreasers and also used as a protective coating for scratches and alike.

Author Topic: corrosion on intake and valve cover? (Read 2650 times)

highlandmiata

highlandmiata