HELP! Eastwood snake oil rust attack

  • Thread starter Professionalamateur
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Professionalamateur

Hello,
Not sure if this is the correct place to post this. Before I found this forum I made the mistake of purchasing and using some of Eastwood's gel rust dissolver. Now I know better however, I had stuck it in a p.o.s metal cabinet to eventually get rid of it. Three days ago I went into my work bay which I am restoring a 52 chevy pickup and was assaulted by a chemical stink and saw that half of the shiny sanded body had flash rusted basically over night. I opened the cabinet and a small split had developed in the rust dissolver jug. I removed the cabinet and all of the other containers from the shop and ran fans to air out the shop. I had a can of SPI medium urethane reducer in the same cabinet and it looks like it has been left outside for a year it is so rusted. I hit a few spots on the body with a red scotch brite pad and wiped it down with Dawn/water to see what would happen. Last night I checked again and it is spreading across the cab and even some of my body dollies have an angry dark brown patina. Did vapors or residue from this evil Eastwood concoction settle on everything??? I'm in Southern California so it's not exactly humid and in the four years I have been working on the truck I have yet to see anything like this. What is the best course of action and should I pick up a dehuimidifier to keep this from happening.
Thanks.
 
Have no clue what it is or how to treat, I would call Eastwood and ask them how to get off. Does sound like a mess and dangerous too boot.

Also, if it is that toxic, I would be leaving the garage open for a few days, acids fume can kill.
 
According to the Eastwood MSDS the active agent is urea hydrochloride, also known as hydrochloric acid.

You will need to use a base to neutralize it, then a good clear water final rinse imho.

I would use Purple Power,water rinse, then Dawn and water, then water rinse .

I am not a chemist,although I was trained and licensed to operate an industrial waste water treatment plant for 8 years cleaning up water to put back into the river.


http://www.sciencelab.com/msds.php?msdsId=9925391
 
Thank you both for your input! I called Eastwood and left a message...............................
no reply yet. I'm not familiar with the Purple Power products so I'm not sure which one you are referring to. If you could post a part# or link I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again!
 
I am no chemist either. The way I understand it hydrochloric acid is very close to muriatic acid, very nasty stuff and highly corosive. The fumes alone will rust any raw ferrous metal it comes in contact with as you have experienced. You don't want to breathe those fumes either. As to what to do at this point I think I would use some diluted phosphoric acid and scothbrite pads to remove the rust doing a section at a time so you can control it. Rinse that with a mixture of baking soda and water, then lots of clean water. Dry as quickly as you can. Any light flash rust can be removed by sanding and scotchbrite. Double clean with SPI waterborne, let that dry completely and get some epoxy primer on the metal. Some may frown on the use of acid to fight acid but I believe the phosphoric is the much less evil of the two and it will remove the rust caused by the hydrochloric.
If you try this use plenty of ventilation.
 
I have a little experience with that acid, at least enough to know not to breath the fumes. And yes the fumes will make steel rust, and its a heavy rust thats difficult to remove. Baking soda and water solution will neutralize it, but will probably be difficult to clean it all from a spill. Its nasty stuff. The fumes may have gotten inside the truck or under it, just depends on how bad the spill was.
 
I'm told the muriatic is hard to stop and neutralize, (again no chemist here). I fooled with it once for rust removal, very aggressive. I had a similar experience with the fumes floating accross the shop and rusting exposed raw iron and steel (some on machines). That was a day of cleaning not planed on. Fine for cleaning masonry outdoors but never again in the shop. Plenty of better ways to prep metal. I got the impression from reading about it that if the acid was not stopped it would keep eating the metal. Possibly overboard paranoia but that is where I came up with idea of using phosporic to cancel the muriatic, stop it, then get rid of that:eek::eek:.
Hope it didn't get on insides or unaccessable parts of the truck.
 
Professionalamateur;23237 said:
Thank you both for your input! I called Eastwood and left a message...............................
no reply yet. I'm not familiar with the Purple Power products so I'm not sure which one you are referring to. If you could post a part# or link I would really appreciate it.

Thanks again!
Click to expand...

http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/we...e&utm_campaign=enhancedrm&utm_content=7041632

I would use a respirator with an acid & voc rated cartridges, long cuff rubber type gloves and safety googles along with a fan providing lots of fresh air when washing down the mess you have, at least when using the PP.
Some litmus paper will tell you when you have nuetralized it, the rinse water will be around a 7 ph. test the water out of your faucet and see what it is, then base your rinse water results on that baseline.

tip: when using long cuff gloves, fold the end 1"- 2" of glove back over itself. Makes for a nice dam to stop the fluids from running down your arm when you are reaching in an upward direction.
 
Thank you all again for your input. I'll pick up some of that Purple Power and try it out for general use too. I was wondering if baking soda would work to neutralize it so maybe I'll start there and chase it with distilled water then wax and grease remover. Most of the cab exterior/ front fenders are bare because I'm moving from dent to dent trying to straighten it. Fortunately the new floor pans are primed (unfortunately with another companies product, but that's how I found you guys). It seemed foolish to spray small patches of epoxy as I worked but maybe that makes the most sense.

Should I spray a coat of epoxy as I straighten a section and sand it all back down once I'm ready to shoot the entire truck? The material cost means nothing to me in comparison to the frustration and time wasted of chasing rust.
 
From one beginner to another :) I'll echo the advice the other guys have given me, strip a section then prime it! Like you I was already down my restoration path when I found this awesome site and products and had stripped my entire car down to bare metal. Once I finally had everything lined up and ready I had to DA it again to clear off rust that began to form. Then I had an issue of contamination, so the car was DA'd again. **But** I didn't strip it until I had time to take it down and quickly put those areas back in primer.

I wouldn't see the need to take the Epoxy back off when you are ready to do the entire truck just sand it per Barry's instructions if you are out of the recoat window. No use wasting good primer :)


Professionalamateur;23256 said:
Thank you all again for your input. I'll pick up some of that Purple Power and try it out for general use too. I was wondering if baking soda would work to neutralize it so maybe I'll start there and chase it with distilled water then wax and grease remover. Most of the cab exterior/ front fenders are bare because I'm moving from dent to dent trying to straighten it. Fortunately the new floor pans are primed (unfortunately with another companies product, but that's how I found you guys). It seemed foolish to spray small patches of epoxy as I worked but maybe that makes the most sense.

Should I spray a coat of epoxy as I straighten a section and sand it all back down once I'm ready to shoot the entire truck? The material cost means nothing to me in comparison to the frustration and time wasted of chasing rust.
Click to expand...
 
Professionalamateur;23256 said:
. . . Should I spray a coat of epoxy as I straighten a section and sand it all back down once I'm ready to shoot the entire truck? The material cost means nothing to me in comparison to the frustration and time wasted of chasing rust.
Click to expand...

I like to strip a panel inside and out down to bare metal, run over it with a 80 grit on a DA, wipe clean with W&G remover, let flash real good and shoot two coats of unreduced epoxy. This coats everything inside and out and rust will not be a factor. There is no need to strip the epoxy off, in fact I would advise against doing so.

I liked SPI epoxy from the very first time I tried it. Since then I have always had some on hand because it has a lot of uses other than on cars. Its just plain great stuff.
 
Professionalamateur;23256 said:
.

Should I spray a coat of epoxy as I straighten a section and sand it all back down once I'm ready to shoot the entire truck? The material cost means nothing to me in comparison to the frustration and time wasted of chasing rust.
Click to expand...


I shoot a section as I go, great thing with this epoxy, just a clean and scuff then a seal coat and its ready for anything :)
 
Ok that's great to hear that I can "patch" the epoxy together. Once I deal with neutralizing/ removing the current rust, what do you recommend doing with the areas I have yet to straighten and shrink? Should I just shoot it all and re shoot the areas I sand through when doing body work?
 
You will normally shoot more epoxy anyway to cover the filler work. The filler will feather into the epoxy real nice and then when covered with another coat of epoxy the filler is completely sealed from any possible contamination or moisture.

Some guys still prefer to apply filler over bare metal and then seal with epoxy. Both methods are acceptable but my personal preference is for the epoxy to be the first thing on the metal. I am not a pro however so if one of these guys says different go with them.
 
i shoot with epoxy, fill, block, expect to burn through, shoot with epoxy, block...etc. repeat as many times as needed (looks like current project needs four passes) then seal with reduced epoxy right before base. i dont use high build primer mostly cause im working on small pieces like motorcycle tins, but it makes for a tough solvent/weatherproof proof prep that can sit for a while if needed...
 
I'm not very familiar with what you have, but from what i'm reading it's even more disturbing that they would market such a item.
 
So...... Most of the parts and areas of the cab that rusted I sanded and washed with distilled water and scrubbed with baking soda. most are still bare and rust free. A few months after this episode I was able to epoxy the roof and rear of the cab. A week ago I removed all of the PCL Pro Etch and Polyprimer form the underside of the cab because I saw a couple of spots where rust seemed to be staining through. Sanded to bare metal, blasted a few tough spots and shot 2 coats of epoxy. The next day I shot bedliner for the first time. Man that stuff is awesome! Now to the point. Since the weather is mostly behaving I want to eliminate the rust for good and get as much epoxy on the cab as possible. This past Sunday I pushed the cab to the corner of my shop and used an Eazy Up frame and plastic sheet to make a relatively effective blasting tent. I blasted the front pockets where the fenders mount and did one outer rocker and door jamb and called it a day. I poked my head in last night and the pitted areas are rusting after 2 days. I was surprised because I have quite a few areas I sanded 2+ years ago to bare metal and they are as shiny as the day I sanded them. Is there anything I can do to keep this from happening? I only have time to work on this a few hours at a time during the week and all afternoon Saturday and Sunday. Would following up with baking soda and water help or hurt? Any other Ideas?
 
Did you happen to use sand? It can have salt in it and be a cause.
Hi humidity will make white metal flash rust pretty fast too.
Da'd metal doesnt seem to flash rust nearly as fast as white "blasted" metal in my limited experiance.
 
Fresh 60 grit aluminum oxide. I have the Camair 2 stage filter followed by their giant desiccant filter. There may be some silica sand residue in the blast tank though. The rust is limited to the worst spots that had some pitting. It's sort of patchy at this point and some areas are still white.

If I had wiped everything down with wax & grease remover and epoxied it immediately would it have eventually rusted or would it be effectively neutralized?
 
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