So I am in my pantry perusing it's contents and what do I spot.... A full ketchup bottle with the experation date of of 12/2007. Hmmm what year is this? Well I thought about chucking it to the garbage, but then I had an epiphany. This ketchup is made out of tomatoes, and tomato sauce is a bit acidic.
I've been meaning to take care of the rust problem under the battery of my 300d and thought this the perfect opportunity to try this rust removal technique.


Plan was to POR15 it. I know, I know, POR15 likes to bond to rust. But I just had to try this experiment out....

Behold a 66oz bottle of nicely aged Ketchup.




OK, I dared myself to taste it after smelling to see how bad it is. Actually it tasted pretty good. (It's still not going on any of my Hamburgers I make)

I squirted the ketchup and spreaded it all over the affective area. Then I left it for most of the day.


I later checked it and it was getting dry. So I dribbled a bit of white Vinegar and added fresh ketchup, while working it into the rust with a wire brush.


.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

I repeated this process a few times throughout the next couple of days


This is what it looked like after the second day with the ketchup hosed off.


And Finally the third day.


I decided to stop after this, remnants of the heavy crusted rust is still there. But I had to leave a little bit of rust for POR15 to adhere to.
I think if I left this on for a few more days and a bit more scrubbing, it would be totally rust free.

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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

I once drank a 6 year old bottle of mountain due.....my grandmother found a few jars of apricot preserves she made 30 years ago....tasted fine....I even used his honey that was stored since the 70s......its amazing how people fear the expiration date or sell by dated.....I always hope and prey that some sort of global disaster will strike to open our eyes.....

As for your Heinz rust remover.......very interesting......I want to say coca cola will do the same too...

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Richard the Chemist . Now just think what it does to your insides, but at least you will be rust free. maybe all those French fries and squashed ketchup packets under the seat is a good thing. Keeps the floor pans from rusting.

I wonder how Citric Acid would work on it? Does wonders on the inside the Cooling system, then the CA is more concentrated than the Catsoup is I would imagine.

That is a good experiment on rust removal. It really did clean it up.

use some Phosphoric acid to etch the metal to give it a tooth for the POR to grip onto. That is what the metal ready is POR sells. after it dries, wash off the grey powdery stuff and paint it after it dries.


Charlie

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there were three HP ratings on the OM616...

1) Not much power
2) Even less power
3) Not nearly enough power!! 240D w/auto

Anyone that thinks a 240D is slow drives too fast.

80 240D Naturally Exasperated, 4-Spd 388k DD 150mph spedo 3:58 Diff

We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works

I love using Citric Acid for rust removal and Coco Cola is full of it. But the issue is keeping liquid citric acid on the body part from spilling or running off. It is much easier to put a rusted part in a bucket full of the acid, leave for a day or so and let it do it's thing.

With ketchup, it is thick enough that it sticks to the rusted part and never runs away. Not as potent as citric acid, so time, added vinegar and wire brush helps.


Edit: Another epiphany.... How about mixing the powdered citric acid into the ketchup to increase it's potency.. Hmmm..
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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

You might be on to something here!



I have the ridiculous three part process already... a bottle of marine clean, a bottle of metal ready and finally POP15. Sheesh, why can't there be a product where you just slap it on with no prep!


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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

How about mixing in some citric acid with the ketchup to increase its potency?

Won't work for this application but have you tried electrolysis rust removal?

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85 300D turbo pristine w 157k when purchased 161K now
83 300 D turbo 297K runs great. SOLD!
83 240D 4 spd manual- parted out then junked

I just had that thought and edited my previous post.

No, but I've wanting to try electrolysis on some 1930's Griswold cast iron skillets I have laying in storage. These cast iron pan collectors are saying it is the way to go on the cheap.
I can buy 5 lbs of Citric Acid for $25 locally. But can only do a few rusted pieces With electrolysis, once your set up, you can do multiple pieces with little money on cleaning supplies.


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1983 123.133 California
- GreaseCar Veg System

After patching a hole in my trunk I have some surface rust to deal with, and I am so filling the trunk with ketchup.

I needed a new "crazy old man doing something crazy to his crazy old car" event to top my previous ones.

Isn't that the main ingredient in a lot of Rust Converters?

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84 300D, 82 Volvo 244Gl Diesel

Yes and it does more than etch the surface. It converts the iron oxide to iron phosphate which is hard and black. Naval Jelly is a product based on this chemistry.

Ketchup would have Malic and Citric acid from the tomatoes, but in manufacture various other acids may be added. Could be acetic or tartaric (vinegar) and so on. But no Phosphoric. So chemistry is different and the hard phosphate will not be formed. However, Coke would work if you can keep it where you want it! Maybe they should sell it in Gel form! Maybe mix Coke and Ketchup? Probably more expensive than buying a proper rust converter.

It's fun to experiment, but after cleaning the rust off by whatever method, I would still wash it down thoroughly and coat with a rust encapsulator like POR-15 (or DOM-16 which is much cheaper, at least here in Canada at NAPA)

I have used a lot of DOM-16 in trying to slow down the rust on my W123. It's about same as POR-15. Mostly I didn't use a rust converter, but it's not a bad idea.

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Graham
85 300D,72 350SL, 98 E320, Outback 2.5

I use an electrolysis bath to remove rust from various cast iron machine parts, and it works great. I even used it to remove rust from a black powder rifle barrel, and it turned a $40 wall hanger in to something useable.

It can take a while to get heavy rust off, but there's just about zero effort involved, and it gets it completely off, even in the deepest of pits.

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- K.C.Adams

'77 300D Euro Delivery
OM617 turbo / 4-speed swap
404 Milanbraun Metallic / 134 Dattel MB-Tex

Current status:
* Undergoing body work

My '77 300D progress thread

You can just slap POR on & go. You only need to prep if you want it to stick.

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85SD 240K & stopped counting painted, putting bac together. 84SD 180,000. sold to a neighbor and member here but I forget his handle. The 84 is much improved from when I had it. 85TD beginning to repair to DD status. Lots of stuff to do.

...electrolysis is the way jak! Works best on those parts that ain't too big n aint too small, but juuuuuuuust right.


HA! I get it.

No, really, I do. Whether out loud or when I have to read their minds, I get that a lot.


MBZ123

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1987 300SDL "Rhona" 218k
1986 300SDL "Johanna" 166k - Abducted 5/15 outta SFV Reward 4 info
1984 300TD "Petra" 212k - Parts yard pirate, arrrrgh
1982 300CD "FrankenFemme" 178k - Eyes only TS-XWRKS transplant abomination (loc. classified)
1980 230CE "Lulu" aka "Terminal" 277k - Dying the slow death
1985 300CD "Gerda" 203k - She ain't playin' SOLD
1983 300TD "Svetlana" 240k...and pleading for more. SOLD


"What a heavy load Einstein must've had...F&@%!NG morons everywhere!" - David Lynch

First I had heard of the DOM-16. Does it require the same prep as POR?

Why not just cover the surface in vinegar then pour on some baking soda? Works great for drain clogs, including hair, and I cleaned stubborn stains off an old white enamel sink that way.

You wouldn't have to leave it there very long I imagine.

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Mac
2002 e320 4matic estate│1985 300d│1980 300td
Previous: 1979 & 1982 & 1983 300sd │ 1982 240d

“Let's take a drive into the middle of nowhere with a packet of Marlboro lights and talk about our lives.” ― Joseph Heller, Catch-22