I wanted to post a warning to prevent someone for doing what I just did.

I was wanting to clean my engine case prior to repainting it and re-assembly. I thought I would use 'The Works' toilet bowl cleaner to clean an AS41 engine case, since it was pretty good at toilets and heard that it was used to clean heads by another person. When I first poured on the cleaner, the chemical started to foam, so I let it sit for a minute or two, then I rinsed with cold water. Thinking how it cleaned pretty well, I poured some on the case again and it foamed, but this time I noticed a wisp, of what looked to be smoke, then, POOF! The case's surface had lit up with green flames! It extinguished itself as quickly as it ignited.

Here is a picture of the bottle an a close up of the ingredients:





I am not sure if the cleaner was having a reaction with the grime and water or what. I didn't notice any damage to the case, so I don't think it was reacting to the magnesium.

Just a warning...

It was trying to make B B Q Chris

Yeah and it started to smell like it too!

I guess I shouldn't have inhaled the fumes...

Now that's a creative way to make hydrogen... bet the case is clean! Here's a little write up on what happened:

http://quiz2.chem.arizona.edu/preproom/Limiting%20Reactants%20-%20Mg%20and%20HCl.htm

Sweet, do it again and video tape it for you tube! Thanks for the warning!

Good ole Magnesium Cases. I work as a fireman and I have attacked two fully involved Air cooled beetle fires in my career. Want a pretty fireworks show? Put 100 gallon per minute fire hose on a flaming Mag type I block. Magnesium is classified as a "Class D" Material. Class D is "combustible metal". These are usually all the metals that end in -ium (ex. sodium, potassium) They are self oxidizing and so when burning create their own oxygen, hence even copious amounts of water will not extinguish these fires. Sand or dirt works well. Smother it. Just food for thought. In the fire academy we are specifically warned about older VW engines and their volatilty when flaming.

Interesting stuff ^