I came across a $100 deal for a Honda generator. It's a Honda EM3500SX and is 22 years old. I originally bought it for the engine for another application but I'm trying to give this generator a second life if possible. The gas tank was heavily crusted with varnish. I'm guessing it was full of fuel when parked for many years in a backyard shed. I've never seen anything worse. My question here is what is the shelf life of muriatic acid? I have a 50/50 solution I've had for a few years now and is still clear. I used it for a 30 minute soak and rinse and it seemed to do "okay". I'm thinking it should have dissolved this varnish layer at least but many "chunks" remained. It's really bizzar in that the metal looks good but I couldn't figure out how to get the varnish out. I dropped in 10 3/8x1" stove bolts and shook the heck out of it for quite a shake. I did this before the acid treatment too as well as afterward. I got it down to just a few "chunks" of varnish left.
Anyway, back to my original question, does muriatic acid have a short shelf life???
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Anyway, back to my original question, does muriatic acid have a short shelf life???
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