Corrosion should be resolved easily

Dear Mike: I have a slow leak in one of the alloy wheels on my SUV. It’s coming from between the rim and the bead of the tire. I think the corrosion is caused by backing my truck into the salt water when I put my boat in to go fishing.

I remember that you showed how to clean the bead surface of steel wheels in your column a couple of years ago. I had the same problem then, and had the wheel sandblasted and completely repainted.

Can I just sandblast these alloys like the steel wheels? They’re clear-coated.

— B.L., Tallahassee, Fla.

A: If you have a light coating of corrosion lifting the bead off the rim and letting air escape, you can do pretty much what I suggested for steel wheels: Use a wire brush to remove the corrosion, and paint the affected area with a rattle can.

More serious corrosion calls for more serious measures. I sandblast steel rims all the time. It does a terrific job of leaving the surface ready for primer. Never sandblast anything made of aluminum, though — the abrasive leaves tiny sharp edges behind, and they represent tiny stress risers, which lead to cracks, which lead to rim failure.

Find a shop that can do carbonate-media or plastic-media blasting. These processes are commonly used to strip paint from plastic-bodied cars such as Corvettes. They also do a great job of stripping alloy wheels without damaging them, leaving behind a great surface for paint.

I have a glass-beading cabinet in my shop. It does a good job, but be careful with this process. The glass-bead blasting media — tiny, spherical beads that are smaller than grains of sand — won’t damage the aluminum, but most shops use the glass-beading cabinet for cleaning pistons and assorted junk, and this leaves the glass beads contaminated with abrasives. If you use glass beads, use fresh ones.

Any body shop can refinish alloy wheels with the correct paints, but be sure to ask how they strip the old paint.

Dear Mike: Last week I was in a hurry refueling my Honda on a rainy day, and I accidentally filled the tank with 13 gallons of diesel. I got about two miles before it choked to a stop.

I had it towed to a dealer, who says that the damage may come to as much as $7,000 to $8,000. Is this true?

— S.P., via e-mail

A: I doubt that the engine was damaged. Drain the tank of as much of the diesel as possible, and dispose of this gas-contaminated diesel fuel in an appropriate, environmentally friendly way.

Add a couple of gallons of gasoline to the tank, cycle the ignition key to “On,” wait five seconds and then turn it off. Do this five times to turn on the fuel pump and to purge the diesel from the fuel lines.

Repeat this process at least twice more, draining, adding fuel and then cycling the key on and off five times. Fill the tank with premium, because any residual diesel will lower the octane of the gasoline.

Once you’ve finished at least three cycles, try to start the car. Crank it for 10 seconds, then wait 30 seconds before trying again. If this doesn’t work, you may need to remove the spark plugs and clean them with spray carb cleaner to dry off the diesel.

Also, I’d run the car for a few days and then replace the fuel filter.

All of this probably will turn on your “Check Engine” light. To turn off the light, remove the fuse for the engine-management computer for 30 seconds and replace it. If it comes back on and the engine seems to be running fine, wait a couple of tankfuls of gas to see if it goes off on its own before taking it to a mechanic.

Dear Mike: My wife was complaining that the air conditioner on our Olds Silhouette wasn’t working well. This minivan has two cabin air filters, and I found more than a gallon of dog-food pellets on top of the filters.

I stuffed steel wool in the open areas where I think rodents may have entered, but I wonder if you have any cure.

— E.B., via e-mail

A: I wrote awhile back about using mothballs to keep mice and chipmunks out of cars, and a couple of readers wrote in to say that they had better luck with dryer sheets. I don’t know how well the dryer sheets will work, but they have to smell better than the mothballs.

I suggest getting rid of that overfed dog and getting a cat!