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Plastic Bag vs Exhaust

Hi all,

I asked this question over in rec.autos.tech, and got little response.

A neighbor has a large black plastic trash bag stuck all over her catalytic converters, and several feet of (stainless) exhaust pipes following... it covered remarkably even and adhered extremely well. We pulled/scraped off all we could, but most of plastic still remains.

As parking outside both at home and work is an issue in this case, I'm wondering if anyone might have suggestions or ideas on cleaning the smelly mess, short of just letting the remains burn off.

Thanks in advance!

Erik

Reply to
Erik
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Realistically nothing much will dissolve polyethylene. Of course it can be done in the lab but that takes boiling in hazardous, expensive solvents. Burning it off is an option but there is a danger of starting a fire down there. I suggest talking to a muffler shop about this. That would be a lot cheaper than starting a fire near the gas tank.

Richard

Reply to
Richard

If you have physically removed all you can, the best thing to do is just let the rest pyrolyze off. Other than odor, it should not catch fire or cause any damage to metal. Frank

Reply to
Frank

Scrape off as much as you can with a brass brush or scraper while hot. Any residuals will eventually just crumble away.

Reply to
L Alpert

Or the other way around.. scrape it off at freezing temperatures, might be easier, depending the way it sticks to it.

Reply to
Wob

Brittleness temp for most HDPE is >-0°f. I'd much rather do it warm!

Reply to
L Alpert

Oops, that should have read < 0°f......

Reply to
L Alpert

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