Blue gunk in AIO

[jagdtigger]

Spoiler

Its a bequiet silent loop aio. Never opened before, just occasionally refill it with distilled water. Yesterday the pump started to make noises that sounded like a bearing on its way out and/or low water level. Took it apart and and it was the latter plus this gunk... What the hack could it be?

[Fr33K!e]

It could be a growth inhibitor additive that Be Quiet has used in the AIO,  certain dyes can have this affect as well. It just needs cleaned, put back together and refilled with whatever Bequiet recommend. Gamers Nexus experienced this with (I think) Enermax AIO's a few years ago.

[Radium_Angel]

looks like copper corrosion, is it gritty or slimy?

[jagdtigger]

26 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

looks like copper corrosion, is it gritty or slimy?

I wouldnt say gritty but definitely not slimy. Its similar to how powder behaves when dries up in a blob, it look solid but easily reverts back to powder. It covers the inside of the cpu block and the pump inside, the whole thing is blue.

[Radium_Angel]

13 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

I wouldnt say gritty but definitely not slimy. Its similar to how powder behaves when dries up in a blob, it look solid but easily reverts back to powder. It covers the inside of the cpu block and the pump inside, the whole thing is blue.

Obviously it'll have to be cleaned out. My concern is it is in the radiator part as well. Personally, I'd chuck the entire thing and start fresh.

[jagdtigger]

50 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

Personally, I'd chuck the entire thing and start fresh.

I dont want to throw out stuff unless i know its 100% hopeless. What could clean out this blue mess from the rad, good old vinegar maybe?

 

Poured out the water from  the rad, its full of flakes.

[Radium_Angel]

1 hour ago, jagdtigger said:

I dont want to throw out stuff unless i know its 100% hopeless. What could clean out this blue mess from the rad, good old vinegar maybe?

 

Poured out the water from  the rad, its full of flakes.

Vinegar should work....may take a number of runs though to get all that cleared out

[jagdtigger]

3 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

Vinegar should work....may take a number of runs though to get all that cleared out

Ill try it tomorrow, ATM cleaning the rest of the parts. Everything is covered in blue where the coolant flows, except the tubes.

[Radium_Angel]

5 minutes ago, jagdtigger said:

Ill try it tomorrow, ATM cleaning the rest of the parts. Everything is covered in blue where the coolant flows, except the tubes.

I'd be curious if it was (the goop that is) conductive...

If it is, that AIO isn't long for this world.

[jagdtigger]

29 minutes ago, Radium_Angel said:

I'd be curious if it was (the goop that is) conductive...

If it is, that AIO isn't long for this world.

In its dried out form it isnt, multimeter was sitting at the 300MΩ range and was showing OL...

 

/edit

And its not coming off easily in some places, might not be able to wipe it out completely.

[jagdtigger]

Just given up with alcohol pads and submerged the parts of the cpu (minus the part that has the electronics in it) block in vinegar then filled up the rad with the remainder. It cleaned up the block nicely, interestingly when i poured out the rad it came out as blue (no flakes).

[jagdtigger]

Vinegar did the trick, everything is nice and clean. After assembly the pump seems to work perfectly, no strange noises.

[Blue4130]

23 hours ago, Radium_Angel said:

I'd be curious if it was (the goop that is) conductive...

If it is, that AIO isn't long for this world.

Why would being conductive matter? 

[jagdtigger]

3 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

Why would being conductive matter? 

It would indicate the residue is copper-oxide which is pretty bad news.