Cooling System Cleaning

[Steve Zicht]

Old friend and I were chatting last night about a radiator on a car he just bought thats radiator was full of what looked like to him was calcium and lime build up. He tried one of the more popular cooling system flushes. Didnt do very much so it looks like the cars radiator will end up replaced with a new one.

Common sense says if the radiator has a bunch of crud build up in it, what about the heater core, the bock and heads having a ton of crap in them. I wanted to ask you guys if another product might do a better job in this case.

Will a common household cleaner called CLR CALCIUM LIME & RUST work here ? Pour it into the cooling system and let it circulate through out while the engine runs ? Ive used it before on some plumbing stuff in the house and it works well. Not sure as to how the chemical will work if heated up to engine temperature.

Perhaps remove the thermostat and let the chemical circulate quickly with engine running just long enough for the CLR to circulate. Im guessing that you could simply let it sit for a few hours and then flush the stuff out.

Any thoughts fellahs ? Could the product work or will the chemical damage something else but I cant think of anything .

PS
Ive often seen a question or two about removing rust from block and heads. Will soaking these parts in a tub filled with water and CLR do the trick as well ?

[JoePorting]

I don't like using any chemicals, so what I would do which works pretty good, is to repeat flush the system over a month or two. I would fill the coolant system with straight distilled water and drive the car for an hour or two, then drain and fill the system with some more distilled water. I would repeat this procedure until the water coming out of the radiator was as clear as possible. It can take about a month of this before you have a clean system. I find the heat from the motor is the best cleaner.

It took me about a month of this procedure to get all the Dex-Cool out of my LS motor. I now run regular green coolant in my truck and it runs a lot cooler and looks a lot cleaner.

[enigma57]

Flush the cooling system. Then pull the radiator. Take it to a radiator shop and have them pull the tanks, rod out the tubes, reassemble and pressure test. Check your heater core as well. If it is plugged or leaking, replace it.

Then reinstall the radiator, replace any hoses or your thermostat if needed and fill your cooling system with a mix of anti-freeze and distilled water. A good quality name brand version of the green type...... Not Dexcool. Unless you are in a very cold climate, a 50/50 mix of anti-freeze is said to be sufficient. However, I usually run 75% anti-freeze or higher.

Stay away from the anti-freeze available now of days that has water mixed in. Use pure antifreeze and add distilled water to make up the difference.

And (very important)...... Unless you are broken down in the desert hundreds of miles from nowhere and must do so to save your life...... Never use water other than distilled water in a radiator or in a battery. And if you must do so...... Flush your cooling system as soon as you reach civilization and fill with anti-freeze and distilled water as noted above.

Happy Motoring,

Harry

[woody b]

I've used "cascade" dishwashing detergent with good luck but, like a lot of stuff it may not work as good now. A few years ago the EPA made all the dishwasher detergent companies take an ingredient out because it was harming some kind of fish in the Spokane river.

Flush it, as good as you can with water, add some detergent and drive it for a couple days, then flush all the detergent out of it.

[Nick Campagna]

Cheap white vinegar from Wally World. A few gallons (~$1.69 ea) and run the car as normal for a week. I use it in my coffee maker, and it (weak acetic acid) dissolves the calcium and lime.

[pdq67]

Question?

I forget, but will water/molasses remove engine block coolant gunk behind the cylinder bores?

I know it won't remove grease and crap like that.

pdq67

[enigma57]

Not that I am aware of, pdq. Now if someone sugars your gas tank and you add a box of Quaker Oats to their radiator in response, things could get interesting, though......



Something I recall from my ill spent youth, circa 1961. It all began with a water balloon dropped from a railroad bridge that cracked the windshield in Bob's '57 Ford as he drove under it at 70 MPH. This was the beginning of a series of events culminating in TNT bombs flushed simultaneously down all 10 2nd floor crappers at James Andrew Jackson Juniour High School just as the principal backed up to one filled to the rim in the Boys Room on the ground floor directly below. Yes, we were a bunch of 'hoods' in those days. Ducktails and all.

Happy Motoring,

Harry

[allencr267]

Is it only hard buildup, loose or a combination?
Before any chemistry, reverse flush, water hose & air to blow out any smegma that's loose.
160psi isn't going to blow out a water pump seal let alone a head gasket, it's just sticking/wrapping a rag around the garden hose's pistol nozzle & shop air blow gun into the bottom radiator hose& top of the engine, judiciously if you've got city water that'll cut rock or using a 3000psi diving bottle for air. While I don't suspect that it's possible Stop pushing more on the air chucks trigger/button if the output at the radiator top/engine bottom isn't increasing.
Then when it looks clean of anything loose clogging the tops of the radiator tubes , chemicals like TSP/Trisodium phosphate/borax/drain cleaner & store bought stuff will have a better chance at it, maybe even clogging up the tubes all over again.