Hey guys, my radiators got some rust and I've flushed it twice already, it's inside my intake too and I'm wondering whether I should buy a new radiator, flush it with something you guys recommend or....?? Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
It is possible, it happened to me, do you use the trans cooler in the radiator? A slight leak from the trans cooler into the radiator will give the radiator fluid a look of rust,,, I figured it out after 5 flushes With help on the HAMB
Remove the radiator and take it to a radiator shop,let them hot vat it and it will come out as clean as a whistle. HRP
having radiator hot tanked involves removing the tanks - might as well have core tubes rodded out while at it
A radiator CAN'T rust; it's either brass or aluminum and it takes iron to make rust. Any iron in the block, heads, intake, or even springs in the radiator hoses can rust but not a radiator. Your rust is coming from somewhere else and trying to clean it out of your radiator is like trying to dig a hole in water.
I've been doing that panty hose deal on my old Buick nailhead. Been filtering out some interesting stuff.
Yep! I'd set it up to flush the block so is a 10 min job and flush it once a week. You'd be amazed at the shit that accumulates in there and comes loose a little bit of a layer at a time. We cleaned a bare SBC with brushes and rods and coat hangers and got chunks of rust sediment loose so big they wouldn't fit out of the freeze plug holes. Took two guys with a hose 2 hours before the water ran clean. Even found a lot of casting sand in the back corners of the block under the rust sediment.
Thank you so much for your input! I suspected it'd be the block... it can be fixed though, right? It's not bad but it is constant rust... Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Okay, awesome! That really really helps. I'll make it a ritual to flush it once a week... however running lake headers now is really gonna piss the neighbors off Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G925A using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I was wondering the same thing. This spring I had a thermostat rust out! Seriously... It had new coolant and rust inhibitor, water pump lube and everything, just last spring. It has to be the block, because it has aluminum heads, manifold, pump and radiator. Oh, the engine is grounded good too. It doesn't run hot or anything, but i did notice it acted funny for a while before I found the thermostat rotted out.
In the future, use no water at all. Use only straight any freeze. This will stop your rust problem. Sent from my iPhone using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
you need one of these you hook your garden hose to the heater hose and open the radiator cap until the water comes out clean. easy squeezy
Yep. The 2 biggest causes of rust in the cooling system is lack of antifreeze in the coolant, and low coolant level (if the coolant is not in contact with the iron in the passages, it can't protect it from oxidation (rust). I've had guys create massive problems because they didn't want to add antifreeze until they got all the rust out of the system, so they just kept running water, day after day, generating more rust, and letting the system eat itself to death.
No, don't do that. Antifreeze is not intended to be used straight, it is intended to be mixed at about 50:50 ratio with water. Water has better heat transfer rate, straight antifreeze is not a good recommendation.
I had the same thing happen with a few cars. I used the Prestone kit and flushed the hell out of the system. Then I shut off the hose and pulled the block drain out on one side and turned the hose on low, I found high pressure didnt loosen the junk like low pressure did. Then when it ran clear I shut off the water waited for it to all drain out,and did it again. More junk came out. I did that a few times, then I did the other bank the same way. I also removed the heater core hoses and tied them up. Then I filled them with the Zep Calcium Lime and Rust remover and let that soak for about 45min. Then stuck the garden hose in the lower heater core hose and turned the water on then let that run until no more suds and crap came out. The water ran clear and the heat was also much better!! Next I filled the system with water and added a gallon of the Zep cleaner and drove the car down the highway for roughly 20 minutes round trip. I came home and with the car running, just loosened the radiator cap a little bit so the pressure would bleed,drained it by pulling off the lower radiator hose, while it was still hot. Shut the car off quickly. The crap that came out was incredible my driveway was stained orange for weeks! But when I looked down in to the radiator it looked like fresh polished brass... Now your mission is to just flush the cleaner out so run the Prestone kit through it one last time. Take it for a ride come back check the radiator for suds, eventually there will be none left then drain it and refill with 50/50 mix.. What is the Panty Hose trick?
49ratfink.I got 1 of those kits hanging on my shop wall its never been open.Must of had it 10 years now.Bruce.
A number of years ago I decided I was going to do some preventative maintenance on the wife's OT minivan (w/ Chrysler V6), and I installed one of those kits in the heater hose and started flushing the system out same as I did many times on my American V8's. But that was a big mistake, it created pressure in the system sufficient to blow out a seal on the water pump. That was an expensive mistake....
I have posted this before over the years... Oxalic acid removes rust and scale build up in your engine, radiator and heater. Oxalic acid crystals are available at hardware stores in form of 'wood bleach'. Available in 16oz. containers, which gives the right mixing ratio with water for the typical car cooling system with 3-4 gallons capacity. Properly diluted this acid is just as mild and safe as vinegar (acetic acid) and citric acid, but is more effective and cost is the same. This treatment is safe to use with copper/brass radiators. It is supposed to be safe with aluminum radiators as well, but I would do some tests first to determine how much reaction time is actually safe. For best results it's essential to keep temperature at engine operating temp and to keep the flow going. Drain and flush first, then fill with the diluted acid mix and drive for 3 hours or longer. For heavy build up leave the acid in overnight and drive again the next day, then drain and flush. The final step is to neutralize any remaining acid with a mix of washing soda and water and run the engine again for a while, then drain and flush and finally fill with coolant, but using distilled water instead of tap water, this time. This method really works exceptionally well. My decade old engine had serious scale and rust build up, when I got it. Before the treatment and despite a new 3 core radiator, coolant temps easily climbed above 180 during the hot summer months with harder use. After the treatments, the same engine needed the thermostat to even get up to 180 degrees, even in the summer. Repeat after one year, then every 2-3 years.
sounds like the seal was going to blow anyway. I've used those things on a bunch of cars... OLD cars with old water pumps and old seals. how much pressure could there be with the radiator cap off??? probably less than regular running pressure.
Inside the block there is rust scale stuck on the walls of the water jacket and sediment in all the nooks and crannies. There can be easily enough to stifle cooling, easily enough to turn a river orange, easily enough to tint 2000 sq foot of blacktop orange for almost a year. The scale will insulate the iron from heat transfer into the coolant because the coolant never touches the block. A nice flush removes the loose sediments especially from the radiator and heater core. LOOSE stuff goes only. But if it doesn't go it gets solid. The only way get it out and loosen it up is some sort of abrasion. The chunks can be so big they can't get out.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Ditto^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Just read an article on proper antifreeze mix ratios and the heat transfer effects. Actually a little less than 50/50 is the best heat transfer but the corrosion factor increases, so the lesser of two evils is 50/50.
"What is the panty hose trick?" I got that off the classic forum. You pull the top hose at the radiator after you've had your wife buy you some panty hose. Take a piece maybe 6 or 8 inches square, stick it into the inlet pipe a ways with screwdriver handle. Then hang on to the edge of it while reinstalling hose. Drive around a while, pull it out and see what you caught. First couple times I got a lot of crap out of what I thought was a pretty clean system. You can pay money for a real coolant filter.
Our dirt track doesn't allow anything but water with maybe a water wetter product. We started using distilled water and the engine stays clean. We see nothing in the aluminum rad or intake water passages. Good luck