Register now to get rid of these ads!

Technical Cleaning a radiator.

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by trollst, Mar 22, 2023.

  1. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    Hey guys, been lurking all winter. My old girl, my 36 has been running green coolant for twenty five years, it's time to give it the big clean. It tends to heat up faster than it used to, trouble is, there aren't many rad shops that work on rads, most just re and re stuff now. Got any suggestions for flushes that work? Gonna try it myself.
     
  2. Jeff Norwell
    Joined: Aug 20, 2003
    Posts: 14,809

    Jeff Norwell
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member

    No rad shops will boil for you?
     
    VANDENPLAS likes this.
  3. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 9,816

    BJR
    Member

    Pull the radiator. Turn it upside down and run water through it backwards as fast as you can. You will be amazed at all the crap that will come out of it.
     
  4. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,709

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    Cascade dishwasher soap. Won’t harm copper, brass, or aluminum radiators. Put it in, run a while drain and flush, if not clean enough, repeat. My block had a bunch of rust scale in it, ran the Cascade through it a couple of heating cycles, flushed until it ran clear, no more scale.
     
    Muttley, alanp561, Driver50x and 6 others like this.

  5. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    No, interior BC has a lack of rad shops.
     
    Beanscoot likes this.
  6. I’ve done the cascade deal a time or two.
    And CLR
     
    '28phonebooth likes this.
  7. Petejoe
    Joined: Nov 27, 2002
    Posts: 12,264

    Petejoe
    Member
    from Zoar, Ohio

  8. Fortunateson
    Joined: Apr 30, 2012
    Posts: 5,331

    Fortunateson
    Member

    Hey why don’t you drop on down to the coast? I think the shop in Port Moody still work on radiators...
     
  9. How bad is it ? Just old ? Brown and murky ?

    if it’s just age your concerned about drain it , fill it add a flush run it and drain and fill one last time .


    If it’s brown and murky . Pull the hoses off , garden hose down all the inlets and outlets engine and rad .
    Put it back together with a flush and drive it , drain and fill everyday after a good drive until it’s clear.


    I had a 460 years ago that looked like thanksgiving gravy in the rad , did what I outlined above but also poped the frost plugs out that I could get to and hit the engine internal with a pressure washer. Couple flushes and a drain and fill every morning when I got into work and by the end of the week it was Chrystal clear .
     
  10. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    If you are driving it now you might take a shot at flushing the crud out of the outside of the core with either a garden hose or spray wand car wash. If you don't run a screen in front of the radiator you might have a world class collection of BC bugs in that radiator.
     
    firstinsteele likes this.
  11. Look up a product made by Fleetgard Filters called Restore Plus. It’s a heavy duty acid based cleaner made for removing heavy rust and scale. They make two different types, Restore and Restore Plus. Regular Restore is made for cleaning oil from cooling systems. Fleetgard is owned by Cummins Engine and is available from Cummins dealers. We use both products at work with excellent results.
     
    Desoto291Hemi likes this.
  12. 4ty
    Joined: Jan 1, 2009
    Posts: 272

    4ty

    Lots of the Model A guys use vinegar, run to get hot and then flush (do NOT do on a concrete driveway).

    Paul in CT
     
    anthony myrick likes this.
  13. I removed the thermostat in a FE. Poured a jug of clr in the radiator and let it run for about 15 minutes.
    Then opened up the drain and flushed with a hose.
    Looked like brand new cast iron on the inside of the block
    Radiator looked better as well
     
    Jeff Norwell, trollst and Driver50x like this.
  14. hemihotrod66
    Joined: May 5, 2019
    Posts: 968

    hemihotrod66
    Member

    Well if you look thru old Model A books they tell you how to run caustic soda to clean the cooling system....You wouldn't want to run this thru anything that is aluminum but fine for steel and brass...
     
    RDR likes this.
  15. THIS! If you can get what the commercial AC guys use for cleaning the fins on the outside condensers. Melts stuff right out.

    Ben
     
  16. Any radiator shop has a vat, all they need to do is vat it overnight nothing hard about that. HRP
     
    Desoto291Hemi likes this.
  17. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    Might have to, we'll see. There's a guy in Osoyoos, he's ancient, but may still be working.
     
  18. 2OLD2FAST
    Joined: Feb 3, 2010
    Posts: 5,216

    2OLD2FAST
    Member
    from illinois

    One brand is Koil Klean
    Be careful with a pressure washer , good way to bend fins . Garden hose with a spray nozzle is generally plenty.
     
  19. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    No, it's still green, no sign of murk, but it's been running twenty five years, I can see it's got settlement on the core. Long as I'm moving, it's excellent, but slow down, the temp rises faster than it used to. I'm sure the silica in the coolant has settled out.
     
  20. inthweedz
    Joined: Mar 29, 2011
    Posts: 580

    inthweedz
    Member

    20230324_112927.jpg Back in the day, we removed both hoses, and had a water hose/air hose (with operating valve, like an air gun) My one pictured uses a tire inflator, with a big tapered rubber sealing plug at the end ..
    The rubber end/plug, was put in the bottom of the radiator, (or reverse to water flow) and the water turned on, when the water came out the other outlet, short bursts of compressed air was used to move the gunk until the water ran clean..
     
    alanp561 likes this.
  21. arse_sidewards
    Joined: Oct 12, 2021
    Posts: 139

    arse_sidewards

    Both aluminum corrosion and steel corrosion can be cleaned off their respective metals with acids.

    If you have an aluminum engine and radiator a vinegar solution should work. But if you have an aluminum engine and radiator then there also shouldn't be enough volume of corroded material to ever plug up the radiator.

    I don't know enough about the chemistry involved to say if or how one can go about chemically cleaning a rusty iron block on a system that has aluminum present.
     
  22. BJR
    Joined: Mar 11, 2005
    Posts: 9,816

    BJR
    Member

    If you can see crud on the top of the core when looking through the radiator cap, the only way to get rid of it is reverse flow flush. Which works better if the radiator is upside down. This can be done after all the chemical bathes with the engine running to loosen up stuff.
     
    trollst likes this.
  23. Jeff Norwell
    Joined: Aug 20, 2003
    Posts: 14,809

    Jeff Norwell
    MODERATOR
    Staff Member


    This is what I would exactly do as Anthony suggested..... cheap and easy. I completely understand the lack of rad shops... they are a dying business... same as electric motor shops and water pump rebuilders.
     
    trollst and anthony myrick like this.
  24. PhilA
    Joined: Sep 6, 2018
    Posts: 2,061

    PhilA
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    1. Hydro Tech

    I find even that is often too much for old brass fins.

    I mix up the chemicals in a cheap potato pump and use that. Most will undo the nozzle to create a very fine stream that'll get deep into the core with ease.
    Let the chemicals do the work then rinse with clean water from the same pump, or the watering can.
     
  25. 05snopro440
    Joined: Mar 15, 2011
    Posts: 1,543

    05snopro440
    Member

    I like the Royal Purple product, it's called Royal Flush. There's a couple others I've tried from Canadian Tire with good results. They require you to dump your coolant, refill with this stuff and water, get it warm, then let it sit, dump it, flush it with water, then refill with coolant. I've had success getting scale off of copper-brass and aluminum radiators with these and they're easy to use and work great. My 62 Bel Air had brown coolant for years, from the moment the rad came back from the shop it was always that way. Then I found it was heating up quick after sitting for several years. I did the flush and spent a lot of time flushing it with the garden hose to get the brown out and clear water coming out. Refilled with new coolant and water wetter and it's like new again!
     
  26. doug3968
    Joined: Sep 13, 2014
    Posts: 65

    doug3968
    Member

    Might need to keep in mind rad cap may be 16psi and need to take it easy with garden hose connected to public water. Even with all ports open, pushing water thru one end at 80psi could damage.
     
  27. 05snopro440
    Joined: Mar 15, 2011
    Posts: 1,543

    05snopro440
    Member

    That's a new one. What do you think flushing water through in an open system is going to damage? You should be flowing water through, not forcing it in.

    Regardless, if you're flushing the system with the garden hose, it's best to do it with both the upper and lower rad hose off and the thermostat out, so that you can flush out the block and the radiator separately.
     
  28. Jeff34
    Joined: Jun 2, 2015
    Posts: 904

    Jeff34
    Member

    That's what I used. I made an adapter from a PVC union and a few other random parts to fill with water and blast with air. Worked great! No more overheating.
     
  29. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    6 pound cap.
     
  30. trollst
    Joined: Jan 27, 2012
    Posts: 2,108

    trollst
    Member

    Thanks guys, gonna do the CLR thing. I'll let you know.
     
    Jeff Norwell likes this.

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.