cleaning radiator

[racin460]

has any one figured the best way to clean out the white chalky build up in side the radiator. like the stuff called CLR/battery acid/vinegar. any one try to clean it out with any success. I cleaned mine the best I could and thought it might be good enough but wail running/thermostat open when you rev it up the top rad hose will suck shut and that seem to me the flow in rad is not really that good

 

[chris142]

Thats calcuim from using hard water. Our rads are a real pain to rod out due to them being dimpled tubes. Contrairy to what you hear they can be rodded.but i get $150 to do it ,paid up front and your sol if it dies.i simply cant absorb the cost anymore. Cant lose a whole day rodding one out,resolder etc to have it die. Our rads are what?15+ yrs old now? Thets why the cheap chinese aluminum ones are so popular now. That or about $500 for me to recore yours.

 

[chris142]

Oh btw a sucking shut upper hose is a bad cap or it cant vent. Mud in your recovery bottle plugging up the tube usually

 

[mjs2011]

I tries a whole bunch of flushes on mine when I got oil in the coolant. This was veg oil due to a separated heated hose. All the extra flushes ended up killing my water pump. I ended up getting a champion aluminum radiator and am pretty happy with it.

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[G. Mann]

If it is indeed calcium try a strong dose of household vinegar. A gallon sells for maybe $3 and it doesn't kill anything when you dump it out. Vinegar puts calcium back in solution so it flushes clean. Shower nozzle starting to clog up with water deposits, put it in a cup of vinegar.. same result.. overnight it dissolves the deposits..

Once you have the radiator system clean, only used distilled water and antifreeze in it.. if you add, only add distilled.
System won't have calcium in it ever then and cooling system stays healthier.

 

[theguruat12]

I dunno, I only paid $93 two months ago. The top tank seam had been weeping for about 7 months (SO pissed at the ***** that rodded it two years before for $200), so I had a different shop redo the solder seam, and while it was open he rodded it too. Great job so far, painted it when he was done.

Shop around. I called three other shops and they all wanted $140+ WITHOUT rodding it.

 

[79jasper]

I thought I was told it was sca's.


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[chris142]

I dunno, I only paid $93 two months ago. The top tank seam had been weeping for about 7 months (SO pissed at the ***** that rodded it two years before for $200), so I had a different shop redo the solder seam, and while it was open he rodded it too. Great job so far, painted it when he was done.

Shop around. I called three other shops and they all wanted $140+ WITHOUT rodding makes me think that it cant vent and blew the seam. Check the cap and vent hose

 

[theguruat12]

I dunno, I only paid $93 two months ago. The top tank seam had been weeping for about 7 months (SO pissed at the ***** that rodded it two years before for $200), so I had a different shop redo the solder seam, and while it was open he rodded it too. Great job so far, painted it when he was done.

Shop around. I called three other shops and they all wanted $140+ WITHOUT rodding makes me think that it cant vent and blew the seam. Check the cap and vent hose

Cap was one year old, and good, and the vent hose was clean. It was a shoddy solder job the first time. The first time, I did my whole cooling system save the oil cooler. New water pump, thermostat, etc. etc. etc. and all new hoses.

 

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[icanfixall]

Original radiators were a copper core 4 row with I think 15 fins per inch. Then some engineer felt we could live with a new design called dimple core and have only 3 rows... Big mistake. they do not cool well enough. Never buy a dimple core. Use only steam distilled water and you will never again have the mineral drop out problems that ruin a radiator.

 

[OLDBULL8]

Radiator.com Check with them, Rads are made by Visteon, OEM supplier to Ford. Ask if the tanks are plastic, someone said they are, I don't know for sure.

 

[riotwarrior]

....I used CLR and some rad flush Chemical packages at NAPA....I flushed....lost water pump...replaced, flushed out the debris, lost rad...replaced rad and thermostat....perfect...

Flushing can cost big time as it did me so, I like the vinegar idea, get a few gallons n go to town, not a harsh chemical and safe as mentioned...

Good luck with what ever you choose.

I've got a great WP and Champion radiator now!

 

[gandalf]

My last experience at flushing was with my daughter's Camry. She sent it to me say there was no heat coming through. She was tired of driving a cold car. I flushed it with water first, and got some amazing crap out. Then I flushed it with what I believe was an acid wash. I think it was acid because there was a second flushing agent required to neutralize the first. The acid flush brought out more crud, crap, and corruption. I finally filled it with 50/50 Prestone and distilled water.

I had the car for a week, and was getting good heat. However, we never found whether that acid flush did any damage. I was driving the Camry back to my daughter and a young girl sideswiped me on I880 and total the Camry. Towcat gave a repair estimate which was way more than the book value. That, of course, was a formality for the insurance company. At first sight of the car, which was quite drivable, he said, "TOTALED".

The California Highway guys wrote up the accident report, and assigned ALL blame to the young girl driving the other car.

 

[chris142]

Id serously look into the all alum ones for$300ish. my cost on a new copper one is $450Ish.a good 4r core cost me about the same