Cleaning out radiator..

Swollin_74 · Posted: Thu Aug 14, 2008 1:53 am Post subject: Cleaning out radiator..

Ok, I know that your supposed to do a radiator flush every so often. I do mine once a year but I always see rust deposits in my anti-freeze resevior (don't know what it's actually colled), very quickly after I do a flush,

Now I'm thinking it's because the radiator/engine is full of rust..

Now I saw a trick where someone stripped an engine block of rust using a 10 percent vinegar solution.. Now I was just thinking (and forgive me if I'm an idiot), what if you were to flush the system, then replace the anti-freeze with a 10 percent vinegar solution, let the car run for 10 min or so, then shut it off and left it over night or for some set amount of time, then flushed the system again.

My guess is that the circulated solution would strip the insides of the radiator and the engine of ALL RUST and hopefully reduce the amount of rust build up/frequency of rust build up.

The only thing I would think is that you really do have to be carefull because vinegar is acidic and you wouldn't want to leave it in there too long.

Anyway, please be gentle if it's a stupid questions. I am really new to cars (but very mechanically inclined) and I'm just trying to take care of my baby as best I can.

rtabish · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 4:51 am Post subject:

i use vinager to clean the rust out of motorcycle gas tanks. if the tank isnt too bad off, it works like a charm to eat up any rust. but you need to be careful with an engine block. the freeze plugs are made of softer material than the block itself. if you were planning to rebuild i would say go for it, but between the potential damage you could do to the heater core, radiator, freeze plugs, and water pump, i would just spend the few bucks and get a decent engine flush meant for the job.
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Rob Tabish
Missoula, Montana
77 El Camino
83 Toyota Landcruiser
81 Honda CB900F
81 Honda CB900Custom

mhamilton · Posted: Wed Sep 17, 2008 7:00 pm Post subject:

Using a solvent or mild acid is not a bad idea, but as rtabish said, a specified cooling system flush is best.

Mercedes has a citric acid flush for their cooling systems. Those use all aluminum blocks/heads and some other exotic materials.