Hey guys, I have an aluminum radiator that has some oxidazation and debree inside. Nothing too bad as I think it will work fine just the way it is. If it was fubar I’d scrap it as I don’t ghetto rig/cheap out on anything. I am hoping that we can brainstorm and decide the best way to clean it out.
I was thinking baking it and running hot soapy water through it, the baking and hot water temps would be below a point that would disrupt the brazing that keeps the thing together.
What about a very mild chemical cleaner?
For the most part I would first like to hear techniques that you have seen, done or is documented somewhere. Then after say 2-3 days we can start throwing pipe dreams at it. I will get pics if necessary, but this should be enough info and it is a basic thing. I just need to clean it out.
One thing you could try is leave the rad outside for a few hours to get nice and cold.
Then boil a gallon of water and run it through the rad while outside.
The temperature change will cause it to “flex” and release the scale and buildup.
A second idea is to run a mixture of baking soda and water in the rad. Use a whole box, and water enough so it is not pasty. Then let the baking soda dry. After it is dry (overnight) run a bottle of vinegar through the rad. But that is completely off the wall.
my jeep got rust in the whole coolant circuit from a hole in the radiator
we got the leak fixer stuff to patch the hole
but the coolant was all rusty and gave me zero heat in my car
so we took the one pipe off and we used a garden hose with a high pressure end to blow all the stuff out after we drained it then blew air into it to blow it out some more
and did it about 4 times
and then it was good to go
^^^^^yeah but that isnt a technique to remove coolant system crustaceans, that description is how to get rid of big chunks of stuff that either wasnt supposed to be in there in the first place or was in there because of a lack of coolant changes/other issues.
I have a bit of a background in small steam boilers, fittings and such…
what we do to clean out check valves and the like is disassemble them and let them soak in white vinegar for a few hours…
How about using a solution of white vinegar and water, warmed up, fill the radiator(cap the bottom of course), slosh it about, and let it sit such that all the crud settles by the lower radiator hose, them wash it out with warm water to flow the crud out?
might work… I dont see why not…
With the boilers we also use a teaspoon of ginger in the boiler fill to seal small pinhole leaks. this is effective as the operating pressure of the boiler is around 80-120 psi…
but I digress… think the vinegar solution might work?
Not to be OT but I’d also like to do something like this in my Jeep. The heat works, but it isn’t too great. The previous owner said he changed the radiator, but I don’t know how true that is. Would I be better off draining it and running some water through it or getting a flush?
Is there anything you can put in your cooling system that will help clean it before you flush it?
CLR would seem like a reasonable thing to use, I wonder if I could run that through the cooling system for maybe a few minutes then drain, flush with water, and refill?
i forgot the vinegar trick… my mom used to do this from time to time with her coffee maker. works well at least when its hot and pumping through the system.
CLR will work but I dunno about aluminum. Vinegar too, probably better for the Al. Home Depot used to sell a calcium/rust remover that was great. A lot stronger than CLR, but it was designated hazardous material and they don’t carry it any more. I looked at the label and the primary ingrediant was HCl acid. I bet if you went to a plumbing supply house they would have something similar to that. Again, not sure about the Al.
Oh and with the vinegar or CLR, the warmer the better, but not hot.
