rust inhibitor

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I have a friend that is very successful at saving clogged radiators. He

obtains kiddie’s plastic swim pools. He places the radiator in it. He has an

electric pump circulate liquid dish soap through the radiator and changes its

positions. It takes at least a month and is gentle and economic.

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There are two main contaminants in our cooling systems:

Rust and hard-water mineral deposits. The messages above cover the dissolving of these contaminants.

And then there is the Water Pump grease.

The water pump grease is what either dish soap, or a solvent will dissolve. Using a setup like Tony Costa mentioned will work to clean out the grease that coats the inside of the radiator. The problem is that other contaminants like rust-flakes may have stuck to the grease and clogged a passageway. Even a month of detergent will likely not unplug a passageway, unless there is a small amount of liquid still flowing through the clog.

For this reason, I like to use heated water/detergent to reverse flush the radiators. I use the engine in the car as the pump and heat source. I remove the radiator, clamp wood brackets to it, so I can hang the radiator upside down in a plastic 55 gallon drum, placed in front of the car.

I use normal threaded pipe and fittings to make a suction pipe from the bottom of the 55 gallon drum to the inlet of the engine’s water pump. About 15-20 gallons of water with a handful of laundry detergent works as a coolant-cleaner.

From the water outlet neck on the engine, I run a return pipe to the bottom fitting of the radiator.

Using water and some detergent as a cleaning-coolant, I run the engine, the water pump is very powerful, [make sure all the pressure side fittings are secure! ] And the engine will heat the water to boiling.

The HOT water softens the old water pump grease quickly, and if there is a clogged passage in the radiator, the heat from the other adjacent heated passageways will usually heat and soften the clog, so it will eventually get washed out.

The first time I set up this engine-heated, reverse-flushing rig, the suds from the detergent turned an ugly brown in a short period of time,, less than an hour.. I think it took about an hour for the engine to heat the 15-20 gallons of water in the engine and 55 gallon drum to near-boiling.

The next day, when I checked in the 55 gallon drum, there still was a thick layer of very dirty ‘suds’ floating on the cool water under the radiator’s cap. [radiator inverted in the drum] I reached in to scoop out the ‘suds’, only to find that it was a congealed ‘foam’ of old grease. It stuck to my hands like fly-paper. Back then nobody used rubber or latex gloves when working on engines.. So it was a job to clean the muck off of my hands..

That radiator went from only having two stripes about 2″ wide allowing coolant through, to being fully open and cooling the engine very well. The heated water is a big help. But it does require a fair amount of work to create the setup.

Greg Long

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Greg has a very good suggestion, we have a similar setup we use. Heat is important to either process, as is LOW or NO pressure. Time and volume are your best bet. Ed

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Dose anyone like No-rosion for the corrosion inhibitor?

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The problem I had with No-Rosin is that it foams and thus forces foam out the radiator overflow. Big mess. Nethercutt Collection had the same problem with it.

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Let me add, I used No-Rosin with plain water.

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Plain water with cutting oil from a machine shop is fine. Prevents rust, lubricates the water pump, and in the event of a spill or boil over rinses away with water. Its what all the old time guys used back in the day.

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Thank you Paul and Edgar

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Edgar,

What is the ratio of Cutting Oil to Water that should be used?

Ken

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Five oz of cutting oil in a Pierce eight. Works great. Doesn’t foam. I have been using it since the 80’s in my cars I drain for the winter. Ed

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Ed,

Thank you, I have a Series 80 I will put the same in it.

Ken

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I have also used EvapoRust for parts and cleaning of parts. I reuse it and it lasts a while. Never thought about de-rusting inside engines/radiators.

Just ordered a five-gallon bucket from Amazon for $79 including free shipping with Prime. Thanks, Ed Minnie.

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Works great!👍

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