rodding a radiator versus boiling it out

Don,

I have been told by radiator shops that if the radiator is more than just mildly dirty, boiling it out will not get it clean.....that it needs to be rodded out. The downside to that is an old core may leak like a seive once it is rodded out.

"You take your spin at the wheel, and you see what you get."

Paul

Rodding was certainly the old standard way of cleaning radiators. I have had several rodded with complete success, but it was some years ago. If your radiator is too bad to rod, he should certainly know how to re-core it. My '64 Daytona Wagonaire radiator was just re-cored. Paul Johnson

After several attempts to clean my Avanti radiator and thereafter developed some leaks..ended up recoring..Would have been time and money ahead to do that first. No problems now. Dave B

I agree with everyone, if the core is shot it will show up whether it is boiled or rodded. If you have to go the new core route, then get the heavy duty three row core put in and make sure you have removed the freeze plugs and cleaned the gook out of the block before you install your cleaned or recored radiator. In our "neck 'o the woods" Don we need every tiny extra bit of cooling capacity we can get. Recently when my Hawk's radiator core finally gave up, I spent some buckaroos and went the three core route and also had my radiator guy eliminate the bucket header and run the core to the top tank. Last week I was stuck in downtown traffic in 100 degree heat and the car got UP to 180. Studebaker George

I'm of the opinion that a good shop does both, boiling removes the paint and scale while rodding cleans the debris from inside the tubes.

I agree...I've never heard of doing one without the other. Maybe it's just because it gets so frickin hot AND humid here...but I didn't realize it wasn't a common practice in other places to do BOTH.

Bob (hot AND sweaty....just like Calv> >A local man in my small town was recommended to me by a serious

I did the three-row with extra fat tubes and haven't looked back. Fewer shops to boil them out, and it is not because of aluminum and plastic. That boiling solution is dangerous. Those who know me realize that I don't believe in getting cancer just because the state of California says to, but in this case, those were some bad chemicals.

My dad's best friend from youth ran a radiator shop, even developed one of the reactive cleaning processes, and we not only took him all our business but would stop by to shoot the breeze and smell the fumes when we were in the neighborhood. It didn't smell bad in there, either, but it's a hard smell to describe. Reminded me a little of the amalgam and mold-release smells in the dental lab where my mother once worked. This guy spent half his day with his rubber-gloved arms up to the elbows in tanks of boil-out solution. He loved his work, always in a good mood, was proud of the shop, and could fix anything. With the apron and gloves, he reminded me of a medieval armorer.

He died a horrifying and lingering death from bone cancer, attributed to certain rare metals accumulating in the marrow. I miss our radiator shops, but I wouldn't wish that on anybody.