how to remove\flush out radiator rust

I have the rust in the radiator in my'95 Pickup. I used he commercial flushing fluid to flush radiator but the rust still exists. What should I do to remove the rust? Any directions is appreciated. Matt

Reply to
Matt
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I have had good success using one of the flushing kits you can get most anywhere, auto parts or Wally world. It includes a T shaped adapter that you put in line with one of your heater hoses. Just follow the directions.

Reply to
IBNFSHN

4 years ago I had to scrape the mud out of each water tube on my rad. As it was alloy with crimp on plastic header tanks this was easy but time consuming. I removed the rad, measured height of crimp and then set about bending each one up vertical while being careful that the lip round the base flange didn't bend. Took tanks off and with lots of water used a long thin strip of metal to scrape each tube clean of the thick gray mud that was stuck on. Checked rubber seals were OK and put tanks back one, bent a few crimps over at each end to hold them and then set to with water pump pliers to crimp the rest. Had to go round twice to get it sat back down the same height. Has done 40K miles since and not leaked a drop.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Reply to
Peter Hill

Tough to do now, with regular coolant changes, the corrosion would of never started. You WILL have lots of other components failing from here fwd. About all you can do now is to just keep changing it more often, hopefullt, it will clear up over time.

Reply to
MDT Tech®

I took mine to the D-I-Y carwash, removed the upper and lower hoses. Put the high-pressure nozzle on "rinse" and ran high-pressure water thru my rad. untill the water came out clear.

Hope this helps.

Carl

Reply to
Carl Saiyed

A loooong dipstick from the junkyard works good for this, just use lots of water and go slow.

Reply to
max-income

Thank you all. I'll try to get the rust out. Matt

Reply to
Matt

The rad flushers work great, follow the direction on the bottle and do it a few times and it will be clean as can be.

Reply to
Joseph Fox

Prestone and Zerex sell liquids that are supposed to be much better than their 10-minute cleaners. They come in quart jugs (not smaller) and are meant to be kept in the cooling system for 6-8 hours of engine run time (doesn't have to be continuous but can be spread out over a week), and they'll even remove calcium deposits and solder bloom (only brass radiators are soldered, and all factory radiators are aluminum or plastic). Prestone's is called Super Radiator Cleaner, and while I don't know what Zerex's is called, it Prestone implied that it may be slightly better because it contains EDTA.

The strongest fairly safe cleaner may be oxalic acid, usually found in powder form. You run the cooling system with nothing but water and a cup of oxalic acid for 45 minutes, then drain and refill with water and 2 oz of baking soda and run for 5 minutes to neutralize the acid. I don't know where you can buy oxalic acid powder by itself, but Prestone sells it as their Heavy Duty Cleaner.

I've heard of people using vinegar (acetic acid), lemon juice, or even phosphoric acid to clean out cooling systems, but I don't know how safe these are for the seals and gaskets, but with any cleaner you have to watch out for bad leaks developing, especially around the water pump shaft (don't use a strong cleaner unless you plan on changing the pump).

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

Thanks for the info. Acid will deteriorate aluminum if I remember correctly. I'll try without ruining the seal. I've used J B Weld to patch up a rusted-out section of the water pipe. I'm not sure that patch is considered solde bloom. Thanks again

Reply to
Matt

Alkali is just as bad. Caustic soda (sodium hydroxide, NaOH) will just eat alloy before your eyes.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Reply to
Peter Hill

You don't have to worry about solder bloom because it affects only cooling systems that have solder in them, meaning those with brass radiators or heater cores. I don't know if brass heater cores were still being used in 1995 models, but I'm sure the radiator is aluminum, not brass.

If your cooling system has even the slightest leaks, it's hard to avoid making them worse, and I'm including leaks so minor that they never drip but just show dried-up antifreeze (green or red crust).

Reply to
do_not_spam_me

Permatex makes a great product in quart size.

80030 HD Radiator Cleaner Texas Parts Guy
Reply to
Rex B

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