Well did a new radiator, water pump, hoses,new cap, new 160 therm....Anyway to make a long story short, flushed the motor out to the best of my ability.Even ran some dish washing soap in it for a while as the big rigs do from time to time..Added rust inhibitor before I changed everything...Put in my antifreeze, and my royal purple water wetter......It looked so pretty, well today when i took the cap off the water once again looked rusty, and crappy looking..Question.....What is the best way to get the scale, and rust out of the cooling system...My car was not ever overheating, But I wanted the radiator water to look nice..Have to install my tranny cooler soon, so I will be back into the system again anyway...Any ideas.???.I know this sounds ****, but it is bugging me to death....Any replys would be most appreciated.......Thanks in advance, Tom

 

Best result you'd get is to take it to a radiator shop. They've got the equipment to do it as best as it can be done. I've never seen any 'home' flushing work as well.

 

yes, perhaps you are right...I just hate to pay others if I can do it myself...Thanks.......Anyone else have any ideas.....

 

you could always try using the cooling system flush fluid (to loosen things up a bit), followed by the hose adapter power flush type setup. about as good as you're gonna get without having special equipment

 

I've heard of people mixing water and CLR cleaner or another equal product with success but I would be leary of it eating seals or something .

 

Thanks guys......

 

yeah dude,if you get scale build up theres not much you can do at home. those flush fluids are marginal. it would need to be recored most likely. i dont know how concerned you are,if it dont overheat hammer down. so what if it dont look pretty. if not theres a hundred radiators on the net these days for some pretty darn cheap prices.i bet less than a shop would charge. regardless of what you do,next time dont get caught again and flush radiaotr religoulsy and you wont get scale. some guys go as far as running distilled water. also if it is rusty that might cause the additives in the coolant to breakdown quicker and accelerate your scaling issue..

 

No, no....I just put a new radiator in it along with water pump, and all hoses...It has never overheated.....It just annoys me the water looks like crap.....Thanks, Tom

 

you might just have to flush it out several times to get
the rust and gunk out-when i first swapped an '84
vette engine into my car i found out it had quite a bit
of rust in it-took about 4 good flushings to get the
coolant clear of rust.If you can get the block drains out,you should be able to get a lot of the rust out
through those as that is where most of the rust will
settle.

 

8t2, I think you are right...gonna give it a shot...Thanks..

 

Jesus christ whats with all the chemicals? Just run tap water for 20 minutes or so and drain it. Repeat until the water that comes out runs clear. Then, when you refill the system use a 50/50 mix of green antifreeze and DISTILLED water. Tap water has mineral deposits and you don't want that sh*t in your cooling system for long.

 

Before I changed the radiator, I flushed it for quite some time...Tried fast flush...Radiator rust inhibitor, and still it gets nasty looking after a few days...May look into putting the old pump, and radiator back in, and trying something a bit stronger to "EAT" the scale out of the block...

 

CLOROX !!!!!!!!

 

Sounds like alot of crud thru-out the system---
Block, passages in the heads, & the heater core.

Do you know if there's been some type of stop-leak ran in it for any reason?

I have heard of but not done it, of using some kind of acid. I personaly wouldn't since I have no experience. Seems like it would destroy any weak tubes & start to erode rubber!!
Clorox..... there's a thought.

Of course, if using any chemicals, be safe.

 

t-top, i think i will put all the old hoses, and radiator, and pump back on, and acid the inside of the block...If need be a new heater core will go in.....

 

IDK what acid to use, or how much!

The stuff @ ACE Hardware we used for the drains for the house says explicitly
" DO NOT FLUSH OR RINSE WITH HOT WATER. DO NOT POUR INTO DRAINS CONTAINING HOT WATER."

Maybe someone can chime in who has done it??!!!!!?

Also, beware of the freeze // expansion pluugs.

I'm sure you'll check the lable for stuff it shouldn't be used with.
Don't wanna loose a 3rd gen'r to burns-- I know you'll be careful!!

Good Luck!!

 

true, now that you mention it, i bet the freeze plugs are already toast...