coolant system cleaners

[dougbgt6]

Finally managed to get the water jacket drain plug out my block. But no gush of water  Removed thermostat, slight almost imperceptible trickle from drain. Dug around with small screwdriver but no crude or rust! Screw driver only goes in a couple of inches and I think I can feel the curvature of the adjacent bore, am I right? Going to get the garden hose out later on. Are coolant system cleaners any good? If so which do we recommend? 

[dave.vitesse]

Hello Doug, Yes you are right there is a curvature. Using a bit of strong single core wire may help clear things. Sorry I can't remember what I last used on the straight six to clear the cooling out. As its all cast iron there is no great problems in what you use. Garden hose are good! 

Dave 

[Pete Lewis]

strong mix of cheapo washing soda,  im sure Aidan did a test on various  this and soda won

youll like it its  very cheap ..........from tesco etc.

kevins fis has saved the day

Pete

[dougbgt6]

I have washing soda! Mother recommended it for drains.  Says on the packet DO NOT use on aluminium, but that's not a problem, unless you've an ali head . What's the procedure? After fun and games with hose I'm guessing leave the thermostat out, new plug finger tight in, fill and idle, for how long? Or go for a run, for how long? Leave it in there for how many days?

[Clive]

Doug, can you dig about in the garage and find an old outer cable from a bike brake/throttle cable or similar? If nothing much coming out I doubt a cleaner will work, but may.

I tend to undo almost every hose in the engine, the garden hose fits most and keep flushing backwards and forwards. And if the hose is cut nice and square, you can press it against the block drain and flush it that way. Once I get most of the rubbish out then I use a cleaner.

Re time, get the engine nice and hot and take it for a run. Nice day for it! I can't see why you can't leave it in for a while. But don't forget your thermostat housing is aluminium!

(as a rule of thumb, for every 10 degrees C hotter, a reaction happens twice as fast. So run the car at 80 degrees, and the cleaner will be working 64 times faster than at 20 degrees)

 

[dougbgt6]

Dig is the right word Clive, really must tidy up! The kids next door have left their bikes on the drive, where's my snips.   Forgot about the thermostat housing, but it's not a delicate mechanism so should be OK.

[Pete Lewis]

so is the manifold,  i would get it hot and  a couple of days max ,  you dont want to find the cars dissolved into a heap in the garage .

if making it hot speeds things up i must put some in my tea !!!

 

Pete

[dougbgt6]

Pete, I'm told the ladies like it slowed down, so I wouldn't put it in your tea.

[AidanT]

Doug

If it was like mine I had to take an old  watchmaker screwdriver and bend it at 90 degrees at the point of the diameter of the plug thread  I was then really forceful to break up the calcium deposits holding the coolant in  This was after using washing soda vinegar and various radiator flushes for several weeks

Once I'd broken through it all flushed out

 

Aidan

 

 

[dave.vitesse]

I believe flushing stuff I was using 10 to 20 years ago is now not on sale. I remember a two stage type. Once you had used the first stage you had to flush again with a neutraliser otherwise the first stage dissolved your engine. Not good for the drains I guess.

Dave   

[Steve C]

I flushed mine out a couple of years ago after a heater valve became clogged with yellow crud. I ca't, sadly, remember the name of the product, but it came from our local motor factors, and was the sort you put in and then run the engine until it gets good and hot. What I was amazed by is how much  black, flaky crud came out of the bottom hose when I drained it. This was on a rebuilt engine with only a few hundred miles on it! Worth doing then...

Regards 

Steve