Omega Owners Forum

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  

News:

Welcome to OOF

Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Down

Author Topic: De-shitting the radiator.  (Read 3190 times)

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
De-shitting the radiator.
« on: 18 October 2017, 14:39:56 »

I seem to remember posts on here recommending the use of some kind of detergent tablets in the coolant to shift crap from the system. Can anyone confirm and remind me what they were, please?

Ron.
Logged

Migv6 le Frog Fan

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Webs End.
  • Posts: 11734
  • Nicole's Papa
    • 3.2 Elite. Boxster. C1.
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #1 on: 18 October 2017, 14:47:47 »

Darth Loo-knee always recommended Fernox, central heating descaler for cleaning the crap out of rads & cooling systems.
I tried it on a rad once and it worked really well.
Logged
Women are like an AR35. lovely things, but nobody really understands how they work.

Doctor Gollum

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • In a colds and darks puddleses
  • Posts: 28089
  • If you can't eat them, join them...
    • Feetses.
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #2 on: 18 October 2017, 15:03:16 »

Arial liquitabs are pretty effective at shifting grease from the coolant :y
Logged
Onanists always think outside the box.

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #3 on: 18 October 2017, 17:21:02 »

What concentration of Fernox (neat?) and how many Liquitabs please gents?

Ron.
Logged

Migv6 le Frog Fan

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Webs End.
  • Posts: 11734
  • Nicole's Papa
    • 3.2 Elite. Boxster. C1.
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #4 on: 18 October 2017, 20:03:04 »

Cant remember Ron. It was about 5 years ago, and my memory is now limited to either 5 minutes or 40 years. Not much in between.  :-[ ;D
Logged
Women are like an AR35. lovely things, but nobody really understands how they work.

Nick W

  • Omega Queen
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Chatham, Kent
  • Posts: 10836
  • Rover Metro 1.8VVC
    • 3.0l Elite estate
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #5 on: 18 October 2017, 20:16:39 »

Darth Loo-knee always recommended Fernox, central heating descaler for cleaning the crap out of rads & cooling systems.
I tried it on a rad once and it worked really well.


If you've ever removed the endtank from a well-used radiator, you wouldn't have much faith in chemicals to clean them. When they were made of brass, the method was to remove the tanks, rod through the tubes and solder the tanks back on. And brass reacts much better to the caustic chemicals that might actually dissolve the blockage than the aluminium that modern radiators are made from.


I wish I had photographed my heater matrix; that had been recently flushed, and clear water was coming out of each pipe. But it barely gave out any heat. When I took the end tank off, only 3 of the 12 tubes were clear. The rest were so badly silted up that I couldn't poke lockwire down any of them. A new matrix means the heater gives warm air in about half a mile, and gets properly hot once the engine has warmed through - two things it had never done in the previous 7 years.
Logged

tigers_gonads

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Kinston Upon Hull
  • Posts: 8592
  • Driving a Honda CR-V which doesn't smell of pee
    • Honda CR-V
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #6 on: 18 October 2017, 20:31:24 »

I seem to remember posts on here recommending the use of some kind of detergent tablets in the coolant to shift crap from the system. Can anyone confirm and remind me what they were, please?

Ron.


That would be me after my oil cooler went from a few spots of oil too totally knackered while doing a steady 80 ish about 50 miles from home  >:(

As Al says, if its oil, its a good 6 or 7 tabs opened up and the contents straight into the water tank.
Loo_Knee's way is to remove the radiator then fill with Fernox.
Shake it around for a bit then leave it lying flat over night.
Sieve it out through a pair of your old tights  :-X  to get the sludge out then pour the Fernox back in and repeat as many times as time allows  :y
I wouldn't recommend leaving it in the cars cooling system for too long.

Liquid tabs do make the car smell nice too  :D
Logged

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #7 on: 18 October 2017, 21:07:39 »

Ah, I think I didn't make myself clear. I don't need to clear the radiator itself, specifically, as I will be replacing it, but I want to de-crap the system so as not to contaminate my new radiator.
I thought that several fill,run up to temperature and drain/repeat cycles ought to do it?
When all seems clear, I can then open the HBV and allow coolant through it: it has been on "Lo" all the time K-Seal has been in the system, so my hope is that no K-Seal entered the matrix during that time.
If any had, then after admitting clean water it should be flushed out - fingers crossed.  ???

Ron.
Logged

TheBoy

  • Administrator
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Brackley, Northants
  • Posts: 105839
  • I Like Lockdown
    • Whatever Starts
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #8 on: 18 October 2017, 21:13:41 »

Just loks of water to remove k-seal. You'll never remove most of it sadly, but no point crying over spilt milk.
Logged
Grumpy old man

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #9 on: 18 October 2017, 21:25:18 »

Understood, TB - that is certainly a cheaper way; but is it worth using Liquitabs and/or Fernox totry to clear the block?

REon.
Logged

ronnyd

  • Omega Lord
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Bury St Edmunds Suffolk
  • Posts: 8592
    • Vectra 1.8 SRI Silver
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #10 on: 18 October 2017, 22:08:55 »

Understood, TB - that is certainly a cheaper way; but is it worth using Liquitabs and/or Fernox totry to clear the block?

REon.
HTF is  REon  ;D
Logged

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #11 on: 18 October 2017, 22:31:37 »

He's a poor typist with big fingers.
Logged

Lincs Robert

  • Guest
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #12 on: 18 October 2017, 23:00:55 »

Cant remember Ron. It was about 5 years ago, and my memory is now limited to either 5 minutes or 40 years. Not much in between.  :-[ ;D

+1
Logged

Sir Tigger KC

  • Get A Life!!
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • West Dorset
  • Posts: 23427
    • 2 Fords
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #13 on: 19 October 2017, 09:44:58 »

Understood, TB - that is certainly a cheaper way; but is it worth using Liquitabs and/or Fernox totry to clear the block?

REon.

You won't do any harm chucking Fernox or dishwasher tabs in, but as I understand it; you just want to try and flush out as much of the K-Seal as possible?  ???

I'd thoroughly flush and back flush the block as many times as you think necessary with the garden hose when you've removed your radiator, to try and remove as much K-Seal as possible and I'd also do the same with the heater matrix.  ;)

Fit new radiator, fill with new coolant, and if it's not leaking don't worry about it.  :y
Logged
RIP Paul 'Luvvie' Lovejoy

Politically homeless ......

Bigron

  • Omega Baron
  • *****
  • Offline Offline
  • Gender: Male
  • Witham, Essex
  • Posts: 4808
    • Omega 2.6 V6 Auto '51 Reg
    • View Profile
Re: De-shitting the radiator.
« Reply #14 on: 19 October 2017, 10:35:59 »

Yes, your Sirship: K-Seal was a bad idea, but I was desperate! I was hoping that by having the HBV closed (CC on LO) that would have kept the K-Seal out of the heater matrix - would that have been total exclusion, or would some have creppt past?
I can't flush the block without mremoving the thermostat, can I? That's why I thought that draining, refilling and bringing up to temperature and repeat as necessary would have done the job. I do not want to do battle with THAT bolt!

Am I on the right lines here?

Ron.
Logged
Pages: [1] 2  All   Go Up
 

Page created in 0.023 seconds with 18 queries.