Anyone ever use a coolant system cleaner?

[IdahoDoug]

I'm interested in using a cleaner before I replace the radiator in the new 97 so I start with a squeaky clean block and new rad. Anyone use one where they could plainly see it was loosening up grundge? I've always thought these things as snake oil, but willing to listen. Thanks.

DougM

 

[e9999]

IIRC I did it before my big cleaning operation as described in the FAQ. Didn't seem to hurt anything. Don't know if it did any good. Thing is I would imagine that if it does contain surfactants it would indeed loosen grunge, which is why I did it.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Read that as it came up on search - no coolant flush brand mentioned from ya....

DougM

 

[bdeakin]

I've found that using the Prestone Flush junk (or other equivalents) during the running-fresh-water-through-the-system phases of the cleaning got quite a bit of crud out. Here was what I did...

1. Drain old coolant out
2. Close drains, put in flush goop, top off with water.
3. Drive a bit until the thermostat pops open and coolant (water/flush) travels entire system.
4. Drain crud out
5. Repeat 2-4 without flush.
6. Run water through until clean water comes out.
7. Fill with 50/50.

Can the flush gunk do harm? Not really, unless you've got so much crud/sludge in there that it floating around causes problems. If that's your case you waited too long <shrug>

Brandt

 

[e9999]

Read that as it came up on search - no coolant flush brand mentioned from ya....

DougM

IIRC I ended up using a NAPA cleaner. Was cheaper and seemed like it had more/better surfactants than the brand name ones. Not sure. Don't think it matters too much.
And I don't think it will hurt anything. I would do it again.

 

[e9999]

Here is an analogy:
I did some tests once on a large hydronic cooling system in a building. We ran some surfactants in the pipes. Immediately, a storm of crud and rust got resuspended (and plugged up all the filters ). The surfactants will help loosen and resuspend the gunk. It sure cleaned things up fast in that case. So, yes, I think that would help. Just collect the stuff for us to see, eh!

 

[RavenTai]

I used the prestone stuff, the water did turn slightly gray but it did not have any effect on the deposits I could see in the top of the radiator. I spent a lot of time trying to get that cleaner back out of the system, not sure it is worth it.

Redline water wetter is a surfactant wonder if it has any cleaning ability? Has a lot more time to work, it has been in my system for about a year now.

 

[brwnj60]

i cannot remember the name of the stuff i used on my bj60, but it definitley helped. i bought it at a farm equipment dealer, it was fairly toxic smelling...loosened up a ton of junk the big thing is bringing the car up to temp for a good amount of time, i used my throttle lock and ran it high rpms for 45min with the heaters on full trying to clean out the rear heater. seemed to help...the stuff that came out was gross

 

[sjcruiser]

My BMW 325i (E30) used to overheat with AC on during Summer - turned out the radiator was partially clogged (for some reasons about 1/4 of the rad was completely cold, not even a bit warmed up while the rest of it get super hot as coolant temperature climbed). The AC aux fan temperature sensor is mounted right on the cold spot - thus was never triggered.

Drained & refilled with the Prestone Super Flush bottle and water and ran the engine (with the thermostat removed) for half an hour so the crud would losen. Repeated drain & refill intervals a few more time with only water, lots of crud was removed. Never had overheat problem again, even on 100+ degree Summer days with AC on (credited to the revived radiator).

I'd say do it!

Frank.