Radiator cleaner.

Steve-Maine · Apr 7, 2016

Who makes a good radiator cleaner for my 27 Buick. It does have water pump packing that some cleaner might eat out. There used to be a two cleaner by DuPont worked great but can't find it anymore. thanks

glennster · Apr 7, 2016

i would use straight vinegar. fill the cooling system, run it for a few minutes, then let it sit over night. then drain and flush with clean water. its not aggressive as some of the commercial products and does work good.

old · Apr 7, 2016

All I ever use now days is good old white vinegar. Drain the old stuff out fill with vinegar then run it till good and hot let ti cool drain and flush it with the garden hose. May take a couple of flushing like that to get it real clean but it works well

Billy Shafer · Apr 7, 2016

In the Navy we used vinegar in the 671 Detroit. Added two packs. Ours came in a dry form. Get it hot let it set until it cools. Then drain. Never had any problems with seals

Steve-Maine · Apr 7, 2016

Thanks, never thought of vinegar. My wife has a book on uses of vinegar. I had a shop built in 04 and decided a couple of years ago to paint the floor. Used a few cleaners but didn't do much. Used vinegar and the floor looks super clean. Paint stuck real well. used to be a pesticide applicator and used a lot of Round-Up which I have found is bad stuff. Now use vinegar for weeds. Great stuff for a lot of uses.

Richard G. · Apr 7, 2016

I've got a roll of water pump packing in my shop. I have had it about 45 years.
Richard in NW SC

jeffcat · Apr 7, 2016

I see that you said an older car so there is no aluminum. Never use vinegar in a modern setup. Our old clunky stuff it should be fine. Even better is hook up a garden hose backwards. Will flush a lot of the crud out too. Take a look on Utube. There are several videos on how to reverse flush heater cores and radiators. Might help you.

Determined · Apr 7, 2016

(quoted from post at 12:31:54 04/07/16) Who makes a good radiator cleaner for my 27 Buick. It does have water pump packing that some cleaner might eat out. There used to be a two cleaner by DuPont worked great but can't find it anymore. thanks

The good stuff they used to sell that you are talking about contained oxalic acid, it came with a neutralizer to flush out the system with after cleaning.

jeffcat · Apr 7, 2016

Looked on fleebay. Zero listings but underneath there are international listings for it. China. Not that expensive for a whole huge bag of the stuff.

cwtech · Apr 8, 2016

"I see that you said an older car so there is no aluminum. Never use vinegar in a modern setup."

I'm curious- What does the vinegar do to aluminum?

In my limited experience (carwash equipment), aluminum is attacked by caustics, but not mild acids.

Radiator cleaner.

Steve-Maine

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glennster

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old

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Billy Shafer

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Steve-Maine

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Richard G.

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jeffcat

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Determined

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jeffcat

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cwtech

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