Radiator question

rrlund

Well-known Member
That stuff they sell as radiator flush. That wouldn't do a bit of good in a radiator that's getting plugged with carbon and lime scale would it?
The one in the 2-135 must be getting plugged. It seems to run a little hotter every year. Recoring is no doubt going to be the only way to go. I had one rodded out from a 4040 Deere one time,but it didn't last a year after that and I had to have it recored anyway.
The shop that recored the one from my 2-105 a few months ago won't even consider rodding them anymore.

Muriatic acid would probably just eat up the tubes before it would have any effect on the scale too wouldn't it? And then there's the problem of neutralizing it.
 
Why do you suspect yours is full of carbon and lime scale? And yes most flushes do work reasonably well
 
Experience. It's just steadily getting worse after trying everything else. The 4040,1550 and 2-105 all acted the same way. Recoring did the trick. When I looked at the old core from the 2-105,it looked like somebody had poured white sand all across the top of it.

The belts are tight,I've had the radiator right out and blew the fins out with the pressure washer and compressed air,a new water pump two years ago,thermostat,cleaned the AC condenser and oil cooler ahead of the radiator. It's a 1982 and has never been recored. I've just got a strong suspicion that if the tank was taken off the top,it would look just like the one out of the 2-105.
 
There are two part radiator cleaners out there. Put in the first and follow directions. Then the second part is the neutralizer. Just follow directions, and you will be OK. I wouldn't use anything that does not have a neutralizer.
 
Maybe I'll give it a try then when I start filling silo. It's just sitting in the toolshed right now,so this isn't the time to try anything. I know the gauge will go in to the red when I get running the chopper.
 
The old cleaners that contained Oxalic acid worked very well.
You had to get it good and hot for it to do a good job.
It did require neutralizing and flushing to complete the cleaning.
 
Randy,
I'd get that radiator recored before fall work begins. Our experience has been similar to yours.

Glenn F.
 
Lye will react violently with aluminum as in some cylinder heads and radiators if the water is hot or the lye is concentrated. Think Drano. I has aluminum chips in it.
 
Randy: I have had very little luck flushing out any modern radiators. Some of the old radiators that were mostly brass will flush out. The modern ones that have different alloys seem to bind the mineral build up too tight to loosen when flushed.

With engine repairs being costly for any tractor I would just have it recored before chopping. You going to spend the money recoring it sometime in the not too distant future anyway. So why gamble on adding engine damage on top of it???

About the only thing I have had any luck with flushing is oil in the cooling system. That will flush out but the lime/carbon/minerals just do not seem to come out by just flushing.
 

Nuttin I know of will do a instant flush and break down the deposits. I played with Vinegar and CLR for a week on one it was of no help. I never updated the post after I removed the radiator and took it apart the rad had 3 blocked tubes, only 9 of the 36 tubs flowed good . The problem with a flush is you will never know how restricted the rad is till you take it apart it still could have a 30/40% restriction. Even tho you helped it, its still not 100% efficient.

If I had the time I would add what ever concoction you come up with and leave it in there for 30 days then flush flush flush.

http://forums.yesterdaystractors.co...postorder=asc&highlight=flush&start=0
 
Going forward- what do you do for coolant? Add your own water? I buy regular anti freeze by the gallon, and pre mix it with a gallon of distilled water. I wonder if the grocery store water is really distilled? Might be worth it to buy the pre-mixed stuff?
 
I've never been a big fan of putting anything corrosive or reactive in a radiator while at still attached to my engine. Take the radiator out, sure, but I wouldn't want it working at a soft plug or head gasket
 
I don't know that it is in these dry sleeve Whites. I think it's lime,but in that wet sleeve Deere,when Pee Wee rodded that one,it was just black,hard,carbon looking stuff. I don't know why it was in there.
 
Carbon doesn't buildup in a cooling system unless it's got a bad head or head gasket leak. And lime...well I guess that would be from using well water
 
I think that some of the dark precipitates are organometallic compounds formed from a reaction when the additives and antifreeze interact possibly with metals in the radiator and block after an extended amount of time. That is why they do not dissolve with the usual methods for radiator flushing. Just guessing.
 

What shop do you use?????

Hankinsons can probably boil it and flow test it for you.

He has done a couple for me and seemed to do fine.
 
I go to Freeman's in Greenville. I don't know if Pee Wee in Edmore is even alive anymore. He was the one that rodded that one off the Deere,but Freeman won't do anything but recore them anymore.

Where is Hankinsons?
 
The radiator in my 92 Dodge Cummins was limed up when you looked in the cap. Drained and flushed with water and added 2 gallons of vinegar. Drove it about 100 miles and flushed with water. Clean as can be. Put in 50/50 antifreeze and she runs cool. Maybe I got lucky but I have done it on tractors too. Can't do it on aluminum radiators though.
 

The only way you would ever know if the vin did the trick would be to inspect the outlet side of the rad with the tank off... You got lucky and flushed loose debre out the vin did noting.

How sure are you the rad in 100% efficient is it worth a engine to find out.
 
Did Pee Wee used to work for Wilbur Ellis? I remember a guy by that name who used to deliver chemicals to us, and I was thinking that was where he worked.
 
I don't know. He was a long haired old guy with a feather in his hat. He had a radiator shop in the back corner of Cliff and Der Ford Sales in Edmore at one time. When they closed,he had a shop on Wyman road just north of town.
 

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