Cleaning a rad

bison · Apr 18, 2015

I have a rad out of a 1855 tractor but it is pretty oily and dirty inside.
How can i clean that inside?
I have rebuild the engine and i don't want to put that dirty rad back on and flush it afterwards.

There is no rad shop within 300 ml of me otherwise i would take it there.

gene bender · Apr 18, 2015

Block off the bottom and fill with vinegar and let it set for a period.

Alan K · Apr 18, 2015

Im betting if there is too much oil film in it that it wouldn't cool properly. The radiator here had said years ago a lot of guys used to put oil in older radiators to store them but you cant get them cleaned out enough to work. If the oil is suspended in the coolant enough you might get by ok. Myself, if you have rebuilt the engine I would look for a good used one before using the old one.

RBoots · Apr 18, 2015

Make an adapter that will allow you to hook an
air hose to the bottom rad hose part of the
radiator with a ball valve so you can throttle it
back. Stand it up, put a quarter bottle of Dawn
dish soap in it, and fill it with very hot water.
Leave the cap off, and give it just enough air to
make it bubble a little through it. That should
get rid of the oil. Rinse it out with hot water then
once more with cold water. Will make a mess,
so do it outside.

Ross

Fatjay · Apr 18, 2015

I use simple green and water when I was flushing the system in my diesel truck that mixed oil and coolant. It was attached though, I'd fill it with a gallon of simple green, then the rest with water, run it for 2-3min without the thermostat, dump it, repeat 2 or more times to really clean out the system. Then run plain water through a few times until it comes out clear. Then just add like you would normally.

If you have oil in the rad, it's probably elsewhere and could use a good cleaning.

heavy hauler too · Apr 18, 2015

for fuel and oil you can use dish washing soap, run the engine a day then drain soap again then use clean water see how it looks if coar is clean your good to go.

bill mart · Apr 19, 2015

didn't some of the early tractors use oil in the radiator? Maybe the rumely oil pulls?. Bill

bison · Apr 19, 2015

Well i found a bottle of coolant system cleaning agent.
I laid the rad on its back and filled it half full with a mix of the agent and hot water and shook it around till it started foaming a bit and then added hot water till the rad was full.
I let it soak for a couple hours before draining it and then rinsed it out til all i got was clean water.
I found a leak in the process.
I'm glad i found that leak this way and not after the rad was bolted in for a cleaning process with the engine running and then having to take it back out again to solder it up.

Cleaning a rad

bison

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gene bender

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Alan K

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RBoots

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Fatjay

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heavy hauler too

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bill mart

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bison

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