Cooling system flushing

[Right-arm fast]

Hi,
I have an excavator that has a serious amount of rust in the bottom tank of the radiator which I have found whilst it was out to be repaired. The engine block has a bit of rusty water coming from the drains plugs but isn't too bad and is now running pretty clear. There's no oil or sludge just rust.
I have flushed the radiator numerous times and is a lot better. Apart from keeping on flushing the system/radiator with clean water what else can I do to get it totally clean?

Thanks

 

[Hesston4860s]

Never tryed it but been told dishwasher tablets work well.

 

[tinman]

Im currently at something similar here with a tractor cooling system, under normal conditions its working fine with the temp hand staying low but after a drive of 10k or more the hand is rising close on the red line and any heavy work its shooting up, it will fall quickly enough when the revs are reduced.

there are lots of ideas on the net about what to use but be warned, a lot of the "ideas" or "solutions" could be dangerous as altho there are a lot of metal parts in your cooling system there are other metals and seals in there as well which just mightn't take too well to something like baking soda, vinegar, citrus, and other suggested mixes so be warned.

evaporust have a product called thermocure, ive never used evaporust on anything but ive been meaning to get a few gallons of it to try on tooling and such to remove rust, ive seen really good results on the tube using it so im curious.
the thermo cure would be different and it states that its friendly to other items in the cooling system but as ive said, i never used it but i do know the brand is good.
https://evapo-rust.com/thermocure/
https://www.frost.co.uk/brands/evap...system-rust-remover-flush-946ml-us-quart.html

i soaked the rad (on its own) with citrus 10% solution for 24 hours using 70dg water on saturday and had an airline on a valve running to agitate it somewhat every so often, i drained it and washed it out again this morning, i have more of a gunk in the system rather than rust, its neither oil or rust but closer to the latter if anything.
the block is running free.
after a few washes i plumbed the lot up again today and altho its slightly better its still not anywhere close to 100%, more like 60% tbh.

i priced a new rad genuine but its obsolete and a rad from kramp is £3,500 +v im told, how in gods name someone could think that was a fair price to charge for a new rad ill never know but suffice as to say after getting that price, which should of came with a doctor and a chair i was left with two options, re core the rad or the route ive taken today to see was to send it off for ultrasonic cleaning, its 1/6 of the cost of a re core so the customer thought it was worth the punt.
ill get it back in a day or two and ill know more.

don't know if that's much help but it may be of some guide.
is the engine overheating or is it a case you just noticed rust and would like to clean it up?.

 

[Right-arm fast]

Im currently at something similar here with a tractor cooling system, under normal conditions its working fine with the temp hand staying low but after a drive of 10k or more the hand is rising close on the red line and any heavy work its shooting up, it will fall quickly enough when the revs are reduced.

there are lots of ideas on the net about what to use but be warned, a lot of the "ideas" or "solutions" could be dangerous as altho there are a lot of metal parts in your cooling system there are other metals and seals in there as well which just mightn't take too well to something like baking soda, vinegar, citrus, and other suggested mixes so be warned.

evaporust have a product called thermocure, ive never used evaporust on anything but ive been meaning to get a few gallons of it to try on tooling and such to remove rust, ive seen really good results on the tube using it so im curious.
the thermo cure would be different and it states that its friendly to other items in the cooling system but as ive said, i never used it but i do know the brand is good.
https://evapo-rust.com/thermocure/
https://www.frost.co.uk/brands/evap...system-rust-remover-flush-946ml-us-quart.html

i soaked the rad (on its own) with citrus 10% solution for 24 hours using 70dg water on saturday and had an airline on a valve running to agitate it somewhat every so often, i drained it and washed it out again this morning, i have more of a gunk in the system rather than rust, its neither oil or rust but closer to the latter if anything.
the block is running free.
after a few washes i plumbed the lot up again today and altho its slightly better its still not anywhere close to 100%, more like 60% tbh.

i priced a new rad genuine but its obsolete and a rad from kramp is £3,500 +v im told, how in gods name someone could think that was a fair price to charge for a new rad ill never know but suffice as to say after getting that price, which should of came with a doctor and a chair i was left with two options, re core the rad or the route ive taken today to see was to send it off for ultrasonic cleaning, its 1/6 of the cost of a re core so the customer thought it was worth the punt.
ill get it back in a day or two and ill know more.

don't know if that's much help but it may be of some guide.
is the engine overheating or is it a case you just noticed rust and would like to clean it up?.

Thanks Tinman,

The radiator sprung a slight leak which is the reason for taking it out in the first place.
I put the airline in the through the bottom hose fitting too to try to loosen up the layer of rust/crap that is sat in the bottom and then blocked it off and filled the rad full and then let it flood out a few times, which worked well. However I have done this probably 6 times and still plenty of orange water comes out after the airline . I wanted to use something that might have an internal cleaning effect through the tubes as well as the bottom tank. That could be put in whilst the engine was running. The only thing I have in the workshop is a bottle of Sulphuric acid for unblocking drains! Perhaps dishwasher tablets are the things to use ?

 

[Right-arm fast]

Have just looked at the evaporust link and its 83% water 16% DAP 1% Sodium Salts. Could do a homebrew!

 

[Walton2]

Try a few places to renew the radiator core....I ve spent a lot of time trying various methods over the years...if your problem is sludge this will solve it!

 

[Right-arm fast]

Try a few places to renew the radiator core....I ve spent a lot of time trying various methods over the years...if your problem is sludge this will solve it!

It doesn't need a new core it just needs the layer of rust removing from the bottom.

 

[H200GT]

I

Try a few places to renew the radiator core....I ve spent a lot of time trying various methods over the years...if your problem is sludge this will solve it!

Totally agree, new core may be expensive initially, but its not as expensive to repair as cooked engines are.

 

[ACEngineering]

Hi,
I have an excavator that has a serious amount of rust in the bottom tank of the radiator which I have found whilst it was out to be repaired. The engine block has a bit of rusty water coming from the drains plugs but isn't too bad and is now running pretty clear. There's no oil or sludge just rust.
I have flushed the radiator numerous times and is a lot better. Apart from keeping on flushing the system/radiator with clean water what else can I do to get it totally clean?

Thanks

Off the shelf rad flushes are fairly useless I find on rust.

The cheap way but will almost certainly knacker something! Is brick acid but I really wouldn't! Maybe as a last resort if engine being stripped anyway but it will eat all rust which could be plugging a hole! Plus it eats brass and aluminium possibly rubber too but plastic is okay

 

[ACEngineering]

I


Totally agree, new core may be expensive initially, but its not as expensive to repair as cooked engines are.

If you read the post it clearly says rad has been repaired but the block is rusty so he has flushed the repaired rad a few times after refitting in an attempt to get as much crap out of system?

That's how I read it anyways.

 

[H200GT]

If you read the post it clearly says rad has been repaired but the block is rusty so he has flushed the repaired rad a few times after refitting in an attempt to get as much crap out of system?

That's how I read it anyways.

I read it as its been out for repair, doesn’t mention a new core. I have tried in the past to flush out rads, none have been particularly successful and usually only results in a brief improvement. Now i don't bother, just re core

 

[tomlad]

Long story ,short mates home made thing , huge rad of wotever
Fordson 4 pot .
Over heats
Tried flushing alsorts , and bigger fan's
Finally ford major rad from agriline , cheap .

Mended .

 

[tinman]

for what its worth,
got the rad back from the ultrasonic cleaners and fitted it today, ran the tractor using a megaflow slurry pump to warm her up and the hand went as far as 3/4 ways up on the gauge after an hours work but went no further, thats about as big a load as i could give it and im well happy with the results for its a hard pump to drive.
before cleaning the hand would hit the red within 5-10mins.
job done and customer happy at 1/4 the price of a re core.

 

[ACEngineering]

for what its worth,
got the rad back from the ultrasonic cleaners and fitted it today, ran the tractor using a megaflow slurry pump to warm her up and the hand went as far as 3/4 ways up on the gauge after an hours work but went no further, thats about as big a load as i could give it and im well happy with the results for its a hard pump to drive.
before cleaning the hand would hit the red within 5-10mins.
job done and customer happy at 1/4 the price of a re core.

Really wants the block cleaning out though so it don't block up again but that's not straight forward. This is what I thought you were asking about Block cleaning.

 

[tinman]

Really wants the block cleaning out though so it don't block up again but that's not straight forward. This is what I thought you were asking about Block cleaning.

no, im not the op on this one, i just mentioned earlier that i had an overheating problem but the block was clear and that i had chosen to send the rad off for ultrasonic cleaning is all.

 

[ACEngineering]

no, im not the op on this one, i just mentioned earlier that i had an overheating problem but the block was clear and that i had chosen to send the rad off for ultrasonic cleaning is all.

oh sorry my mix up.

 

[Right-arm fast]

If you read the post it clearly says rad has been repaired but the block is rusty so he has flushed the repaired rad a few times after refitting in an attempt to get as much crap out of system?

That's how I read it anyways.

That's right, it sprung a little leak on the seam of the top tank and the core. So re soldered, no cooling problems at all, just I was amazed at the amount of rust in the bottom of the radiator and subsequently what I have found coming out of the cab heater matrix pipes. The water coming out of those pipes was like water that has had red clay stirred in to it so may be that is the source ??

We've got a fair bit of work to do with it and so I have decided to run it with clean water for a few days and let it cool after every lunchtime and drop the water out just before the end of the day, then refill in the morning and repeat until it runs clear.
Its a 13 tonne Daewoo with a DB58T 6cyl 6l engine 1997 vintage with just under 9000 hrs if anybodies wondering. Great piece of kit, I don't know what we would do with out it. Great for tree stumps and neglected ditches (usually on the neighbours)

 

[fiatf130]

Dishwasher tablet!

 

[tinman]

id question the coolant that's been used, certainly dosent sound like it had corrosion inhibitor in it anyways.

 

[Right-arm fast]

Dishwasher tablet!

What about washing machine powder?