vinegar solution for cleaning coolant passages

[speedjunkie]

I searched but can't find anything.

About a year ago I was looking through a muscle car magazine and they had a bunch of tips and tricks in there for different things, and one of them was a way to clean your coolant passages. You mix a solution of vinegar and water, fill the coolant system, run the engine to operating temp and then drain it and fill with regular coolant again.

My question is, does anyone know if this would be a problem for the coolant seals? I don't want to do this if it's going to kill the seals, but I guess that's obvious haha.

[vex]

I doubt it. Vinegar and water is a benign cleaning solution.

[TitaniumTT]

Don't know about the coolant seals and vinegar. Maybe get an old seal and drop it in some vinegar and see what happens?

What I've done in the past with varying degrees of success is to drain the coolant, fill with water and Cascade.... yeah, dishwashing soap. Needs to be dishwashing soap as you don't want it to bubble. Run the thing for a few days, drain, pressure flush the system - a garden hose and some adapters work well, then rinse and repeat. Did this for a month in my truck and it cleaned it out prettye damn well. When flushing though, you want to isolate everything. Meaning, flush the engine with the heater core and rad hoses OFF. Flush the rad alone and flush the heater core alone. Otherwise, you're just passing shit from one location to the other.

Also, once you're done doing it one way, do it in reverse.

I've also found that no matter how clean the engine is, how many times you flush it out, the water can come out clean enough to drink, when you pop the block open, there will be shit EVERYWHERE. Kinda makes me wonder if how many of these strangely blown engines are related to simple hotspots.

[TitaniumTT]

Ah, right, after all that's done go out and buy some prestone coolant system cleaner and go after the smaller piles of shit. It actually broke a bunch of crap loose from the XJ's 4.0. Not much, but there was still some.

And..... make sure you get the center iron coolant drain open. Shit PILES in that area. It may actually take some pressure to break that stuff loose.

Let me put it this way. Last year I cracked one engine open 3 times. Each time I cleaned the passages, flushed the rad, and flushed the heater core. THere are still little chuncks of shit that like to fester inthe bottom of the rad. i can pop the -6 drain that I welded in and the coolant will drip drip drip drip drip drip drip puke a pile of shit out than flow like a bastard

[speedjunkie]

Wow, that's something I've never heard of haha. I'll have to do this outside in the yard I guess. And since it's pretty cold these days, maybe I'll wait to do this until next summer haha.

Makes me wonder how so much crap can build up in the system if it doesn't drop in there from the outside when you're filling it.

Thanks guys!

[vex]

Wow, that's something I've never heard of haha. I'll have to do this outside in the yard I guess. And since it's pretty cold these days, maybe I'll wait to do this until next summer haha.

Makes me wonder how so much crap can build up in the system if it doesn't drop in there from the outside when you're filling it.

Thanks guys!

A lot of it is slag/corrosion from galvanic responses.

[rxspeed7]

I've was always taught the dishwasher soap or dawn soap method. We did that for years at the shop i worked at and always had great success with it.

Zack.

[RETed]

It's aluminum oxide.
The aluminum parts end up being the sacrificial anode in the galvanic process due to two dissimilar metals (aluminum and iron) and an ionic solution (coolant).
It's an inert compound once it's formed.
I question if vinegar (acetic acid) is strong enough to dissolve it.
Aluminum oxide is the same shit that's on sandpaper.
It's very abrasive.

Dishwashing detergent ain't going to do shit except maybe move it around.


-Ted

[TitaniumTT]

Seems to work on the cast iron Jeep blocks. I questioned how well it would work too, but shit kept coming out. Dunno, I'm not a chemist. Just heard a few old timers rec it so I figured I try it out.

[speedjunkie]

Now I'm being told by others, after searching, that the acid in vinegar is not good for aluminum. Thoughts?