I am going to go on a 10.5 hour each way road trip. I figure this is the perfect time to add a coolant flush chemical. What flush would you recommend? My options are: Peak Super Cleaner And Flush, Prestone Super Flush, BlueDevil radiator flush or Bars Leak 1211. What would you guys suggest I use? Is there some reason to not put a flush in before this road trip to clean it out? I would be running it 10.5-11.5 hours on the highway there and back. Would it hurt it to run it with the flush in it for that long?
Best radiator flush?
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On a long trip in the summer heat I would want a properly functioning cooling system versus running a flush during the excursion. Probably no need for the chemical flush, but if you feel it necassary I would do it prior to, or after the trip. Not during.
Why do you think you need a coolant flush ? Which vehicle, year, model, mileage ... ?
I "think" I need a coolant flush because the previous owner of the car did a drain and fill and put in Dexcool. It turned to a nasty brown sludge that is covering the cap and everything I can see looking into the hole where the cap goes.The temp is usually ok. It is a 2005 Honda Civic with 111,000 miles on it.
Motorcraft #VC9 CLEANER is really good stuff, and you can get it from a dealership so you don't have to wait for shipping.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcraft-VC9-CLEANER-OXIDATION-NEUTRALIZA/dp/B008B5VTSS
It won't hurt to leave it in that long, but if you do i would do 1 drain of the radiator contents first, then put in water with the flush to get the large portion of built up crud out, since you will be releasing more crud too you don't want too much built up.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorcraft-VC9-CLEANER-OXIDATION-NEUTRALIZA/dp/B008B5VTSS
It won't hurt to leave it in that long, but if you do i would do 1 drain of the radiator contents first, then put in water with the flush to get the large portion of built up crud out, since you will be releasing more crud too you don't want too much built up.
If your radiator and water pump are original, the radiator gaskets (between the core and tanks) and the water pump seal may become compromised using a chemical flush with the miles you are at.
Please note, this was on a friends older Ford Taurus with the Vulcan SOHC engine.
This was done with 2 bottles of the Prestone stuff.
Drained what I could through the lower radiator hose, filled it up with tap water and the 2 bottles of flush.
I then followed the directions and let it idle for 15 minutes with the heat running full blast.
This was in the Fall, so it was about 60 degrees here in Texas and I could tell the heat was working.
I then drained what I could of that concoction and filled it up with tap water.
I took that for a 30 minute drive, a pretty mild drive around town, with the heat going full blast. I had the windows down, otherwise it would of been very hot.
I did another drain and fill with tap water followed by the same 30 minute drive with heat on high.
Then I drained what I could, measured what came out the petcock, and used that volume to calculate what water was left in the system to achieve a 50/50 mix of coolant/anti freeze, if any makeup was needed I added antifreeze as a little on the rich side can be a good thing.
You DON'T want a chemical flush in your system for a long period of time. It wasn't designed for that purpose. It is designed to eliminate buildup, not be run with coolant and as a coolant.
Most of them are quite acidic in order to attack scale, some more so than others, and you don't want them around steel and aluminum for long periods of time.
It isn't meant to "clean" everything like a dishwasher, it's meant to break up scale and other crud.
You'd be better off with a couple flushes of straight water to get any large amount of crud out, then run the flush (paying attention to the instructions), then run several drain and fills to get the flush out (at a minimum 1 drain and fill).
Then go with a 50/50 mix for your long road trip.
Consider this trip another good opportunity to flush your system.
The only way a coolant system goes from dirty to clean is with a lot of drain and fills.
A flush isnt a quick fix.
This was done with 2 bottles of the Prestone stuff.
Drained what I could through the lower radiator hose, filled it up with tap water and the 2 bottles of flush.
I then followed the directions and let it idle for 15 minutes with the heat running full blast.
This was in the Fall, so it was about 60 degrees here in Texas and I could tell the heat was working.
I then drained what I could of that concoction and filled it up with tap water.
I took that for a 30 minute drive, a pretty mild drive around town, with the heat going full blast. I had the windows down, otherwise it would of been very hot.
I did another drain and fill with tap water followed by the same 30 minute drive with heat on high.
Then I drained what I could, measured what came out the petcock, and used that volume to calculate what water was left in the system to achieve a 50/50 mix of coolant/anti freeze, if any makeup was needed I added antifreeze as a little on the rich side can be a good thing.
You DON'T want a chemical flush in your system for a long period of time. It wasn't designed for that purpose. It is designed to eliminate buildup, not be run with coolant and as a coolant.
Most of them are quite acidic in order to attack scale, some more so than others, and you don't want them around steel and aluminum for long periods of time.
It isn't meant to "clean" everything like a dishwasher, it's meant to break up scale and other crud.
You'd be better off with a couple flushes of straight water to get any large amount of crud out, then run the flush (paying attention to the instructions), then run several drain and fills to get the flush out (at a minimum 1 drain and fill).
Then go with a 50/50 mix for your long road trip.
Consider this trip another good opportunity to flush your system.
The only way a coolant system goes from dirty to clean is with a lot of drain and fills.
A flush isnt a quick fix.
Well the Vulcan is a dirty system no matter what, hard to compare it to other systems! Also the Vulcan is a pushrod engine, not SOHC 
check out how i got the big pieces of crud out of my Vulcan. Pics of filter 1 are on page 1, the 2nd filter on page 2.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3400147/plastic_fuel_filter_used_as_co
check out how i got the big pieces of crud out of my Vulcan. Pics of filter 1 are on page 1, the 2nd filter on page 2.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/3400147/plastic_fuel_filter_used_as_co
Before you go away you should get the engine hot, then drain from both sides of the thermostat.
Throw in a dishwasher tablet, fill up with distiller, reach operating temp, drain her again.
Repeat until only crystal clear water come out.
Fill up with your choice of coolant.
Throw in a dishwasher tablet, fill up with distiller, reach operating temp, drain her again.
Repeat until only crystal clear water come out.
Fill up with your choice of coolant.
Mercedes dealerships sell a citric acid product.
JHZR2
Staff member
Citric acid is the best approach. A great DIY is here:
http://dieselgiant.com/mercedes_citrus_flush.htm
http://dieselgiant.com/mercedes_citrus_flush.htm
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Citric acid is the best approach. A great DIY is here:
http://dieselgiant.com/mercedes_citrus_flush.htm
Benz also has an alkaline flush the you would use to remove oily residue.
Citric acid is the best approach. A great DIY is here:
http://dieselgiant.com/mercedes_citrus_flush.htm
Benz also has an alkaline flush the you would use to remove oily residue.
I usually avoid doing any kind of significant work on a car (if I can avoid it) right before a long road trip. An intermediate coolant flush is probably as far as I would go.
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
I would just do a regular coolant flush. First do the flush with water and then do the refill with coolant. Do your trip and then when you get back, do another flush. Slow and steady or you could possibly cause other problem.
Originally Posted By: EdwardC
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
No problem. Put some trout in the bottom hose. Trout swim upstream, so just take the top hose off and put the garden hose in there, they'll come right out after eating the lures.
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
No problem. Put some trout in the bottom hose. Trout swim upstream, so just take the top hose off and put the garden hose in there, they'll come right out after eating the lures.
Originally Posted By: Brad_C
Originally Posted By: EdwardC
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
No problem. Put some trout in the bottom hose. Trout swim upstream, so just take the top hose off and put the garden hose in there, they'll come right out after eating the lures.
What test line do you guys recommend? I guess it depends on the water pump velocity, but I was just wondering.
Originally Posted By: EdwardC
Doing work on the car also introduces potential for error that could sideline the car, like, hypothetically, what if you accidentally pour a bottle full of fishing lures into the radiator instead of coolant?
No problem. Put some trout in the bottom hose. Trout swim upstream, so just take the top hose off and put the garden hose in there, they'll come right out after eating the lures.
What test line do you guys recommend? I guess it depends on the water pump velocity, but I was just wondering.
Thanks BMWTurboDzl - great link!
This and the other posts made me wonder if white vinegar has ever been used. Apparently it has:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k8CVfxI9jQ
This and the other posts made me wonder if white vinegar has ever been used. Apparently it has:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5k8CVfxI9jQ
Originally Posted By: Boss302fan
I would just do a regular coolant flush. First do the flush with water and then do the refill with coolant. Do your trip and then when you get back, do another flush. Slow and steady or you could possibly cause other problem.
+1 I agree. Do a drain and fill with a water flush then when you get home do a real flush.
I would just do a regular coolant flush. First do the flush with water and then do the refill with coolant. Do your trip and then when you get back, do another flush. Slow and steady or you could possibly cause other problem.
+1 I agree. Do a drain and fill with a water flush then when you get home do a real flush.
I would drain as much of the coolant mix in there, fill with distilled water, road trip, flush again w distilled water until the system is clear of all old coolant. Fill with w the appropriate Honda coolant and distalled water mix.
I own a Fiat Linea diesel with a 1.3multi-jet engine. A week back, after coming back from a long trip, I noticed black oil on the floor beneath the car. On opening the hood, I saw a small plastic tank. At that time I did not know what that tank was; my knowledge of cars is zero. Later, I figured out that it was the coolant overflow container. When I opened it, I found black tar like sludge in it. Thick stuff. But shouldn't it have thin green fluid, which the call coolant? Something was wrong, and before long I came to the conclusion, thanks to dimwits on forums like this, that, omg, I have a burst head gasket. Fortunately, my mechanic was more knowledgable, and when I told him I have a busts head gasket, and told him about the tar in the coolant tank, he told me that the head gasket was probably fine, what I had was an oil cooler failure. Oil cooler is a smallish box beneath the oil filter that cools oil. The cooler has both oil and coolant flowing and it had perforated and oil had rushed into the coolant system. I had thick tar (that's what happens with oil and coolant mixes) in my radiator, engine block, overflow container, car heater, and water pump. He said it had to be cleaned. Radiator has to be taken out, and flushed with diesel and high pressure water, or a new radiator would be needed. I got him to open the car in my garage. However, he refused to come the next day, which was understandable; he has a workshop to run) so I finished the job myself. Bought some torx tools, bought a new oil cooler unit (it comes with oil filter and housing) since the 1.3MJD is a very popular engine in India, I was able to buy a cheaper Tata manza cooler (which is the same thing; made by fiat in Poland or so) for Rs. 3200/ Fiat Linea's was Rs. 4200, bought fresh oil (10w40 Castrol magnatec, instead of 5w40) and coolant. I opened the radiator and flushed with diesel. Kept it filled with diesel overnight. A lot of stuff came out. I tried liquid detergent Vim, but no go. Diesel flushed it all out very nicely. Cleaned the overflow container, in all, got out about 4 kgs of tar. Later, took out the oil oil cooler, fitted the new one, drained out the oil pan, fill new oil. I then wondered how to clean the tar from inside the engine block. Detergent was not helping. I had to use diesel, which by now had become by best friend. But can I pour diesel into the coolant system? I decided to flush the system using an external water pump. But the thermostat was not allowing it and I didn't want to remove that, I didn't even know if it was a mechanical one or some other type. I then bought some pvc (regular) pipe and rigged up a connection the two hoses. I had put in two inlets too into it. One to fill, the other to drain. I connected the houses, fill it with water and started the engine. All good, nothing burst open. The pvc pipes did not melt even at 60 degrees. I didn't let the temp go higher. But nothing much came out, even though I added enough liquid detergent. Maybe the engine block was free of the tar? I didn't know. Decided to take a chance, and so fitted the radiator and the rest of the cooling system back. I had used the pvc pipe bypass to save the radiator. I didn't want the tar to get back into it from the engine. Anyway, now I was willing to, and so fitted everything back. I then filled water in the coolant system and ran the engine hot. A little bit of tar came out, which I drained from the bottom hose. I then poured half a liter of diesel into the coolant system and topped it up with water. Then time when I ran the engine (for 5 mins) a lot of tar came out. I did this about 5 times. Each time, half a liter of diesel and rest water. The engine was hot, but not terribly so; I was taking a risk, and did not want to push it. (Btw, I am not advocating any of this to anyone; my advice is: PLEASE DON"T DO SO!) Finally, after many rounds of flushing, I think I got it all out. Nothing blew, and I am thankful to the gods of diesel engines. Personally, I think the oil cooler is a stupid design, and perhaps not necessary. Indeed, if its something that can quietly fail on you, without your knowing it, which is very likely (my mechanic told me it happens often enough), it can ruin your engine. Oil cooler is an over engineered piece of nonsense. It's like a vestigial organ, that ought to be removed. In fact, Maruti has done away with it in their smaller cars like Swift (which all use the same 1.3 MJD fiat engine), but have retained it in the bigger. Given the size of the cooler, I doubt if it even cools oil! Incidentally, all Maruti-Suzuki diesels cars, including Tata diesel cars, use the 1.3 MJD Fiat engine, and the good folks of India who swear by their Marutis and Tata, and would never buy a Fiat car, are not even aware of this fact.
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