Best radiator flush?

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Originally Posted By: jamesrapai
Given the size of the cooler, I doubt if it even cools oil!


You'd be surprised. Liquid/liquid heat exchangers move significant quantities of heat per volume. It's unfortunate that they fail sometimes, but they are smaller and far more efficient than an air/oil cooler. They also have the advantage that they help warm the oil faster and keep it at operating temp in super cold conditions without needing an additional thermostat (unlike Air/Oil coolers).
 
Did the diesel mix with the water, or gunk things up more and create more oily residue?
 
Let me get this straight
You want to do some kind of flush while driving on a trip talking you 500 miles from home.
If thats the case it's easily the worst idea I've heard today.
If you loosen up some scale or whatever you will be stuck on the roadside far from home and an auto parts store.
Bad idea. Real bad
 
You cannot have to big an issue with your radiator as is or you would almost certainly fix it before a long road trip. I would not leave in one of the flushes for more times than the instructions indicate. Maybe the citric flush? But again read the directions.
 
Originally Posted By: SuperDave456
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.


I 100% agree with this. Stay away from the harsh chemicals, especially with PVC and Aluminum radiators. It's all but a death sentence. I simply drain and fill with plain tap water, then run the engine with the heater on full until the thermostat opens. Then drain and repeat the process until the fluid comes out clear. This could take several drain / fill / run cycles.

After that I do it 2 more times with pure distilled water. Then drain and refill with a 50 / 50 mix of Prestone and distilled water. It's a bit time consuming, but it's the best way to assure a clean, trouble free cooling system.

Stay away from flushing tee's and garden hoses! That is the perfect way to cause leaks. Most automotive cooling systems are designed to operate at between 9 and 13 pounds of pressure. The water coming out of your garden hose is anywhere from 45 to 65 PSI. If you have a partially clogged radiator or heater core, pressure can build with disastrous results. I once had a neighbor who used one, and he ended up with over 2 inches of coolant on the floor of his interior. He blew the entire side tank off of the heater core.
 
Prestone makes a Flush designed to be left in for several days for really neglected cooling systems. Most though are designed to be in and out in around 15-30 minutes.Most require you to drain the system and refill with plain clean water for the duration of the flush.

RMI-25 is left in for 2 weeks or more. I think it is added to existing fill not water. I have not tried RMI 25 but intend too. I change my coolant out every 2 years but on this vehicle have never flushed it.

Growing up Dad always installed a Prestone Flush and Fill kit on every vehicle we owned and flushed once a year. Back then the crystals in the flush can smelled and looked just like Mom's Draino crystals.

Citric Acid is the goto acid in Europe for a lot of applications where we in the USA would use other acids like hydrocloric in varying concentrations. I have to think it is just a difference in what the industry is setup to make. I am not sure if they have access at the retail level to all the acids we do in the USA.

I have in the past seen every thing from strong alkali's to strong acids packaged as flushes in the USA.

The fact that you need a degreases tells you how weak the citric acid is since acid is often used to degrease parts.

Does Daimler use organic acid or hybrid organic acid in their coolant chemistry?
 
Drain and refill is ok on clean system but not going to get it done on dirty sluged up system.
 
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