The only thing I would worry about flushing everything out is a leak afterwards. Crazy as it sounds, I have seen people do what you are asking and all the end up with is a leaking heater core.
Best way to flush heater core only?
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Originally Posted By: bdcardinal
The only thing I would worry about flushing everything out is a leak afterwards. Crazy as it sounds, I have seen people do what you are asking and all the end up with is a leaking heater core.
Yeah but he'll get that fresh lemon smell.
The only thing I would worry about flushing everything out is a leak afterwards. Crazy as it sounds, I have seen people do what you are asking and all the end up with is a leaking heater core.
Yeah but he'll get that fresh lemon smell.
Kinda like how lemonadeboarding is just as effective, but much more refreshing?
Hey, would the esteemed citric acid not be dried lemon juice? (Or, alternatively, would not adding water to citric acid give you lemon juice?)
I left the old scale-covered thermostat in a glass of the same lemon juice overnight. A lot of the scale got soft and dropped off on its own, and most of the remainder was quite soft and easy to scrape off with my fingers. The metal looked very clean, and not at all damaged by the acid.
On that basis, I figured I was ready to flush out the heater cores. I went back and forth (i.e. normal direction of flow & reverse) with the hose, and caught the expelled water in a large pail so I could see how much debris came out. There were lots of small pieces along with chunks of the block sealer - calcium silicate or whatever. After many passes both ways, and with less and less junk coming out, I put things back together.
Because we're enjoying late Spring temperatures (23 C as I write this) it's not a good time to test the heater, as it will perform better now than it would in the winter. Even so, I'm very pleased; the heater is obviously much better than it was. Got lukewarm air out of the vents when the coolant temperature was still 30-some C, and the air was uncomfortably hot when the coolant temperature passed 70 C. I don't think that's ever happened before with this vehicle, at any time of year.
The thermostat is supposed to start opening @ 82 C, and to be fully open by 96 C. Only got up to 85 C idling in the driveway.
Will provide an update if we get a cool night, which will be no later than next October or so, but so far so good!
I left the old scale-covered thermostat in a glass of the same lemon juice overnight. A lot of the scale got soft and dropped off on its own, and most of the remainder was quite soft and easy to scrape off with my fingers. The metal looked very clean, and not at all damaged by the acid.
On that basis, I figured I was ready to flush out the heater cores. I went back and forth (i.e. normal direction of flow & reverse) with the hose, and caught the expelled water in a large pail so I could see how much debris came out. There were lots of small pieces along with chunks of the block sealer - calcium silicate or whatever. After many passes both ways, and with less and less junk coming out, I put things back together.
Because we're enjoying late Spring temperatures (23 C as I write this) it's not a good time to test the heater, as it will perform better now than it would in the winter. Even so, I'm very pleased; the heater is obviously much better than it was. Got lukewarm air out of the vents when the coolant temperature was still 30-some C, and the air was uncomfortably hot when the coolant temperature passed 70 C. I don't think that's ever happened before with this vehicle, at any time of year.
The thermostat is supposed to start opening @ 82 C, and to be fully open by 96 C. Only got up to 85 C idling in the driveway.
Will provide an update if we get a cool night, which will be no later than next October or so, but so far so good!
Did a short (10 minute - 12 km or so) test drive this evening.
The temperature never exceeded 85 C. Before, I would have expected at least into the 90s. I suspect the old thermostat's opening was constricted by the block-sealer stuff.
The heater blows crazy hot now! It's +16 C this evening, so I ran the heat only to test it.
I left the old thermostat in the lemon juice. After 48 hours, all of the gunk has dissolved in the juice, and precipitated out. So there's about 2" of juice in the glass. The top inch or so is clear but sort of orangey - more reddish than the original juice colour. The bottom inch or so looks like white sand. I wish I'd left it for another day, but so it goes. The bottom line is that we will have heat next winter.
The temperature never exceeded 85 C. Before, I would have expected at least into the 90s. I suspect the old thermostat's opening was constricted by the block-sealer stuff.
The heater blows crazy hot now! It's +16 C this evening, so I ran the heat only to test it.
I left the old thermostat in the lemon juice. After 48 hours, all of the gunk has dissolved in the juice, and precipitated out. So there's about 2" of juice in the glass. The top inch or so is clear but sort of orangey - more reddish than the original juice colour. The bottom inch or so looks like white sand. I wish I'd left it for another day, but so it goes. The bottom line is that we will have heat next winter.
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