Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

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ARCHINSTL
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by ARCHINSTL »

T4WD augury?
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Petros
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by Petros »

that is just a water nozzle, I do not think it pulses with compressed air. the one below in the link does, pricey. there is a plastic version of this by Viper, but I can not find a price for it.

https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-91002-2- ... B01N4MBOBR

I have seen this same item, or something very similar, on NAPA and Carquest web sites, at very different prices.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by ARCHINSTL »

OK - for some reason (old age?) I thought it connected to an compressor. My bad.
Oh, well - I tried to buy the O'Reilly-supplied device, but was just a dollar and time too short; drat!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by splatterdog »

Petros wrote: Tue Feb 19, 2019 7:37 pm that is just a water nozzle, I do not think it pulses with compressed air. the one below in the link does, pricey. there is a plastic version of this by Viper, but I can not find a price for it.

https://www.amazon.com/ACDelco-91002-2- ... B01N4MBOBR

I have seen this same item, or something very similar, on NAPA and Carquest web sites, at very different prices.
The Vipers are all gone after the second Oreilly's clearance sale a few years ago. Almost bought a backup one then. That amazon one might not come with any adapters as the one feedback implies.
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Petros
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by Petros »

I usually do not use the adapters, I use a length of heater hose and a hose clamp. though if you use it to flush the radiator, the large rubber cone adapter is handy, but I have also used old rad hoses, clamps and a piece of plumbing pipe step down adapter, to get it to the size of the nozzle. Seems having a solid connection between the gun and the core gives a better flush.

something I have noticed is that the price varies by over $100 depending on who has them for sale. If you want one for yourself, do regular searches and wait until it goes on sale.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by The Professor »

I performed an extended vinegar flush over the weekend, even leaving the vinegar in the whole cooling system overnight. I still have three or four flush cycles with distilled water to complete before I button things back up, but some preliminary testing has brought the heat up from ~97*F to ~147*F.

Can't wait to test out the heater on a cold morning this week!!!
1975 Subaru SuperStar wagon
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Petros
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by Petros »

I got mine up to about 140 deg output after soaking and pressure flushing it twice with Hydrocloric acid, vinegar was not doing it. Warmth at last.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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ARCHINSTL
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Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Well - vinegar worked for me and others, so ...
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
The Professor
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by The Professor »

Petros wrote: Mon Mar 04, 2019 7:48 pm I got mine up to about 140 deg output after soaking and pressure flushing it twice with Hydrocloric acid, vinegar was not doing it. Warmth at last.
First, I've been using my new favorite tool for this job; a Lisle no-spill funnel that uses a radiator cap attachment to widen and elongate the filler neck. I believe this is critical to properly burping your cooling system because even with the front end in the air, the heater core is still higher in the system than many parts of the engine and cooling system. This funnel allows you to raise the fill point another few inches. (I prefer the clear funnel to better see bubbles, but this was a quick google image.)

Image

One thing that I've done differently from what I've read other members have done is running the engine up to temperature while the cooling system is full of vinegar. Front end on jack stands to help shuttle vinegar to the heater core and air bubbles out. Then as the engine comes up to temperature I was massaging the radiator and heater core hoses until the thermostat opened. Let the fan cycle a few times while still massaging the hoses (this is one of the most difficult cooling systems to burp I have ever encountered!). Drop the front end down, shut it off and let her cool down before jacking up the rear end and draining the engine block and radiator. Lift the front end up again, refill and repeat until the vinegar coming out is more clear than cloudy. Switch to distilled water, rinse repeat until water isn't discolored, then 50:50 water to antifreeze.

As stated above, this brought me from a high of ~94*F of heater output to ~147*F. The key here being that the cooling system needs to be properly burped to achieve that heater temperature. If I quickly fill the radiator and don't spend the 30-60 minutes burping the cooling system on jack stands, I see the temperature peak at ~113*F, so remember to massage your hoses and lift that front end!
1975 Subaru SuperStar wagon
1984 Subaru Turbo-Traction wagon & hardtop
1987 Subaru RX 3-door
1987 Subaru RX Type-RA 3-door
1987 Toyota Tercel SR5 wagon
1999 Subaru Forester S
2002 Subaru WRX sedan
2019 Subaru Outback 2.5i Limited
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Petros
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by Petros »

Professor,

Never had that problem, but I do pull off the hoses and fill the heater core, the engine block, than the radiator separately. I use funnels on the extended hose held up high. much easier than jacking the car.

the other thing that seems to work okay, is fill the system up normally, than run it until t-stat opens and allow to run for a bit (I will also squeeze the upper radiator hose to pump air out). Than after it has cooled I will top it up. sometimes I will check the coolant level after a day or two of driving when it is cold. that should force all the air out.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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splatterdog
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Re: Vinegar Method Of Cleaning Radiator & HOTTER HEAT ◄

Post by splatterdog »

After loosening up deposits with chemicals it's very important to aggressively flush it out before re-depositing them. Preferably the rad, core, and engine get flushed separately so no cross contamination happens. Also, the same deposits that are clogging the core can be coating engine surfaces not allowing heat transfer to the coolant in the first place. When I put the block heater in I was shocked at the amount of crud in the bottom of the cooling jacket even after lots of Gates flush gunning had already been done. I ended up blow gunning in the core plug hole while flush gunning from the front and back and then chemical flushed again as the chunks were gone but still had a little yuck film in the block.
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