flushing the cooling system

[rivercitylotus]

Hello All;

I've had fill cap off the charge cooler today and it is plenty dirty in there. I've also seen crud/corrosion and general gunk in the radiator transfer pipe. I guess that I'll find the same situation in the rest of the engine cooling system (?)

I've had the radiator cored. Any recommendations on how aggressively clean the rest of these systems out? I expect the so-called "power flush" is one of my options but I'm wondering what chemicals I can safely use to clean this baby out.

I'm equally wondering what (if anything) I can do to prevent this from happening again. I'm filled with dread at the thought of trashing all the aluminum tubing and such.

I thought I saw this topic posted somewhere... I've searched the forum, perhaps not well enough.

Thanks everyone.

Jim

91 SE (brutti ma buono)

[Stuart]

Jim,

Not sure about cleaning the mess out, but to avoid it happening use de-ionised water ( same stuff as you use to top up batteries) mixed with the anti freeze when you top it up. Not tap water!!! Likewise, when you have to top up the coolant then only use de-ionised again, this should keep it clean for you with all the asosciated benifits.

Hope this helps,

Stu

[Jonathan]

Same problems here, my car was badly serviced over the years and the system is was fouled.

After draining as much as I could from the system I took pipes off and cleaned them out by flushing them individually though in the sink. Then i replaced any pipe-pipe unions with stainless steel fittings and cleaned the expansion bottle. mine is plastic which is different to the early cars but I also replaced the ports with stainless steel again.

Then, trip down to Halfords and bought 2x 5 litre de-ionised water cost about

[chandrab]

I still have the green stuff in my 1991 SE and planning on replacing the coolant thats a bit more cooling system friendly.

Over here, I know of Lotus owners running Toyota (red) coolant, GM Dexcool as well as Mercedes Benz coolant (same as Ford coolant or generically Zerex G-05). The important thing is to get rid of the damaging silicates found in the green coolant....the silicates is what makes the white buildup your seeing in the pipes.

I'm switching over to Zerex G05/Mercedes-Benz coolant as it a HOAT (Hybrid Organic Acid Technology?) coolant that is half way between the traditional high silicate green stuff and the no-silicate GM/Toyota coolant. The G05 is also supposed to be more backward compatible with older cooling system, unlike the GM Dexcool which you hear horror stories about (forms a sludge if air enters the cooling system). Water pump longevity and less cavitation is an added plus with G05.

There is no right answer for coolant, but one good place to get educated in automotive fluids is www.bobistheoilguy.com

-Chandra

91 SE

[rivercitylotus]

Thanks Everyone;

I assume for our purposes deionized = distilled?

So its the Sillicates causing the build up.. the car did have green coolant when I purchased, I wouldn't doubt that it had green stuff (the convenient stuff) running in its veins for a while. I just put Peak (Gold) which may be a G05 Anti-freeze in it as I wasn't doing a total flush and I understand it compatible witht the US green coolent, although I confess I don't understand what causes the silicate gel problem. I gather the system has to be totally empty in order to retrifit to a different coolant.

So can I expect that if put the proper coolant in play and change it regularly that the excess silicates deposits will eventually be drawn back out of the system?

Any recommendation on specific treatments or release agents appreciated.

thanks,

j

[Jonathan]

De-ionised / Distilled are pretty much the same idea and similar.

The idea is to remove the impurities in the water so ideally it is pure H2O which can be done in both cases to varrying extent.

It's the vast number impurities in water that give it a lot of propperties, its ability to conduct electricicty and corrosion factors are examples.

[Vulcan Grey]

De-ionised / Distilled are pretty much the same idea and similar.

The idea is to remove the impurities in the water so ideally it is pure H2O which can be done in both cases to varrying extent.

It's the vast number impurities in water that give it a lot of propperties, its ability to conduct electricicty and corrosion factors are examples.

De-Ionized water is purified to an electrical conductivity standard, and distilled water is referring to a process of removal of impurities by boiling and then recollecting the steam into water.

De-ionized water is more acidic than distilled.

Distilled is available in grocery stores.