Hey all. I flushed rad several months ago. Had ps leaking in radiator. I flushed it with over the counter flush product. Forget what it was? I flushed it for a long time. Almost clear. I need to reflush it again. Coolant is red in color (ps oil color). I have used white vinegar in the past in other vehicles. Has anyone else used this? I need something strong to clean inside of radiator.
Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks for your time.
Car is a 2002 Z28 auto.
Sabo

 

Vinegar corrodes metal. You should use a purpose-formulated flushing chemical from the parts store.

You'll never get all the gunk or old coolant or flush water out of the system unless you remove the flush plugs from the two galleys on the side of the engine. (Over a gallon of fluid remains in the engine cavities when you drain the radiator.)

This creates a mess - no way around it. But, it will get you properly flushed.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...l#post19670393

 

Did you remove the factory PS cooler?

Go to Home Depot......buy a gallon of Formula 88 degreaser. Drain the radiator, then put the plug back in. Remove the t-stat and put the housing back on. Fill the radiator with the Formula 88. Top it off with more Formula 88 after you start it. Run it like that for about 10 minutes only. Then let it sit overnight. That will dissolve everything, everywhere.

It takes a long time to rinse it all out.....but when you do it will be crystal clear water coming out.

Best way to rinse it all out is to completely remove the whole drain plug.....so the water runs out faster. Just keep doing it until its clear......and no white foamy stuff is there any more.

After you flush it like this....go GREEN coolant. Do not use Dexcool again. You will run cooler and it will never get dirty.

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... But keep your tools handy - because you'll be changing your coolant a lot more often.

 

Why....my 427ci was green for the last 2 years of its life. Never lost a drop.

Its in my 390ci now for over 4 years. No issue yet. When I look into my radiator its shiny clean metal inside.

Whats supposed to go wrong...?

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Based on what? My LT1 runs at 170 all day long, and my truck stays at 190 (completely stock), both running Dexool all their lives.

OP, consider taking your radiator to an actual radiator shop and having them flush or tank it for you to clean it up.

 

Based on my temps from before with clean Dexcool in my 427ci for 11 years......then I went GREEN after a flush......it ran cooler than it did for the past 11 years.

I thought that was so clear.....LOL

My iron 390ci runs extremely cool as well.....but its never had Dexcool so there's nothing to compare it to.

Many people in my area use the GREEN....much better than Dexcool.

---Now I never had any problems like so many people do with Dexcool....but why bother with dirty looking coolant and the problems it can bring. Plus, GREEN is much cleaner and runs cooler. No brainer.....

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In the interest of technical discussion, how is this even possible when the temperature is purely regulated by the thermostat. If somehow the green coolant had superior thermodynamic properties then the thermostat would slow its flow down through the engine.


It is indeed very important to have sexy looking coolant in the event that you drip a little. OMG

 

The whole green vs dex thing is annoying. Dex "looks" dirty because people see the words long life and assume lifetime... It get's muddy looking from people not keeping up with maintenance and then it runs a little low and air is introduced into the system and bam, dirty ugly coolant, or has been in the car for 9 years. Your green coolant has a life span less than the 5 year 100k of dex. Just because it looks nice doesn't mean it is, the additives and anti-corrosion properties are worn out, same reason you change you oil. Use a coolant refractometer and check it out.


And to the OP, when we've had oil coolers go in our trucks at work, DT466 Internationals, we get a gallon or two of simple green and fill the system and let it run for a while, then drain the block and radiator, let cool, refill with water and run again and re-drain to get everything out.

 

Same way water wetter helps keep heads cool. And water wetter had nothing to do with the thermostat.

GREEN is simply better than Dexcool for carrying heat away and into the radiator.

And a thermostat has nothing at all to do with cooling of coolant.....all the tstat does is allow the coolant to sit in the radiator...so it can have time to cool. Water pump also has nothing to do with cooling, it just moves coolant.

The radiator, and the radiator alone is what cools the coolant......its the job of the coolant (GREEN) to carry the heat to the radiator so that heat can be transferred to the radiator fins...then the air stream carries that heat away.

The more heat the coolant can carry within it, to the radiator, the cooler your engine temps will be. GREEN is better than Dexcool at doing that one operation.

Simple as that.
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True....thats why Dexcool sucks, compared to GREEN. It gets thick over time and then slowly turns to mud. Thicker liquids suck at dissipating heat, they retain heat, therefore not passing it off to the air when its sitting in the radiator trying to get cooled off. Then it goes back into the engine before it has given off its heat. GREEN gives off that heat MUCH better than Dexcool while its sitting on the radiator, because its not thick gunked up crap. Its always clean as the day it was poured in.

And anyone who leaves coolant in an engine more than 2-3 years is just lazy. Its too easy and cheap to not have new coolant put in every 3 years. Or at least do a half change every 3 years.....

But you got it on the flush technique......DEGREASER is best.

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I'll just be that lil **** and call you out on your rant and then agree to disagree on dex vs. "green". I have zero problems with DEX in my duramax, stays right at 192 on my CTS whether I'm running around on my hot tune or pulling a loaded car trailer through the mountains. Bottom line, don't ever ever ever ever mix coolants, and don't neglect cooling system maintenance and you'll have trouble free time from your cooling system.

 

Not a rant....

My 427ci ran cooler with GREEN after 11 years of using Dexcool. And as I mentioned already....I never had a problem with Dexcool either. It always did fine for me. Stayed clean too. But it absolutely does NOT cool as good as GREEN. And I'm in hot *** South Florida....so trust me, I know a cooler running engine when I see one.

And....its pretty nice to have a 390ci IRON block that never, ever sees 195*F with the A/C ON and in traffic. 180-185 while cruising steady on the highway.......

With Dexcool my aluminum 427ci in traffic would get up to 210*F.....no problem. After the GREEN....it never saw that temp again. Thats pretty good test results.....

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If you're flushing the radiator...use distilled water. Get like 6 gallons, they're $1 ea. Then use a radiator funnel like this that's leak proof:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lisle-246...sem#about-item

No minerals from city/well water will be added to your system then. Either distilled or coolant will be the only thing circulating that way.

 

I love using those little funnels, helps a lot in burping most systems. The LT1 has a bunch of air bleed fittings as well, make sure to work your way around to them to make sure you don't end up with an air pocket.

 

My problem is that the stock ps fluid leaked into coolant a while back. So I flushed system (after eliminating stock ps cooler) with a radiator flush product. It did not work that great. Now I checked coolant and it looks like there is still some oil left over no matter how long I flushed the system I couldn't get it "clear", just barely visible when I was flushing system. It was 114° here other day and temp gauge went over 210 and was climbing until I shut ac off! Then it went back to 210. Car will always stay @ 210 (stock gauge) with no problems no matter what the temperature is. Now with the oil in coolant, it is not cooling like it should. I've used white vinegar before in other vehicles with no problems. I do not leave it in for no more than a few days, if I drive it for a day or two. Then drain and flush the system.

 

I'd bet air is in the system if it didn't flush out before.

Take the thermostat out then flush it this time, for good flow. That funnel i posted should help getting the air out of system when final filling. Use you hand and squeeze the hoses will it's running to burp it too.

 

You will almost never get it all out, its stays in the block and just tumbles around in certain areas. You need to use degreaser to dissolve it all......then it will flush out.

I've helped many guys locally that flushed a dozen times and can never get it clean. I go to their house or they come to mine and we degrease it.....done....crystal clear water comes out.

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Here is how I do a car, some background courses taken rooted in chemistry: chem1,2 orgo1,2 biochm1,2 inorg chm, environchm, adv biochm, physchm1,2 created proposal for water purification system in another country for bottled water, using instrumentation analysis tools like HPLC, MS, etc..

Has given me an overall appreciation for what is really in something like water, wherever it comes from.

First I consider the situation. If the water in the engine is already filthy (Not a fresh engine) then you have to clean it somehow. This part is not nearly as important as the rest, actually. Cleaning the system is the easy part. Getting everything you put in, back out, is the hard part, especially without damaging the insides of what you are cleaning.

Oil based contaminants in the cooling system will likely require a detergent. A detergent is a water soluble molecule with hydrophobic portions capable of capturing a hydrophobic substance, like oil, which would normally avoid water. You would want some kind of detergent flowing around the engine, turbulent, collecting all the oil up so you can drain it out, therefore the engine likely needs to be running and churning the water up severely. I would drive the car, for example.

Once your detergent has done 'something' you drain it out. Pretty obvious so far (pour it in, dump it out). You then decide if you want to do it again. Maybe even try another kind of detergent if the previous one failed you.

Repeat that basic step- detergent, drain. Until satisfied that your cooling system is free of whatever you didn't want in there to start with.

Now the important part. Buy several gallons of distilled water, and start pouring them into the cooling system. Run the engine, drain, refill. Do it over. And over. And over. Then, do it while driving and stopping to drain/refill. Drive it several miles, drain, refill. This part is easy because you are draining distilled water on the ground (it looks like water) so you can stop anywhere and do it anywhere. I just drive to a grocery store and drain it there. My favorite method: pull upper hose with engine running and add distilled water as it drains out the hose.

Keep flushing with distilled until satisfied. At this point, You think you are done kinda? Not really. Detergent and oils are very tiny molecules and I guarantee you that you did not flush it all yet. So drive the vehicle about a week, and then do it again with more distilled.

At this point, you got most of it. So I do two more things (my method). I replace the radiator completely, and, I refill using about 80% distilled and 20% actual antifreeze (for its anti-corrosive properties).

THAT will last you for 5+ years.

 

Green universal parts store coolant is not long life. You should flush that system every 3 years

Dexcool is a long life coolant and can go 5 years

I've run Dexcool, green stuff, pure distilled, and finally PentoFrost blue, and all had the same running temperatures. Again your thermostat and fans are set to kick on at a certain temperature. If it's a street car with a thermostat the color of the coolant just determines how long it lasts