Cleaning Radiator/?s

njk53 · 12-21-2015, 10:02 AM

If there is rust and/or silicate formation in your radiator, there is nothing on the market that will completely and effectively remove these deposits from your radiator. I was involved in a study (at a major OEM) where we tried all kinds of over the counter solutions as well as solutions that were made up by our chemists. The problem was that you needed the solution to be very aggresive to remove a good portion of the rust/silicate deposits and when it did, the same solution damaged the radiator.
In our race car we run tap water (we have excellent tap water here in Detroit) with a RedLine corrosion inhibitor that has worked well for us.
If your current radiator has a fair amount of corrosion build up, I would bite the bullet and replace the radiator because it isn't cooling at peak efficiency and with a brand new engine, I wouldn't take any chances with an old radiator with potential restrictions.

12-21-2015, 10:02 AM	#10
njk53 Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: East China, MI Posts: 504 Likes: 0 Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: Cleaning Radiator/?s If there is rust and/or silicate formation in your radiator, there is nothing on the market that will completely and effectively remove these deposits from your radiator. I was involved in a study (at a major OEM) where we tried all kinds of over the counter solutions as well as solutions that were made up by our chemists. The problem was that you needed the solution to be very aggresive to remove a good portion of the rust/silicate deposits and when it did, the same solution damaged the radiator. In our race car we run tap water (we have excellent tap water here in Detroit) with a RedLine corrosion inhibitor that has worked well for us. If your current radiator has a fair amount of corrosion build up, I would bite the bullet and replace the radiator because it isn't cooling at peak efficiency and with a brand new engine, I wouldn't take any chances with an old radiator with potential restrictions. __________________ Nelson Kowal Stock 345