Vinegar in the radiator

[Bill Ford]

Just got my P-15 back together and have had the radiator cleaned out. My car is running hotter than I would like. Normal day about 180, hot day less than 100 degrees it runs about 200. Saw a article in Hot Rod magazine that said to put white vinegar at 50% in the radiator and run for a few minutes and it would clean the rust out of the motor. Has anyone heard of this or tried this? Will this cause any harm? I am running 50/50 that new mix with all antifree. The Hot Rod article said to also run only about 30% of the old type green for better cooling. What do you guys think?

[claybill]

although there will be lots of rebuttals like..."mine doesnt heat up"...the back end of the head NEEDS water running thru there to cool the back cylinders. so dont plug off that heater hose inlet in back of the head. we did a heat sensor test and found a variance of 10-15 degrees back of head to front, with it plugged.

every little bit helps..

bill

[55 Fargo]

You goota be careful with vinegar, with it's acetic acid content,as having any residue left in water jackets, this stuff can eat iron.

i have used with success electrosol dishwasher detergent.

Drain antifreeze, add clean water, and add 1 cup electrosol, run engien go for drive for a good 1/2 hour.

Drain block and rad, lots of crud will come out.

Then refilll block with clean wtaer, run and drain, add your antifreeze and water, or repeat if necessary.

This has worked well for me.....

[greg g]

been running a 70 / 30 water to coolant since I put the car on the road. Water is more thremally efficient than the glycol, so the more water the lower the temp. Mine runs 160 to 170 in just about all running conditios up to 190 with extended idling or a long climb.

Vinegar is 5% acetic acid, so it will work on rust, but a with any acid too much too long can be a problem.

Some folks have been runing some of the water wetter aditive. As discusses the results have ranged from 0 to 10 or so degrees cooler with it in the mix.

[Tom Skinner]

Bill,

The 70/30 mix is best. I also was running 180-185 and took my radiator out

and flushed it. No change. I then reset my timing (retarded) it slightly, and it runs 165-170 now at almost any temperature (85-95 degrees out).

I got alot of crap out of the radiator when I turned it upside down and ran water through it, and I think it helped the flow considerably, however, when

I reset the timing a tad it brought down the temperature nicely.

Tom

[TodFitch]

Have you popped out the freeze/core/welsh plugs on the water jacket and gotten out those 60 years of debris that clog up the cooling passages in the engine? That will make a difference too.

[Plymouthy Adams]

as stated..vinegar solution over time will make cast iron soft..weird but its true...if you ran it for just a short bit like any other flast flush and be sure to neutralize (lots of clear water flush) you may be ok..but the sad part behind this idea may lie in the fact that you have a lot of sludge and crud in and about the rear of the of the distribution tube and the lower water jacks about the freeze plugs..vinegar acid settling here and remaining in concentration could give you adverse effect..so probaby be best to go with a commercial flush with a follow up neutralizer...

[hkestes41]

I actually just used vinegar in my radiator this past week. Rmemebered mom always using vinegar to clean the scale out of the coffee pot so thought it might work with the radiator as well.

Drained the radiator and removed the hoses from the engine, flushed the radiator with the hose. Plugged the ends of the hoses, filled the radiator with vinegar and let it set for about 7 hours. Flushed with a lot of clean water afterwards. Got quite a bit of crud out the bottom hose when flushing.

Never started the engine so didn't circulate the vinegar only used it to clean out the radiator.

[55 Fargo]

You goota be careful with vinegar, with it's acetic acid content,as having any residue left in water jackets, this stuff can eat iron.

i have used with success electrosol dishwasher detergent.

Drain antifreeze, add clean water, and add 1 cup electrosol, run engien go for drive for a good 1/2 hour.

Drain block and rad, lots of crud will come out.

Then refilll block with clean water, run and drain, add your antifreeze and water, or repeat if necessary.

This has worked well for me.....

Guys I know this thread is about using Vinegar as a cooling system cleaner, but don't dismiss the "Electrosol method".

I got this idea from Lou Earle, and was impressed with it, it will remove a lot of gunk and goopy stuff left behind form old glycol coolant.

To be honest, if you have lots of crud,scale,rust, you should remove water dist tube, side freeze plugs, then rod out as much crap as possible, then flush block well from every direction.

Then clean rad or have it boiled out, put everything back together, fill with clean water, then do electrosol treament,drain run again with clean water and drain, refill cooling system, and see how things are.

Do not forget about timing, or a heat riser stuck in the cold position, as this will make the engine run hotter too.......Fred

[TodFitch]

50/50 antifreeze and water won't hurt anything. I've been running that mixture since I was old enough to drive back in 1960' date=' in all my cars. Never had a problem with any of them overheating, unless it was caused by something else.

[/quote']

Ditto that. Except that apparently Norm's Coupe is a little bit older than me.

Actually, if I recall correctly the 63 Plymouth wagon with a 318 V8 we had when I learned to drive would overheat in the southern Arizona desert in summer if you ran plain water in it. You needed "antifreeze" in the system to have it cool properly. My guess, in hindsight, is that the normal temperature for the engine was high enough that you'd boil off coolant if you ran plain water. Once you lost coolant then you were in trouble. If you had a 50/50 mix of antifreeze in there then the boiling point was raised enough that you would not lose coolant. With the cooling system full then it would run fine.

Fully loaded (two adults, three teenagers, large dog, month worth of vacation stuff including heavy scuba diving gear), AC on, pulling any grade at freeway speed it kept its cool. Even US80 (and later I-8) from Plaster City up to Desert Center climbing out of California's Imperial Valley with ambient temperatures above 110F.

[central52]

How do you pop out those freeze/core welsh plugs on the block? Do they require a special tool? And once out, do they go back in easily? Or do you need new ones? Ed P.

[Plymouthy Adams]

having access to swing a hammer to dimple the plugs once inserted is more a problem on getting a good seal...I also recommend a bit of Permatex #2 non hardening sealant around the plugs mating surface to the block..

[Merle Coggins]

The best way I know to get them out is to drill a small hole in the center, screw a sheet metal screw into the hole, and use a vice grip and pry bar to pop them out. Or a small slide hammer puller will work too.

To reinstall the new ones, clean the bores real good, use some sealer like Tim mentioned, set the plugs in place with the dome out, then use a hammer, maybe with a blunt punch or drift, to dent in the dome. This will expand the plug and seal it into the block.

Merle

[TodFitch]

The best way I know to get them out is to drill a small hole in the center, screw a sheet metal screw into the hole, and use a vice grip and pry bar to pop them out. Or a small slide hammer puller will work too.

To reinstall the new ones, clean the bores real good, use some sealer like Tim mentioned, set the plugs in place with the dome out, then use a hammer, maybe with a blunt punch or drift, to dent in the dome. This will expand the plug and seal it into the block.

Merle

Instead of drilling first then inserting a screw, I used self-drilling, self-tapping sheet metal screws. Put the screw into the middle of the plug leaving the head proud of the surface by enough to get the claw of a carpenter's hammer under it. Then pry the plug off.

[Don Coatney]

Instead of drilling first then inserting a screw, I used self-drilling, self-tapping sheet metal screws. Put the screw into the middle of the plug leaving the head proud of the surface by enough to get the claw of a carpenter's hammer under it. Then pry the plug off.

I also used a self tapping sheet metal screw.

[steveplym]

although there will be lots of rebuttals like..."mine doesnt heat up"...the back end of the head NEEDS water running thru there to cool the back cylinders. so dont plug off that heater hose inlet in back of the head. we did a heat sensor test and found a variance of 10-15 degrees back of head to front, with it plugged.

every little bit helps..

bill

So putting a valve back there to keep water running thru the heater during the summer time is a bad idea?