oil in coolant.......

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i need to know how to flush out the brown sludge from the wifes cooling system.......

oil has been mixed in the water and the water pump has turned it into a nice paste......

i need to know of any methods that may clean it out........
such as fill the cooling system with kero and run for a while.....?
dont want to use caustic soda as that will eat away at the internals of everything.....
including all the rubber........



tried spraying a tin of degreaser in the top hose and then hitting it with the gerni but its not good enough.......

it has the consistency of grease......i need to dissolve some how so i can flush it out.......

[procrastination inc]

just think aloud here.

How would metho effect the seals?

[DEFENDERZOOK]

dunno if metho would be strong enough to dissolve the sludge........

but it shouldnt affect the seals.......

thats why i was thinking kero.......plus its sort of oil based......

[incisor]

kero would leave an oily residue i would have thought...

i think i would be trying a strongish detergent with low foaming properties...

interesting problem...... be interested to hear from a pro what the fix is...

[DEFENDERZOOK]

interesting problem......but a massive headache........

the kero is a lot easier to wash out than the mud thats in there now......
its got the consistency of one shot grease......

and it sticks pretty well.......i need to dissolve it first to flush it out......
then i can run soapy water through as a wash......then rinse that out......


i am stuck.......its a real pain.......for something so simple......

[Rovernaut]

i need to know how to flush out the brown sludge from the wifes cooling system.......

oil has been mixed in the water and the water pump has turned it into a nice paste......

i need to know of any methods that may clean it out........
such as fill the cooling system with kero and run for a while.....?
dont want to use caustic soda as that will eat away at the internals of everything.....
including all the rubber........



tried spraying a tin of degreaser in the top hose and then hitting it with the gerni but its not good enough.......

it has the consistency of grease......i need to dissolve some how so i can flush it out.......

You could try this stuff. It is water soluble, dissolves grease and oil and is enviromentaly friendly. Shouldn't damage your engines metal as it is non corrosive.
Probably tip a litre into your radiator, run it and then flush the crap out. Magic stuff for degreasing engines too.

CT14 Gutsy Degreaser
Concentrated, water soluble, biodegradable,
hydrocarbon-free, non-toxic, non-flammable. Great for engines, driveways, lube bays & transmissions
1Ltr makes up to 20 Ltr .
CT14-1L
CT14-5L
CT14-20L

Or the Truck Wash, it removes grime, you can even wash greasy overalls in it.

[procrastination inc]

how'd the oil get in in the first place?

[hodgo]

See if you can get some soluable oil and pour a fair amount of it into your raditator about !-2 Lts, then pull the top hose off and place a strainer ( old stocking ) over the out let and replace the hose, bring the engine up to normal opperating temp and let it run for several minutes. the soluable oil will break down the sludge (engine oil ) and the stocking will catch a lot of it, keep an eye on the temp gauge, Drain the cooling system and repeat if required them flush the entire system with I think its called wynn' s raditator flush useing a bit of clean stocking again any gunk thats left in it.
I have heard that diesel fuel will do the same but never seen it done with it
But I think you may have other problems engine oil is mixing inthe cooling system what colour is the oil in the sump?

Best of luck Hodgo

[DEFENDERZOOK]

that ct-14 sounds like an idea.....




split auto cooler in the radiator.....even had a bit of water in the tranny.....
but managed to flush most of that out.........

need to clean out the cooling system now and get it running......
then flush the auto again.......hopefully its not damaged......

[incisor]

best of luck, hope it goes well!

[DEFENDERZOOK]

thanks.....and so do i......the wife has found an excuse to buy a new car......

im trying to get it back on the road as i cant afford a new car.......
i just bought a '75 mazda i need to tidy up and get registered......


we have enough expenses....and she wants a new car.....?

[Lucus]

Whenever we fail and oil cooler on heavy earthmoving gear we use plain of finish dishwasher powder. Works a treat and flushes out very easily once the system is clean. Just add the powder. Run the car to temp and drop the coolant. Repaet until there oil sludge is gone.

Steer clear of commercial cooling system cleaners as they tend to cause more harm than good.

[PLR]

G`day ,

Hook your hose up to the hot water tap , put some dishwasing liquid in it , which will foam .

The heat of the water with the liquid will break down the mix .

The bubbles will help to get into odd places .

Reverse flush the block with the stat out , same with the rad .

It will be on going but as you know the oil will settle ontop of the water , the main reason to reverse and you`ll find different rates of pressure will be required , one rate may mix it all up and another may push the **** out .

Cheers

[abaddonxi]

Whenever we fail and oil cooler on heavy earthmoving gear we use plain of finish dishwasher powder. Works a treat and flushes out very easily once the system is clean. Just add the powder. Run the car to temp and drop the coolant. Repaet until there oil sludge is gone.

Steer clear of commercial cooling system cleaners as they tend to cause more harm than good.

Dishwasher powder corrodes aluminium.

Cheers
Simon

[George130]

With mine I just used water. Ran the vehicle up to temp and then disconnected a hose and plugged the garden hose up and ran it again till the water was clear. I did this several times and it worked. It definatly needed to be hot to get the sludge out.

[procrastination inc]

Dishwasher powder corrodes aluminium....


big time and quickly. caustic is BAD for aluminium

[Lucus]

Dishwasher powder corrodes aluminium.

Cheers
Simon

I have done this many many times on engines with ally water pumps and timing covers and have never had a drama. We generally use a box in a 200ltr system so a tea spoon or two would be all thats required in a 10ltr(ish) system

Luke

[procrastination inc]

concentrations that small might be ok. But a table spoon in a laundry sink full is disastrous (don't ask me how I know...)

[Lucus]

concentrations that small might be ok. But a table spoon in a laundry sink full is disastrous (don't ask me how I know...)

Did you leave the parts submerged in the solution? What got eaten?

[abaddonxi]

Did you leave the parts submerged in the solution? What got eaten?

Here's an example from my dishwasher.

Stainless steel pot with aluminium sandwich base.
http://members.ozemail.com.au/%7Eabaddon@ozemail.com.au/AULRO/pot.jpg

Not just the pitting. If you look at the foggy left end you can see how much of the meat of the aluminium has been eaten away, should be flush.

Might not happen overnight...

Cheers
Simon

[rick130]

If diswhaser powder is a no-go, how about good old Cold Power or Drive ?

Always used that when washing/scrubbing blocks after machine work.

Dishwashing liquid is a no-go as it corrodes, too.

[Rosco]

Try a bottle of Phenol. If that doesn't do the trick you may need to try 2 bottles.

Cheers

[procrastination inc]

why phenol?

ethyl or methly alcohols have similar polar/non polar attributes, why mess with alcoholised benzene?

[Rosco]

why phenol?

ethyl or methly alcohols have similar polar/non polar attributes, why mess with alcoholised benzene?

Dunno ... :whistling:. Yonks ago when one of my bro's worked as a mechanic he told me it was good stuff for flushing all the crap outa cooling systems.
Pour in a bottle then go for a run and flush out all the crud. Just thought I'd toss it into the ring.

Cheers

[Blknight.aus]

simple......



simple.

simple.
























Simple Green... Geddit.... Damn Im funny....

ok seriously when we have to shift that stuff we use a 50/50 mix of simple green detergent and hot water....

[DEFENDERZOOK]

the car is still at the mechanics as he will have to finish the job off as i gotta go to work.......


i have decided to try the truckwash......CT14......thats a detergent as well......
and it wont be in the cooling system for hours........its gonna be put in....run up to temp..then allowed to cool a bit and flushed out.......

it needs to cool to avoid cracking the head by sticking the hose with cold water in to flush.......

so...it shouldnt affect any of the metals in that short length of time......

if that doesnt shift the sludge......then we will have to try other alternatives......until we find one that works........

we start off easy and get rough as we go........as we exhaust our options.....
hopefully......CT14 will do the job and get it over and done with.......and then the missus can have her car back......



then we can all get some rest.......




and a big thanks to all the different ideas and info.......i did learn quite a bit from it all.......
the biggest lesson is.......stick to manual......and youll never have this problem........

[Lucus]

Is CT14 the pink cleaner or the green stuff? The pink cleaner is pretty savage on ally parts as well.

[DEFENDERZOOK]

no idea.....havent bought it yet.....the mechanic will have to organise it tomorrow.....
i wont be anywhere near the car as i gotta go to work....


it shouldnt be in there long enough to eat anything away.....i hope......

[DEFENDERZOOK]

update.....:



we went with the CT14 truck wash.......it seems to have worked a treat......
when i went past after work......to see the car......it had some nice green coolant.......
instead of the baby***** brown sludge that was in there yesterday........
it looks like two flushes was enough.......will see what else comes out after it goes for a nice drive........
but i think most of it is out.........if not all of it......



so i guess truck wash works well........inside and out........

[Pedro_The_Swift]

Dont use truckwash to wash your car,,,

[tombraider]

Dont use truckwash to wash your car,,,

No... Dont use CT18

CT20 is fine and does no harm

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i used it to flush out the cooling system.......

the car is filthy....hasnt been washed for months......







whats the difference between washing a truck and a car.......?
do they have different paint on trucks or something......

[tombraider]

i used it to flush out the cooling system.......

the car is filthy....hasnt been washed for months......







whats the difference between washing a truck and a car.......?
do they have different paint on trucks or something......

CT18 strips all the protective waxes etc from the body and dries the pivoting parts it touches

[DEFENDERZOOK]

i used ct14......what the difference between these two......


ct18 is good for cleaning the chassis and underbody.....spray it on.......wait......then gerni........





then when its all dry........lanotec.......

[JRC]

Lurch, Lets start at the begining - just a few methodical checks.
Remember engine oil pressure is higher than the cooling system pressure.
What is the vehicle - Make, Model, Fuel, Engine, Tranny.
Has anyone topped-up the radiator with Castrol GTX ? - Don't laugh, I've seen done.
In the bottom of your radiator tank does it have an Auto Trans cooling oil pipe running thru it - these leak internaly & no extenal leaks.
Damaged diesel fuel cooler or engine oil cooler.
Crackhed engine oil gallery - into the cooling system.
Is the turbo water cooled.
P.S. - Do not assume or guess, get expert advise

Good hunting

[graceysdad]

Get yourself a bottle of liquid drive soap and put in the radiator, go for a scoot about and dump it, you will have the nicest smelling radiator about, used to do this with my old Cherokee that had a cracked head and would once in a while push the water out replacing with the contents of the sump, this used to work very well, then we added chemi weld and she was good for another 6 months. A small bottle will do it.

[graceysdad]

CT14 will dissolve alloy, I have seen a piston left in a sump with CT 14 to clean and it stuffed the slug, for a water borne product CT14 is very nasty, we used it in the wrecking yard and ended up stop using it because of how it stained alloy. Great on steel, bad in cuts in your hands too. Trannys are very hard to flush and have them be any good afterwards, they work ok for a while but be wary of slipping. The old Cortina 4s were notorious for water in the Bordeaux autos from the radiators, nasty stuff.

[graceysdad]

CT14 degreaser, CT18 truckwash and damn good stuff!