Trying to Stay Cool - FIXED!!!!

[Cudajason]

Well, I have spent far too much time the last few days thinking about this and not working befits / down.

It seems the Thermocure is pretty hard to get here in Canada and Amazon Canada is currently out of stock.

I think I am going to dump and flush my coolant, its pretty dirty at this point.  Then I am going to fill the system with Vinegar.  I have had good luck with vinegar and rusty parts in the past.  Then I am going to drive it a few days and let the vinegar work its magic on the engine block.

Then a few flush and run cycles, maybe a reverse flush with air, because that gives me an excuse to by a new tool,  until everything runs clean and see if that helps.

If it does not work, maybe I will try harder to find some Thermocure, or just pop out a few freeze plugs on each side an poke around inside the block and try to get it cleaned out (I know there was sludge in there from a few years ago).

[DeathProofCuda]

Good luck with it man.  We'll be standing by waiting for a progress report. 

[jimynick]

   I'm interested in how this all plays out, too! 

[blown motor]

@Cudajason Don't waste your time cleaning out that old block, just put a new hemi in it. Problem solved. 

[Cudajason]

@Cudajason Don't waste your time cleaning out that old block, just put a new hemi in it. Problem solved. 

Thanks man, I will get right on that!

[Bullitt-]

  Just thinking out loud & maybe you've already done this but I was searching for way's to diagnose a clogged radiator, didn't find much except a garage used a thermal camera to view one on the car hot.. Shows the top tank & bottom tank along with only a section of tubes glowing red which indicated the rest of the tubes were not moving coolant...
That gave me the idea is to "map" your tubes with the laser thermometer & see if you get consistent numbers across the width of all the tubes...   

[Cudajason]

  Just thinking out loud & maybe you've already done this but I was searching for way's to diagnose a clogged radiator, didn't find much except a garage used a thermal camera to view one on the car hot.. Shows the top tank & bottom tank along with only a section of tubes glowing red which indicated the rest of the tubes were not moving coolant...
That gave me the idea is to "map" your tubes with the laser thermometer & see if you get consistent numbers across the width of all the tubes...

Yeah good idea. I have done a bit of that, it looks good, but I will go over it in more detail.

I have had the vinegar and water mix in for a few days now. I have warmed it up and let it idle for a bit in the driveway. Never got above 190.

Today i let it warm up and them went out for a 20 min spin just to get things moving. It never got above 210 and it is HOT out.

Check out the crap on the rad cap and whats floating in the rad.

I am going to let it sit for another day then flush things out with water and air really really well. Probably a bunch of crap in the rad now!!!

Jason

[dodj]

Wow...that's a lot of crap in there...
Just gonna keep doing the vinegar deal until it comes out clean? 
I might consider blocking the heater core hoses....looping, whatever.

[70vert]

Yikes, that is a lot of crap. Should help a lot once you've got it cleaned out! I've not heard of using vinegar for that, interesting.

[Cudajason]

Wow...that's a lot of crap in there...
Just gonna keep doing the vinegar deal until it comes out clean? 
I might consider blocking the heater core hoses....looping, whatever.

My plan os to flush it really good with water and air, this week until it runs clean and clear. Then I think I will fill it with vinegar at least once more to see if I get more crap out. If I do, might do it once more.

Yeah thats not a bad idea. I will get the heater core flushed out real good and then bypass it until i get it cleaner.

Yikes, that is a lot of crap. Should help a lot once you've got it cleaned out! I've not heard of using vinegar for that, interesting.

Agreed usually it has just been a film of something that builds up in the coolant. With the vinegar there is a lot more sludge and crud coming out. 

I have used vinegar in the past to de rust parts with great success. So as I thought about this issue, and seeing how much rust and crap there was in my block a few years ago, so I figured I would give it a try.

[YellowThumper]

Wow that is a load of yuk.
Reverse flush the radiator from bottom up. I used a short hose and some pvc fittings to seal hose connection for the added pressure to blow it out top. With pressure buildup it will blow thru more of the tubes.
Good luck with your next round.

[HP2]

With a ph of 2.5, vinegar is fairly acidic and will attack things and loosen them up in a way plain water (ph of 7) simply won't do. Its also a lot cheaper than a host of other chemistries designed for cleaning. It also doesn't streak when used on windows.

[BIGSHCLUNK]

Was there Bars Leak in there at one point in time?  I've seen that residue/gunk someplace before. 

[Cudajason]

Was there Bars Leak in there at one point in time?  I've seen that residue/gunk someplace before. 

Nope never had any stop leak product in it.

I flushed it out today six ways from Sunday. 

I drained the rad first, check out the crust on top of it after siting overnight.Look at the solids floating in there. Yuck what a mess!

I used a hose and let it run into the heater hose, after bypassing the heater core, I flushed the heater core separately.

I had crap floating up through the rad for a while. I used air as well and blew it out real good a few times. Water and crap was flying out the top of the rad.

I took it for a spin afterwards, just water in it, and it seemed to be a little better.

It stayed at 190 for a bit in stop and go traffic. Climbed to about 210 at the end of the drive.

When going down the road at speed it seemed to struggle to get above 200, so I think there is some progress there.

However, I am still not seeing great flow in the rad once the t-stat opens. So i drained the rad, flushed it some more, there was a brown tinge to the water after the drive and pulled the t-stat. It did not look to bad. I am going to file it back up with vinegar again and see what happens.

[7212Mopar]

Jason FYI. I have three temp gauges in my car. The factory one which really don't have much info. An Autometer mechanical gauge and the computer temp read out from my Fitech EFI. The Autometer gauge is consistently read at least 10 degrees F higher than Fitech. I trust my Fitech more. Best to get an electronic temp gun to scan it. HF has one cheap.

Last weekend we had a heat wave and got up to the 90s. I was driving locally and my car hit 195-200 F range stop and go 30 mph. Once I hit longer road between stop, it drop back to 185-190 F. 175-180 F range once I am on the freeway.