Clean radiator, cool engine, coolant PH, flow, fans, shrouds.

Hersbird:

The ion exchange is a good thing in this case.

Calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate found in tap water are radiator killers. The carbonates drop out of solution and harden like concrete when the temperature goes up. They never go back in to solution either. This is the white crud you find on the ends of radiator tubes.

Sodium and potassium salts do not drop out when you heat them, and can not remain solid in the presence of water. Your water softener output is better than tap water for a cooling system.

I spent about an hour with the guys from HECAT while I was at SEMA last week. They just spent a lot of time jumping through hoops to get their flushing machines qualified for both the US Army & a major helicopter company.

The owner shared a story about a large automotive water pump manufacturer, with several trailers full of new water pumps that had failed in less than a year - a huge warranty issue. Hecat was asked to asses the failures and present an action plan. After dissecting a 40 foot trailer full of dead water pumps, there were two piles:

1) Chemical attack
These pumps had melted seals, corrosion pits in stainless steel parts, reeked of solvents etc. All the product of flushing with aggressive chemicals or solvents that did not belong in the system - and were not properly removed before installing the new pump.

2) Mechanical damage
These pumps had impellers that were eroded or sandblasted. Seals that were ground to paste. Shafts worn away at the seal surface. Housings abraded or polished at high pressure points. Most of them still contained some sand, many had rusted iron trapped inside.

The two piles were very telling. Pile #1 was about 10% of the pumps. It takes some really awful chemical attack to kill a pump within the warranty period. 90% of the failed pumps would not have happened with better flushing, or the installation of a coolant filter. You can have pretty green coolant with a proper pH & still kill a water pump

Virtually all of the pumps were for cars less than 12 years old, spread across all brands. BMW, Honda, Chevrolet - it did not matter, they all had particle damage.

I have always used a coolant filter. Use the spin on unit with NO chemicals. Fleet Filter sells that 24019 Wix base & the 24070 filter at good prices - you can do the job for less than 50 bucks. And you get another 50 square inches of radiator surface in the deal.

B.