White Vingar Radiator Flush

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LH23H2R

LH23H2R

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Has anyone here tried white vinegar as a radiator / cooling system flush ?
If so , what process / procedure did you use ?
 
Really ? No one ?

I'm switching a friend's car over to G05 ( newer Chrysler & Ford , the gold-coloured stuff ) and want to rid his car's cooling system of all traces of green coolant and heavily calcified water .
He's putting aluminum heads on his '72 Dart's 340 , and I'd suggested a mixed ( dissimilar ) metals coolant and distilled water ; most likely a 'water wetter' additive as well .

Anyone else run G05 in their A's cooling system ?
 
I've heard of "old timers" doing it when radiators were brass, but I haven't heard any one doing it with a modern radiator or motor. I would say that if you do try it I would definetly flush it again with a mixture of baking soda to nuetralize any remaining vinegar
 
I have used Vinegar for many things but I have not herd this before
It will etch galvanized metal for paint and remove rust real good
The last picture is what my cup looked like 2 days later :shaking2:
 

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use dish washing detergent ( cascade) just put it in run car a few days then back flush it with thermas stat out.I have run them as long as two months the rad. will look like new and wont hert a thing.......Artie
 
Vinegar contains about 4 - 8 % acetic acid. Acetic acid is a weak acid which is why it took two days to remove the rust from the cap. It is a mild etchant which means it acts slowly.

Acetic acid rinses clean with water and using baking soda to neutralize it is not really necessary if you flush the system well with water. However, if you want to reduce or get rid of the vinegar odor, then use the baking soda.

Dish washing liquid is a mild alkaline solution that contains surfactant which allows it to wet surfaces better than without the surfactant. Rinse well to remove the washing liquid from the system since the alkalinity would tend to etch aluminum.
 
Thanks to all whom have replied with opinions , experiences and suggestions :toothy7:.

I'll admit right-off that I'm lazy . The white vinegar seemed like the easiest route with maximum results :joker: . As mentioned , I'm planning to flush with straight water after the vinegar flush .

Thanks again !
 
Just one more thing:
I really feel sorry for memike ... he has to drink coffee out of that filthy cup????:hello1:
 
Wow, a vinegar douche for a car radiator. Sorry, I guess someone had to say it.
 
Just use radiator flush. It works better and that's what it's made for.
 
godfatherofchry said:
use dish washing detergent ( cascade) just put it in run car a few days then back flush it with thermas stat out.I have run them as long as two months the rad. will look like new and wont hert a thing.......Artie[/QUOTE


I've done this before and it works great. Mostly if you want to get rid of Barsleak or Alumaseal crud. Vinegar works ok in a rusty system but, as stated before nuetralize with baking soda. It's debatable whether it works any better than over the counter radiator flushes. Some otc products work fairly well, others not-so-good. I also would be cautious with vinegar in the aluminum/plastic radiators in modern cars.
Click to expand...
 
Hot rod magazine did it a few years back. IIRC they put it in and ran it for 10 minutes with the cap off. then drained it and put coolant in. might be able to find the article if you google search it.
 
If I was looking for something from the kitchen I would use clr. used it before and it does a great job on calcium buildup in the tubes. Probably more agressive than radiator flush.
 
Yeah I think it is more agressive, but even still it takes overnight to dissolve hard water calcium buildup. We live in the country. I do that every few months to our shower heads and faucet aireators. Takes a full 12 hours.
 
Motopsycho said:
whats wrong with the green antifreeze why are u switching
Click to expand...

Good question. In my experiance all of the new long life coolant is a bunch of BS.
If you don't get the mix just right it's worthless. If it gets exposed to air for too long it's worthless. If you mix with even a small amount of some other kind of coolant, worthless again.
 
At the shop we use the powdered spic-n-span in the box,Probley better than anything you can buy, Put 2 tablespoons in thermerstat removed heater on drive or let idle for 30 mins, The spic-n-span works like a sandblaster when you flush it you''ll see all the rust n crud that comes out
 
i used the vinnegar it works real good, but so doeas radiator flush. i cant really say one works better than the other.
 
On each of our new aluminum radiators, we use RMI-21, distilled water and a sacrificial anode.

(Same for any motor with aluminum heads.)

Keeps passages & components super-clean w/o any crud build-up anywhere. :)
 
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