Vinegar to flush cooling system ?

[JohnEd]

Guys,

I, as many of you probably, have a long history of dealing with a marginal radiator.  The two part flushes are the most effective as they NEED a neutralizing flush.  In the past I have always just anticipated the water pump failure I would experience after flushing with anything and that includes the very effective "washing soda".  I mean every time I ruined the water pump!!!! I had an excellent mech tell me one day that he had the exact same history and his involved many more autos than I.  In later years I understood the problem and escaped the water pump failure associated with this process.  The problem was that when the instructions said "fill the radiator and "FLUSH" with clean water I took them at their word and did that once oe twice.  It is way more complicarted than that.  I did a friends bus a while back that was powered by a Cummins.  He had had a turbo failure and he injected a lot of exhaust gas into his cooling system.  The shop replaced the turbo and refilled his system with coolant.  6 months later he had his coolant analyzed and the results were that his coolant was an acid and had exhaust residue and they suggested a blown head gasket or cracked block.  Poopy city!  He was lamenting his bad fortune to me and he happened to mention that his turbo had failed and had blown all the water out.  Light bulbs went on for me and I had him drain the coolant and refill the system with a quart size box of powdered washing soda.  I knew that if his next test was done without a complete cleaning that new test would detect exhaust and be missleading.  I also wanted to verify that his new turbo install was done correctly and not leaking.  We ran the engine for a half hour with the soda and the heat turned to max till we got heat at the defrosters.  With coolant flowing throughout the system we shut her down and drained 1) the radiator 2) the right side block drain  3) the left side block drain 4) the heater lines running to the front of the coach and the mid ship heater.  We then refilled and ran it another 45 min to get it hot and drained again in the same manner.  We did that 3 times and when the fourth filling came out the water still had the "slipery" feel of having soda in it.  the fourth flush yielded water that didn't even tast of soda.  We draind and refilled the system with coolant and ran it 2oo miles and had the coolant analyzed and it came back with a perfect rating.....no gas.  Had we not done the extensive flushing I know he would have discovered the location of the water pump while under way in the middle of nowhere.

Good luck

John

[H3Jim]

So why would that have toasted the water pump, and why did you and the mechanic go through so many water pumps?  Is it because the acid eats the water pump bearings /seals?

[maria-n-skip]

Please enlighten,

  How does a turbo inject exhaust gas into the cooling system?


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[JohnEd]

The flush or vinigar or washing soda are all acting like detergents.  All water pumps NEED a lubricant in the coolant.  Poor flush will lead to a pump seal failure and I don't mean maybe.

The turbo on that Cimmins had a bearing cooler that used the engine coolant.  Most use the engine oil to cool the turbo bearings.  Oil with water cooling is superior in potential performance.  You can't make this stuff up.

John

[maria-n-skip]

Thank you I hadn't known.


  Skip