Bryan

For a sparkling clean cooling system with hardly any spots...

I was told that if you had the oil/coolant doing the tango in your oil cooler, then you should clean the cooling system once the problem is fixed. And that Cascade dishwasher soap is a good thing to use for this.

Basically you fill the cooling system with water then add a couple scoops of Cascade, start the car, get it up to temperature, run it at ~2K rpm for a bit (the service manuals describe this more precisely).

Has anyone ever done this, and if so did you flush the cooling system with plain water afterwards before adding coolant? Did it work?

Thanks,

Bryan

Pamela

Bryan,
Where I am originally from, Cascade is a brand name of beer, just like Bud or Coors. I saw this post and was really curious - oh my gosh, is he really going to put beer in his porsche?It gave me a giggle!!

Bryan

Hah hah hah! That's great! Hmmm...not a bad idea...maybe run a tap line over from the heater core, and be able to enjoy a nice glass of scalding hot beer whenever I want! Actually, I'm not English, so that doesn't really sound that good. There's got to be at least one good joke in there somewhere though. "That engine's got a nice head on it" maybe? Lemme think about it.

Bryan

booster

Hum never herd of that one, I guess it would work because automatic dishwasher detergent doesn't foam up
like regular dishwashing detergent. I wash my car with automatic dishwasher detergent (paint ain't very good) and that sucker shines and beads water like it has been waxed. I think I will try putting it in my Honda first because the cooling system looks kinda kruddy inside.

Thaddeus

I peed in a empty radiator once so I could get home (this was like 25 years ago). I wouldn't recommend it to anybody though. I had to flush the radiator (rim shot).

Thaddeus

Hans

Sounds like the correct sequence to me...
Alohol cooled?? Well ehhhuu...

Thaddeus, you'r my man: You do whatever it takes to keep the machine running!!

Now serious: No, never done this, allways flushed with plain tap water.
Would be very carefull to recommend this detergent thing since some of the stuff will stay behind, no matter how hard you try to get it out.
May give very funny changes in the freezing point / boiling point specs of the coolant mixture and may even prevent the water / glycol to form an emulsion / mix properly.
Even minor quantities can do a lot of harm here.

Is there a chemist around who can explain (in better English)?

Tom R.

Dishwashing detergent's main ingredient is chlorine. I would look at what the main ingredient in the flush kits is. I think my mechanic used an oil cleaning dishwashing liquid like Dawn to clean out my overflow tank when changed the O Rings on the oil cooler.

As an aside, I dated a kindergarten teacher a few times many years back, and she said she put a capful of Dawn in her laundry to clean the kids paint & oils from her clothes.

keith

she had oily kids?

seriously though, doesn't the factory manual have something on this?

I am wondering also, as I am thinking about removing the orange coolant from one of the 951s (the one with the cooling problem) and want to make sure it is completely clean...

Anyone with real info?

Hans

Keith: she had oily kids?
slippery buisiness... or what...

Tom: Chlorine and aluminum do not go together very well.
The overflow tank is plastic and easy flused under the tap.
The seals are tricky, the only stuff that can hold a 20% solution CL- in water is PVDF and PTFE (source: Solvay Chemicals).
Normal NBR seals are a no-go. They will grow unless the time in contact with the CL- is short and direct followed by a thorough flush. This can not be achieved with a complete assembled block.
I still think it is best to flush a couple of times with either water (as you guy's seem to mix your own coolant) or pre-mixed coolant.
This is more work but minimising the chances on hose / gasket / seal failure

Tom R.

OK wisenheimers here's the deal with Dawn. It seems there is an agent in Dawn dishwashig liquid that breaks down oils. She told me that not only does the dawn break down the oils on food etc. that gets on the clothes, but it permeates the clothing to act sort of like a scotchguard.

Now the important part, if CL and AL don't mix then Cascade should not be used in our motors!!

Hence, we now all have an answer to the original question - DONT DO IT!!!

Tabor

I would also be worried about that costic soada in dishwashing detergant. It is some bad stuff.

On the dawn note, it work great for getting grease off your hands.

keith

Tabor, for a dope, you sure are a brainiac..

Tabor

Well, I spell like a dope.

From the Costic Soda Material Safety Data Sheet:

"Aviod contact with ... glycols".
"Flamable hydrogen may be generated from contact with metals such as: aluminum, brass, tin, zinc."

Mark944na86

Oh yeah? Well, I can go one better -- I peed in my radiator AND added a flask of coffee to get home when my radiator boiled over one time driving home from skiing many years ago.

No-one beats ME in a pissing contest!

-Mark 86 944 NA

BTW, smelt pretty funny driving home that day...

Tom R.

While you guys are cookin with H2O, here's another old wifes tale. Someone told me to drop an egg (sans shell) in a leaking radiator. Supposedly it will plug the leak. BTW it also is supposed to smell terrible.

All we need is a place for the bacon, and we're off and drivin again.