Yeah, I cleaned the cooling system on an old 5L ford engine, had about 200,000 miles on it at the time, seemed to work well, but I don't know if i would do this to my 944. If you do, make sure to flush all the soap out before finishing the job. Oh, the ford van now has 298,000 miles on it; just can't make the big 300.

 

Thanks for all the great info!!!
I am peeing in my radiator right now! What a great savings. Don't have to buy coolant anymore. Just a little cold walking out to the car every couple of hours.

 

Tom use only the egg whites, the yolks will add to much cholestrol and add to premature engine failure or use Egg Beaters.

 

My grandfather used to tell me stories about how they kept their cars running in the 30's. Besides the old molasses and feathers in the tires to stop slow leaks, he used to use kerosene as a coolant in the radiator... said it wouldn't freeze and worked fine. I asked him if it ever caused engine fires... he said naw, just smoked a lot if there was a leak..

Now there's something I would NEVER do... but I don't heat houses with coal or tip outhouses over for fun either...

Thaddeus

 

LOL! He has got to be pulling your leg Thaddeus re: kerosene as a coolant. Kero has a flash point of about 130 F, so you would have to be nutz to want that in your radiator where it could boil out onto a hot engine.

Likewise with the home leak fix. All those tires used tubes back in the old days so would be sort of tough stuffing feathers through the valve stem. As I recall tubeless was patented around the turn of the century but didn't come into use until the 50's.

 

I've done it it works for gasket sealing egg whites and black pepper, needed to do often but did work

 

used to clean out the cooling system with dishwasher detergent when it was contaminated from a leaking oil cooler. Worked GREAT

 

Mercedes has a write up on using citric acid powder in the 450SL cooling system. You block off the thermostat bypass so the water flows through the radiator all the time then drive it 30 minutes. You flush out the running engine untill clear, drain the water then put in your coolant. Some of the owners have used Cascade also and report good results.
For the very brave, drain your system put in a gallon of meratic acid and drive it thirty minutes with the thermostat removed, then flush it out while the engine is still running. I did it to a 73 TR6 with a really rusty engine that was all clogged up. It really did a good job, but if the radiator is really in bad shape that could be the final event for it. But the passage ways were open when we put on the new water pump while doing this!

 

At least it'll look like coolant.

Thinking about this I had visions of mixing CLR and de-greaser...but seriously, wouldn't a commercial rad flush be the best choice?

 

"Shout" works well for cleaning coolant systems that have oil contamination. Mercedes also sells a citrus-based product for this purpose.

 

The HD mechanics where I worked used Cascade dishwasher powder to clean out the radiators in the 40T forklifts. Those rads were worth many thousands and they swore it was the best way although it was premixed before adding. I have done it a couple of times when I got a vehicle with the coolant in a horrible state. Run it a few minutes then flush it out. I would be leery of pouring crystal into the system and hoping it would all dissolve.

 

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