Cooling system flush

[IMA944T]

I know there has been many but I saw something that made me wonder. I need to flush my system and freshen it up. I thought about using standard over the counter flush chemical then saw that someone had used a mixture of CLR cleaner. This I thought sounded great as long as it was flushed out completely. Calcium, Lime, and Rust. Not supposed to hurt metal, brass, or copper. Has anybody used this? And to what mixture?
I came from the motorcycle and Atv industry and we always have used distilled water for cooling since it was mineral free so to not corroad the alum. engine.
ORielly antifreeze and distilled water at 50/50 mix. replace thremo stat ( anybody have part# for O Riellys) 2" hoses and 1 3/4 hoses also.
Drain rad. and I guess there is a block drain at back of engine? Anywhere else to drain besides heater?

 

[cyruscat]

Did same things shortly after getting my truck home.
Be sure to back flush engine block because that's where all my gunk came out of.

Took off bottom hose and removed thermostat. Stuck water hose into thermostat hole on intake manifold with rag to seal it up. Turned hose on high and was shocked to see thick red mud come out of water pump where bottom hose goes on! I then spent half hour flushing block back and forth till only clean water came out.

Radiator flushed pretty clean, just nice green anti-freeze.

Now my truck runs so cool that I had to make radiator cover for winter time!

Enjoy.........

 

[Warthog]

There are also guys who will use Cascade Dishwasher Detergent. It help clean out the system and remove any oily residue.

 

[emr]

the prestone new stuff that changes/converts the rust to a black substance is not rust anymore that washs out is they best out there in my eyes, i never go with wife's tails about stuff, sorry, this is the best way to go i have been flushing systems for about 30 some years, and this is the best, in fact it took so much stuff out i had to pull the whole drain cok out and man it plooged out, never seen anything as good. other stuff just washs out the system with out the cool tech that cuts it up and changes it structure from rust to a harmless yuck, use distilled water also when mixing your anti freeze back in, and do not worry about what anti freeze to use all will do the job .as for flushing the block, its worth the work if u think its that bad i would at least drop the bottom hose and flush that because after the prestone stuff ALL the stuff from the block will be there waiting for a ride out... i ended up there and all th years of rust in a black goo just ploped out, even after i pulled the pet cok plug,

 

[mikelee]

I have used Vinegar and cascade (not both together) works well for cleaning. Don't add CLR yes it removes deposits and is very agressive to metal seems to find every weak spot in the radiator. If you have really plugged tubes best bet is to have radiator shop flush to remove. Chances are a leak will develop. Cascade removes oily residue and vinegar will remove calcium deposits. If you use vinegar after flushing add baking soda to get a neutral ph . Now flush again with water . And hope you didn't open a new leak