Omega Owners Forum

Omega Help Area => Omega General Help => Topic started by: Lazydocker on 12 August 2009, 09:00:34

Title: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Lazydocker on 12 August 2009, 09:00:34
Right, in an attempt to cure the overheating issue when towing (as I can't find anything else wrong at all!) I'm going to give the coolant system a flush. Any recommended products? I don't want to be removing the radiator as I've got too much to do but wanderd if anyone's used the coolant flush chemicals and the results?

TIA :y :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Lazydocker on 12 August 2009, 11:43:43
19 views and no-one has commented? I'm amazed... Surely someone has got an opinion?
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Kevin Wood on 12 August 2009, 11:47:37
Products from Forte and Wynn's appear to be spoken highly of, but no personal experience of either.

Kevin
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: unlucky mark mv6 on 12 August 2009, 11:52:08
Try the sentinal mate,what they use to flush out central heating systems. :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: alank46 on 12 August 2009, 11:53:47
Hi Paul
Wynns Radiator Flush has a good reputation, but I've not used it myself so cannot give a personal recommendation.
My heater has been inefficient for ages so I am going to try the Wynns when I finally get round to it.
Alan
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Lazydocker on 12 August 2009, 12:14:29
That's more like it! I was after other peoples experiences and what people have heard. I've heard good things about Wynns too :y :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Lizzie_Zoom on 12 August 2009, 12:20:28
I must admit that in all my years of working on my cars I have never used any chemicals to flush out the system.  I have just usually removed the radiator and forced water through it at high pressure, as I have the rest of the system by the use of a hose.  This I have found has removed all the muck, judging by what has come out. ;) ;) ;) ;)

There is no reason you cannot use my simple system with the radiator still in place if you want,  with the bottom hose disconnected and extra time given to the flush out. :D :D :y :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Phil.d on 12 August 2009, 12:27:57
I've actually got truck wash in at the moment after the oil cooler went on me I was told to run it for a week to help clear any gunge left after initial flushing. Its certainly doing the job and will soon drain and fill as normal.
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Dazzler on 12 August 2009, 12:35:42
Best thing to do is back flush with a hose pipe and keep going till all clean.
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Jimbob on 12 August 2009, 12:39:50
I've used forte bio degreaser, not specifically a flush, but certainly brought out some crap water alone did not (this car had previously had an oil cooler failure, by previous owner,  so some oilly crap expected)
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: ScottieMV6 on 12 August 2009, 14:24:37
Traffic film remover from Machine Mart as per whoever wrote the oil cooler How 2 on here.

Seems to work quite well and reasonably cheap compared with the likes of Forte. :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: humbucker on 12 August 2009, 16:15:29
forte biodegreaser is unbelievably good. a proper flush will need doing over the period of a few days; drop coolant, fill water, get up to temp, drop coolant, fill water, basically do this til clean, then use the forte stuff and run the car with that in for a bit, then drop, fill water, run, then more forte, and so on until you end up with perfectly clear liquid/water without any bits in. then when forte is used up repeat the process but start putting in coolant and eventually the pink will be the right colour (tip: if the engine is producing clear water when draining then put in a strong mix of coolant, maybe even neat, as the v6 lump holds about 50% of the coolant in the system if using just the rad drain plug, so you'd end up with rough 50 50 mix this way. of course, you'll be draining it again shortly afterwards after it's been running anyway so not much chance of doing any damage).

forte biodegreaser can be difficult to find in the stores so fleabay is a good bet.
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Kevin Wood on 12 August 2009, 16:28:46
It all depends on the nature of the contamination too. Bio degreaser, TFR, etc is fine if a previous oil cooler failure caused the problem, but it's specifically designed for that type of contamination.

How well will it work with scale, corrosion and sludge  from, perhaps, a history of neglected coolant changes?  :-/

In that instance a more general purpose flush might well work better.

Kevin
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Spearmint on 12 August 2009, 20:14:06
Just done this, I used Fernox which is what is used on home central heating systems.

Mixed with boiling water, left it in the rad overnight then back flushed it till it all ran clear.
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Andy B on 12 August 2009, 20:23:13
It wasn't that long after I flushed my coolant system out with a LITTLE bit of caustic that I ended up with a small hole in my rad. Trouble is I found out I had a hole (somewhere :-?) after I'd driven to Dereks part of the world with a caravan! :-? :-? ;D ;D
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: bappy on 12 August 2009, 21:16:21
dont know if this would be a good idea or not......


I have found, that when cleaning 'stuff' the most effective product by far (short of acid or caustic) is flash ultimate... it will lift pretty much anything off of metal.

at £2 a bottle might it be worth pouring a whole bottle into the top hose on the rad, waiting 2 mins then flushing with a hose????

I've never had call to flush a rad but that's what I'd do... I might also end up buying a new rad but hey ho...
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Lazydocker on 12 August 2009, 23:04:33
Quote
Just done this, I used Fernox which is what is used on home central heating systems.

Mixed with boiling water, left it in the rad overnight then back flushed it till it all ran clear.

Out of the question at the moment... Haven't got time to have the rad out before Newent... Only just have enough time for a quick service so thought I'd flush at the same time :y :y :y
Title: Re: Best Radiator Flush Method?
Post by: Pete Elite on 13 August 2009, 23:53:04
I've been having a problem with overheating(102.5 degrees on gauge)for about a week or more now so got 2 bottles of the Wynn's coolant flush and after first emptying the radiator out using the little red drainer and removing the top hose i then placed a hose in the header tank and just let it run for a while then repeated with hose in top of radiator(replaced hose and drainer)refilled and ran engine up to temp. with cap off and heater full on hot and repeated after it had cooled for a while.
 I then replaced hose and tightened drainer and inserted the contents of the Wynn's into the header tank and topped system up with water and ran engine up to temp.(again with cap off and heater on full hot)and once i was sure air was dispelled i took it for a short run and noticed an improvement straight away :).
 After leaving it over night i ran it up to temp. let it cool a while and repeated above procedure(but not the Wynn's bit :).
  I then put in 50/50 antifreeze mix started and ran up to temp. with cap off and dispelled any air and to date has been as good as gold(95 to 97.5 on gauge) :y.

       HTH,
             Pete :).