Rusty coolant

[the pirate]

I am having rust issues in my cooling system stemming from an oversight from about a years ago. About a year ago I popped a lower rad hose off the radiator and lost most of my coolant. Replacing a bad hose clamp fixed the issue. However at the time I couldnt refill it with coolant and had to put water in instead. I intended to replace it with coolant at first opertunity however this ended up not happening for a multitude of reasons and untill now my coolant system has been bullet proof.

I noticed that my "water" had gone rusty a few months ago and swapped in coolant. I have changed it twice and I am still getting rusty coolant and now my heater core keeps silting up with it.

I know this is entirely my own fault but I want to know if any one else has screwed up this bad and how they recovered.

1- Will I need to swap my radiator and heater core?

2- How many times will I need to swap the coolant and add rust inhibitors untill it stops?

3- am I going to need a new engine?

 

[alwaysFlOoReD]

I have used a calcium/lime/rust remover...aka CLR with fair results. But the rad was so plugged I ended up replacing the rad. But after 25 years and who knows how it was taken care of for 24 of those years I thought that wasn't bad.

Richard

 

[srteach]

MILD mix of CLR (Lime-Away), run it for 30 mins, fill with water, run it for 30 mins, fill with good 50/50 coolant.
The problem is that the radiator or heater may have holes or leaks after it is cleaned this way.

 

[Sunk]

You could try this

http://www.therangerstation.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113709

Just be sure to keep an eye on the filter so it doesn't clog.

 

[the pirate]

Thanks guys all this really helps. I am going to score a new rad and heater core, flush the system really good then run a CLR mix then flush a couple more times. Then put in coolant maybe with a rust inhibitor added as well. I want to blast as much crap out of my block as possible. Any recomendations on getting a nice high preassure flow throught the block to clean it really well?

 

[joemac]

Radiator might be ok, I'd probably leave it. Heater core will probably go south. It took me 3-4 changes to get the coolant to stay fresh and I will probably do another here this winter. I don't believe the coolant had ever been changed when I bought my '93 in '09. It was nasty and the heater core was bad.

 

[press 1 for english]

I am having rust issues in my cooling system stemming from an oversight from about a years ago. About a year ago I popped a lower rad hose off the radiator and lost most of my coolant. Replacing a bad hose clamp fixed the issue. However at the time I couldnt refill it with coolant and had to put water in instead. I intended to replace it with coolant at first opertunity however this ended up not happening for a multitude of reasons and untill now my coolant system has been bullet proof.

I noticed that my "water" had gone rusty a few months ago and swapped in coolant. I have changed it twice and I am still getting rusty coolant and now my heater core keeps silting up with it.

I know this is entirely my own fault but I want to know if any one else has screwed up this bad and how they recovered.

1- Will I need to swap my radiator and heater core?

2- How many times will I need to swap the coolant and add rust inhibitors untill it stops?

3- am I going to need a new engine?

Running just water in the cooling system for only 1 year just isn't going to rot out your cooling system. I known people who ran water only in their cooling system for 5-10 years and never had a problem. Your problem started long before you think. Once a week I like to run the heater for 15 minutes to flush crap out of it and I live in Florida where the heater is only used 2 months a year. Your truck is 15 years old so you will have some crap in it.

 

[Bryan22]

If you're really that worried about it, oi'd pull the thermostat housing and just start running water through the block until it started coming out really clean. The while the hoses are off the radiator, do the same to it. Then reinstall everything and flush it with a radiator flush you can buy at the auto parts store. By then the fluid should be pretty good looking. Honestly though, If it was my truck, I would just flush it a few times with water and call it a day. Unless it starts overheating I really don't think it's anything you need to worry about. I've seen horrible looking fluid in radiators and the owners have no problems.

 

[the pirate]

Yeah the truck is old and I worry about it. I want to do an engine swap to a 4.0 some day soon so I am just trying to make it last till then. I had to swap the rear diff and install a rear u joint on the drive shaft a few months back as all that had finaly crapped out.

 

[modelageek]

-a radiator cost about $100 and could take a s little as 15 minutes to install(why don't people create a good ^&*(()* signature)

-Heater core on your truck costs about $25 for core and $50 for the beer you will drink after pulling your dash apart all weekend.

-Napa sells a product by MAC that is a great coolant system flush

-taking form the idea that was posted instead of a homemade filter. You can buy a kit that the Diesel trucks use and install that. just make sure you get the filter that does not have any additives in it.....

-you could disconnect the heater core while trying to flush out all the crap and while running the clr or mac in there.........then just flush the core separately..........less chance of it getting it torpedoed that way

my .02