How can I get rust inside the engine coolant passages completely cleaned out?

 

Hot tank.

Why is there rust? Its an aluminum block...

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Hot tank.

Why is there rust? Its an aluminum block...</TD></TR></TABLE>

Didnt say Honda now did I ? Block is a 7mgte Iron block from a Supra.

Rust can still build up inside a block from a deteriorating radiator.

 

Nothing else people? No treatment to dissolve rust? Also, you can't hot tank an aluminum block because of caustic soda, an iron block yes.

Can I somehow use a motor powered pressure washer while it's still in the car?

 

Why are you worried about it? Is it clogging things?

 

Sandblaster. Thats what I did to my HONDA block. Yes there was corrosion, probably from a bad rad. It was pretty thick. I know guys don't like sandblasting motors, but the thing is completely bare and going to the machine shop anyways.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why are you worried about it? Is it clogging things?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Because I want rust out of the block it's obvious enough, that too.

 

soak the block in solvent......spray some oil on it and try to brush it off...

as long as you have coolant in there it should get to bad...if you but water it will

 

you are not going to rust out the block...dont worry about that. I deal with 30 year old v8's all day long. I can tell you I have seen motors sit for 30 years building rust all the time and never had a problem. The best way is to hot tank it at a machine shop but its just gonna clean it out...same crap is gonna happen

oh yeah..dont sandblast it... having a bunch of sand in your cooling system is worse than some rust on the walls.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 8mpg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">you are not going to rust out the block...dont worry about that. The best way is to hot tank it at a machine shop but its just gonna clean it out...same crap is gonna happen

oh yeah..dont sandblast it... having a bunch of sand in your cooling system is worse than some rust on the walls.</TD></TR></TABLE>

This is not what I'm asking, I didnt ask about the block rusting.

I want some chemical that eat's rust that breaks it down so I can run pressurized water in and out of the block coolant passages.

 

Its probably due to the fact that most of motors blow head gaskets every 50K or sooner...I used to do 4 or 5 a month when I was working for toyota. Check the block for pitting on the deck around #1 and #6, and check the head as well. Torque the head to 75 foot/lbs when you put it back on. You probably won't be able to get the rust color out of the block, but all the chunks and lose crap will come off in the hot tank with all the block plugs out of it. Then just keep good coolant in it and you'll be good for another 50K before you get to do the headgasket again.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by 8mpg &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

oh yeah..dont sandblast it... having a bunch of sand in your cooling system is worse than some rust on the walls.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Well with a complete dissassembled block and an open deck design, the sand was gone in about 30sec with 120psi of air and a blow gun.

 

I dunno how much sandblasting you do but I work on old cars for a living. We have all our cars sandblasted. No matter how clean you think it is... its still got alot of sand in it. We had a customer who brought in a car that he had the outside media blasted (plastic bead) and we found about 8lbs of media INSIDE the car when the trunk was closed, hood was closed, windows were closed... Sand and media goes EVERYWHERE and stays around longer than you would expect. Heck just drive across the desert and see how much sand you find in your engine bay 3 weeks and 4 washes later.