Hikari_NOS

Ok so I know this probably is bad, but I'm wondering if anyone has any idea if a radiator flush could help make the white residue (which I believe to be calcium deposits) go away or if I should just cut my losses and buy a new radiator? The fins on it are pretty bent up, but I was told that I could technically comb them out, it'd just take a whole afternoon of patience and very gentle strokes with a fin comb. I've attached a photo of what I saw in the radiator though the spout of it. There seems to be a bunch of white looking deposits, which like I said I know isn't good for my car.

What I'm really asking I guess you can say is if the stuff to clean the radiator is really strong enough to get rid of these deposits? If not I would assume buying a new radiator and putting in would be the better option. Thanks for any tips about this. n_n

petrock

I’m not sure what that gunk is, but your right it is not good. Maybe someone put some stop-leak crap in there at some point. That gunk is in your motor too, not just the radiator. I would drain it and run a radiator flush through it making sure to get all the coolant out. Then see if it still has the gunk inside. If not, your good. If it is, I wouldn’t worry about it unless you have overheating issues.

As for combing a radiator, its actually not that hard. Takes about an hour or two (not including removing the radiator and reinstalling). I found the easiest way to do it was with a small L shaped pick or small flat head screw driver. The fins are aluminum and very thin, so they will move easily. I tried one of those radiator comb things, but it didn’t fit the fins on my wifey’s radiator.

Hikari_NOS

Gotcha. Yeah I didn't think about stop-leak stuff. Apparently whoever owned the car before we did had also put stop-leak stuff for the a/c into the a/c port, cause when we had to replace my heater core, as we discharged the system we noticed a bunch of green goop coming out with the refrigerant. My brother-in-law told me that was the stop-leak someone put into it before we bought it. *shrugs* For all I know the corrupt used dealership probably noticed it had a few problems or not, and put stop-leak in everything.

I'll try to get it in for a flush and see if that helps then. I haven't noticed any overheating issues yet, but I have noticed that the coolant/antifreeze reserve tank hasn't been reaching the max line for when the engine is fully heated up; however, when it is cold sometimes it will be about an inch sometimes two inches below the cold line. I fill it back up though, but soon as I start it back up and it gets to operating temps again, the coolant/antifreeze never reaches the hot line. Is this normal? Tried looking it up, but couldn't find anything.

Thanks for the help. n_n

petrock

The level of the coolant in the reserve tank doesn’t really matter when the car is hot. It will be at different levels depending on the temp of the fluid & the position of the radiator cap piston. I wouldn’t worry about the level when the car is hot, as long as it is above the cold mark. What matters is the level of the coolant when the motor is cold. If you have to keep filing it up with coolant when the motor is cold to bring it back up to the cold mark on the reserve tank then either you need to burp the system to remove excess air in the system or you have a coolant leak somewhere.

Hikari_NOS

Gotcha. I was under the assumption that when the radiator got hot enough, the reservoir would fill up to the hot line. But thats the "You learn something everyday." coming into play here. lol Anyways, yeah I'm gonna see about either doing it here at home if our landlord doesn't mind, which he allows me to do my oil, transmission, and power steering fluid changes, so I don't think he'll mind so long as I clean up after myself.

Thanks for the info. n_n