The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop Vintage Radiator cleaning and or restoring

I have the original radiator from my '53 3100, and amazingly it has never leaked (no green stains anywhere) but does have a lot of external dirt/mud and could probably use some TLC internally. What is the conventional wisdom as far as re-vamping these old radiators? I'd like to do what I can to clear the internal passages and remove scale/crud- is there some type of treatment to clean the passages without damaging the delicate construction? I also want to clean up the outside to paint it and was thinking the car-wash pressure wand would be effective and hopefully not to harsh on the fins. Anyway, was just wondering what the common practices were. Thanks! -Warren

"common" is to let a rad shop rod it out, they'll take off the tanks and run the right size rod thru the tubes and resolder the tanks - quite like new again

Bill

... I'd be careful with a pressure washer.... I know you know to not get to close but you can do some serious damage to the coils if not careful.

I think you can buy a radiator flush at most FLAPS...probably doesn't work as well as having it rodded out, but might be cheaper, and if it's not that clogged up it might be all you need.

I'm with Achipmunk on the pressure washer....be VERY careful. I would think that soap & water with a brush that has long soft bristles would get the worst of it.

I think Home Depot has a product that HVAC guy use to clean A/C condensor coils, not sure how well it works...never tried it, I'm pretty sure that it contains Phosphoric acid though, so you might want to do some research.

Hope this helps

Professional shops use a caustic soda bath (good ones) and then a low pressure wash inside and out, more like a nozzeled garden hose to clean for inspection. They then tank test and if necessary pull the tanks, rod out the individual tubes (or plug them if necessary) and then use a radiator specific paint to finish that does not effect the heat transfer.

being in the hvacr biz, we wash coils on a routine basis, and the product that i like the best is nu-brite. it's a dilute sodium hydroxide(lye), that you mix with water. usually at a 25% solution. there's a bottle and spray handle that'r part of the package, and it throttles down the hose pressure but floods the coils with the solution. it's a self-foaming product and depending on how dirty the coils are and your mix strength, you can watch it bubble the dirt out from in-between the fins. but caution is needed - get it on your skin or in your eyes and you'll know it. gramma's old lye soap had a way of taking off skin to make sure it got the dirt to come with it. i'm careful, so i don't bother with gloves, and my hands are as clean as pink at the end of a day. i do wear goggles, bec a little wind and mist will reduce you to painful tears. and just a few days ago, i ran into a guy that was in the biz at one point, and he and his father discovered that it's excellent for cleaning greasy blocks etc. but in either use, it will permanantely change the appearance of aluminum, and with coils, it must be rinsed very well with plain water, otherwise it'll leave a residue

and there are also kinder, gentler, greener products out there, but...... http://www.nucalgon.com/products/products.htm