Vinegar won’t touch the silica: it may react with calcium in in system.
Ok…Next I’ll try a sodium bicarbonate … could do a litmus test first if I was smart about it.
Somebody needs to test the same substances on a head gasket. Because, frankly, the head gaskets are what I’d be most worried about just pouring this stuff into the coolant circuit. Other than aluminum and steel, of course, wouldn’t want to use anything that would attack those.
Sodium bicarbonate won’t touch it: not with heat, and pressure.
I was a geologist, so this is kinda in my wheelhouse. You’d be better off, if this is that important to you, to do a heavy liquids float.
However, that will take some special Ed lab equipment.
not really trying to dissolve the silica… but now that you have raised the idea I might try some Draino (sodium hydroxide) sometime if the engine components don’t mind. But mostly I’m just trying to test what else there is as I figure it’s probably the crud that’s holding any silica in place. Break that down and the silica should come more easily.
Just how corrosive is a hot liquid of pH 11? … very corrosive I suspect
I’ve been going through the 4 vials of crud from the filters I have collected over the last 18 months to see if there was a clue to what this actually was composed of. Interestingly what I found was an indication of what part of the motor some of it may came from.
NB that this particular sample came from the filters cleaned Dec 2018 and not post recent track work . Last night I found In the Dec 2018 vial, what appears to be a thin sliver of copper stuck to the back of a chunk of crud (see pics).
I suspect, that unless we are talking alchemy, that this slither of copper may well be from the edge of a head gasket or the internals of the radiator (NB… this radiator was rodded and not used until the Tefba filters were fitted so unlikely to be radiator). I don’t know of any other thin layer of copper in the cooling system (I could stand corrected). If these crud deposits are targeting the coolant openings between the head and the block then the recent purge Roxanne experienced could explain the sudden drop in all three temperature gauges.
Paul, you being a geologist could you possibly shed some light on other possibly causes for the metallic appearance.
Trev
PS She is running extremely well and doesn’t appear to be suffering post-purge-syndrome.
Just a couple of observations from an Industrial Chemist. Aluminium dissolves readily in caustic soda with evolution of hydrogen. For this reason I would definitely not use it long term in aluminium blocks or heads. Caustic soda has no bad effects on cast iron.
Vinegar is dilute acetic acid and forms acetates with materials it dissolves. Almost all acetates are water soluble. However the vinegar could release any calcium hardness salts which are binding vinegar-insoluble deposits and these could then travel through the system to do more harm than when they are stuck to a surface. This is a “maybe”
Muriatic acid is hydrochloric acid and forms chlorides with alkalis and metals. Most chlorides are water soluble so can be flushed out. Hydrochloric acid reacts with both aluminium and iron to produce hydrogen gas and a soluble chloride.
Phosphoric acid, which I have also seen proposed as a radiator flush, forms phosphates and many of these are not soluble in water, so will remain bound to surfaces in the water jacket. Not what you want.
Please form your own conclusions about all this since all my old cars are cast iron blocks and heads, except for our mark 2 Jag., where I have no experience of the cooling system so far.
SAJ in NZ
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Thank you for the expertise Jordan.
I guess then, that vinegar is the most inoffensive of them all…
It will dissolve any calcium deposits and probably release any vinegar-insoluble deposits bound by them.
And of course, as Kirbert already said, coolant filters must be there to catch all these…
Best,
Aristides
This sliver sure looks weird Trev…
I would imagine that a piece of copper immersed in water for a long time, would be rather dark than golden shiny as in your photo…
Maybe we are talking alchemy !
Aristides
This would be ok as the filters are there to catch any crud released
However It would appear that I am truely out of my depth once we get past vinegar an bicarbonate. So I will stick to my Italian tuneups to free the crud until advised of a suitable solvent…
Thanks for the heads up Stuart.
Welcome aboard
Trev
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One of those should be in EVERYONE’S tool box: not a panacea, but I have had good luck, over the years with mine.
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Travelling through the system is a good thing when you have coolant filters installed! There are no particularly small passages in the engine itself, so hopefully everything that can get up and move will flow into the coolant filters and get caught before it can plug up the radiator.
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