What does radiator fluid turn into?

[jstang209]

My car has been sitting for a while without a radiator hose and the inlet to the engine looked pretty dry so i stuck my vaccum hose down it to suck up anything that might of gone in there and some clumpy green/brown stuff came up lol so i took out my vaccum quickly and it all went back down(still somewhat a liquid).. Is there anyway I can flush this stuff out becuase i dont want to have to rebuild my whole engine.

 

[inultus]

Shops have power flushers. You could hook up a high pressure hose to the inlet (I don't know how you would make a sealed connection), then pressure wash the gunk out. I'd have a shop do it though.

You could just put a new hose on it, throw some water in it, then drive to the shop (as long as it isn't far away, since water doesn't cool as efficiently as anti-freeze). Since the gunk is already in your engine, it really isn't going to hurt much to drive it just a bit, just make sure it doesn't overheat.

 

[jstang209]

I have a pressure hose if i stick it in, where is the water and gunk going to come out of?

 

[jerry beach]

Shops have power flushers. You could hook up a high pressure hose to the inlet (I don't know how you would make a sealed connection), then pressure wash the gunk out. I'd have a shop do it though.

You could just put a new hose on it, throw some water in it, then drive to the shop (as long as it isn't far away, since water doesn't cool as efficiently as anti-freeze). Since the gunk is already in your engine, it really isn't going to hurt much to drive it just a bit, just make sure it doesn't overheat.

Water actually cools better than anti-freeze. Anti-freeze increases the boiling point and prevents it from freezing while lubricating the WP. just FYI.

Take it to a shop and have it backflushed properly. They sell a backflusher at parts stores, but you will need an air compressor to do it.

There is another somewhat redneck method I have used. I dont do it like this anymore. Pull the upper rad hose from the rad only. Pull the rad cap and have a hose ready to feed it water. Crank the engine and keep topping off the rad with the hose. When clean water is flowing out of the engine from the upper rad hose, things will be much cleaner in there than when you started. I dont like this method because cold water is going into a hot engine, but I have done this many times without issues. I just start with a cold motor and introduce garden hose water slowly.