TC1968
Established
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2017
- Messages
- 281
So have you ever had to resort to the "Nuclear Option" when trying to fix a problem? By "Nuclear Option" I mean the very worst solution to a problem, that will fix the problem but with many lingering after affects.
My nuclear option this past month was on my pickup. I was having horrible problems with my cooling system - overheating, not circulating, very discolored water, and no heat. My best guess is that my heater core was plugged or possibly the radiator, and or the water pump went out. As it turned all three were true, all the paddles or wings were gone (the damn thing looked like a Chinese throwing star), they managed to clog up both the heater core and the radiator. After replacing the water pump and seeing zero or little circulation, I looked into various products on the market that I could use to unclog the system and found nothing that I felt would work so I went to the nuclear option - CLR. CLR is used for cleaning everything from grout to plumbing, to coffee makers. Well it worked, when I flushed the entire system last Sunday I pulled gunk and junk out that I never dreamed to come out. The bad news is that the truck has a mini fog bank following it when I take off every morning and after work. If I warm the truck up in the morning and after work the fog bank lasts about a block before thinning out to nothing, but if it doesnt warm up it last two or three blocks. It turns out the CLR made its way into the exhaust and I got to burn it out, the good news is I am pretty sure I got it burned out today.
So what was your Nuclear Option?
Update:
Just drove the pizz out of the truck today, getting it up to highway speeds and lots of hill climbing, hopefully that will burn out the remainder of what is in the manifolds, and just did a quick flush of the cooling system. I replaced the 3 gal of distilled water/1 gal of coolant, with the same ratio - the stuff that came out was greenish, gravy brown. In two weeks I will flush it again and if it comes out green I will go with straight coolant, if not I will repeat the process.
BTW how did I get in this mess? I put tapwater in the coolant system if it ran low, and didn't flush once or twice a year like you should, the flouride and chlorine in the tapwater just love to eat metal and that is how all the paddles were eaten off of the water pump.
My nuclear option this past month was on my pickup. I was having horrible problems with my cooling system - overheating, not circulating, very discolored water, and no heat. My best guess is that my heater core was plugged or possibly the radiator, and or the water pump went out. As it turned all three were true, all the paddles or wings were gone (the damn thing looked like a Chinese throwing star), they managed to clog up both the heater core and the radiator. After replacing the water pump and seeing zero or little circulation, I looked into various products on the market that I could use to unclog the system and found nothing that I felt would work so I went to the nuclear option - CLR. CLR is used for cleaning everything from grout to plumbing, to coffee makers. Well it worked, when I flushed the entire system last Sunday I pulled gunk and junk out that I never dreamed to come out. The bad news is that the truck has a mini fog bank following it when I take off every morning and after work. If I warm the truck up in the morning and after work the fog bank lasts about a block before thinning out to nothing, but if it doesnt warm up it last two or three blocks. It turns out the CLR made its way into the exhaust and I got to burn it out, the good news is I am pretty sure I got it burned out today.
So what was your Nuclear Option?
Update:
Just drove the pizz out of the truck today, getting it up to highway speeds and lots of hill climbing, hopefully that will burn out the remainder of what is in the manifolds, and just did a quick flush of the cooling system. I replaced the 3 gal of distilled water/1 gal of coolant, with the same ratio - the stuff that came out was greenish, gravy brown. In two weeks I will flush it again and if it comes out green I will go with straight coolant, if not I will repeat the process.
BTW how did I get in this mess? I put tapwater in the coolant system if it ran low, and didn't flush once or twice a year like you should, the flouride and chlorine in the tapwater just love to eat metal and that is how all the paddles were eaten off of the water pump.
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