Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

[dagwill Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagwill]

Had to drop coolant so i thought i would add a ltr or so of glycerine first, because its such a good cleaner I gave it a burst around the block to swirl things about and then dropped the coolant
Instead of giving things a good clean, it must have reacted with the coolant, I now have all this black sticky **** throughout my cooling system
What would be the best thing to get rid of said gunk and start again
Any ideas please

[craigcurtin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigcurtin]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

well its water soluble - i would do a test outside of the radiator but if OK then remove the thermostat and just do a continual hose through of water for a couple of hours ?

Craig

[dagwill Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagwill]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

it seems to have formed a black substance that is NOT water soluble

[Bueff Biofuel Enthusiast Find all posts View Profile Close Bueff]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

it seems to have formed a black substance that is NOT water soluble

ooops

looks like a new radiator

[tillyfromparadise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tillyfromparadise]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

ooops
looks like a new radiator

Not to mention the engine.

[Tim-HJ61 Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tim-HJ61]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Have you found anything that WILL dissolve this black goop?

Needs someone with some chemistry to chime in. What coolant was it?

Just some ideas - no idea if any of them might work.
Caustic?
Acid?
Water?
Biodiesel?
Radiator flush?
Some kind of fossil fuel, kerosene?

By the way, it'd didn't sound like such a bad thing to have done, just a really bad outcome by the sound of it.

Tim

[dagwill Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagwill]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

as would be the case , the radiator was only about 6 months old
Ill try a series of solvents
I just didnt want to try radiator flush/cleaner in case i made things worse
Thanks for positive feedback, any bright ideas let me know
It was just the elcheapo coolant from big W [ i wonder if that stuff contains nitric acid ]

[tillyfromparadise Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tillyfromparadise]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Hi Tim,

By the way, it'd didn't sound like such a bad thing to have done, just a really bad outcome by the sound of it.
Tim

This is where age and experience gives a greater insight.
30 years go I would have likely done the same thing.
Now, there is no way I would have added "glycerine" to my radiator in the hope that it would clean it out.

However, I truly hope that Dagwill gets this sorted out with minimal cost and this becomes just one more of his life's learning experiences.

Tilly Pots

[SUZUDDIS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SUZUDDIS]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Dagwil

First of all what engine are we talking about and what sort is mileage is on it ?
Secondly caustic is what caused this problem so dont try that again. Water didnt work nor will bio. Chances are a very mild acid possibly might but you need to pull the thermostat and radiator hoses to see where the goo is coming from.
Hopefully you just stripped a rubber hose and not a water jacket of some kind. Does anyone know if a radiator has an inner lining ?

Keep the chin up and hope it has a cheep fix.
Good luck

Michael

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Dagwill,
I support the idea of a chemical attack on the substance.
Can you get some out of the system and see what happens with each of the chemicals / solvents mentioned, without risking the car any further.

Caustic is a problem in motor vehicle engines - many parts are affected by caustic (all alloy parts in the coolant path). Take care if this is the only substance which makes the black s--t liquid. Us a low concentration for a short period of time.
After deciding on a chemical attack on it and cleaning the system out, flush with tap water, then again with tap water in which citric acid has been dissolved, before refilling with coolant.

I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Tony

[craigcurtin Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close craigcurtin]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Dagwill,
I support the idea of a chemical attack on the substance.
Can you get some out of the system and see what happens with each of the chemicals / solvents mentioned, without risking the car any further.

Caustic is a problem in motor vehicle engines - many parts are affected by caustic (all alloy parts in the coolant path). Take care if this is the only substance which makes the black s--t liquid. Us a low concentration for a short period of time.
After deciding on a chemical attack on it and cleaning the system out, flush with tap water, then again with tap water in which citric acid has been dissolved, before refilling with coolant.

I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Tony

If this stuff looks like he says and is as thick then i do not think that anything is going to get it out of water paths in the engine block - all of which are quite small and not easily got at with a water flush, i think he may be faced with stripping at least the top end otherwise he would have to a good candidate for getting a cracked head from bad water circulation ?

Craig

[dagwill Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close dagwill]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

I must correct something i said [Not solvent in water] , well certainly not very, it was seperating out from the water.
Got a little line of coke lids and began with solvents
1/ water, well no not really,perhaps a little bit
2/ petrol, hell no, totaly insoluble
3/ cloths washing detergent, yes very dark liquid on top could be poured off leaving about 1/2 the original volume of gunk on the bottom consisting of fine particles,no loger clinging together, easily rinsed away.Rubbed between fingers would [cream] very grippy.
4/ more glycerine, same as detergent.

Now i am thinking this may be the same as blameing everything including flat tyres on Bio
Perhaps the glycerine disloged nearly 30 yrs of crud build up [HJ60] and its just that i didnt finish off the job properly, or a little residue glycerine has continued to clean
will keep you posted
This is a fantastic forum, I mean a man has a problem hes not sure about , and within a few hrs theres help and ideas and different points of view, love it

[SUZUDDIS Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close SUZUDDIS]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Dagwill

how about using boiling water ?? if it moves with glycerine or detergent then it contains some kind of fatty / grease product ?? correct me if I'm wrong.

Unfortunately there are so many items connected to the radiator coolant system.
Do you have a way to pressurise hot water and feed through the block and radiator hoses with out having the radiator connected ?

Hmm so many things to look at. Have you removed the radiator hoses and checked the thermostat ?
Luckily Toyota build such a big strong engine but I know how heavy the head is on a six cylinder cruiser thanks to Cade.

Got some pictures to boast the find ?

Michael

[Tim-HJ61 Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Tim-HJ61]

Re: Rinsed my radiator with glycerine,now full of black ****,please help

Dagwill,

The 2H, I assume, has a block drain plug down low on the exhaust side near the back of the block. The 12h-t has one here, I am assuming the 2H is in the same place. There are two plugs. One is brass and screws into a steel fitting that screws into the block. As the brass is soft, and particularly when there is a turbo in the way, it is easy to not get correct purchase on this plug and mush it up. With care they can be removed, and the thread "may" be the same as a standard garden hose fitting. "may" being the important word here!

That will help you flush from down low and up out the thermostat or water pump lines.
The galleries in the head are not that tiny, but obviously are not meant to be filled with goop!

I wouldn't think the black goop was simply buildup, it would most likely be brown rusty colour if that was the case I would think.

Nothing to do with this issue, but I'm sticking with Toyota coolant now for all my vehicles. Not cheap, but long lasting and very effective.

Do you have any biodiesel to check the black goop with?

Tim