Another way of 'flushing' our engines out?

[jtanguay]

Just out of curiosity, has anyone tried using CLR to flush their engine out? or is there something in CLR that will damage internal components???

Ingredients: Water, Glycolic, Sulfamic, Citric Acids, Surfactants

Important: Do not use CLR on natural stone, marble, terrazzo, colored grout, painted or metallic glazed surfaces, plastic laminates, Formica, aluminum, copper, brass, steam irons, refinished tubs or any damaged or cracked surface.  May etch old sinks, tubs and tiles.

hmmm guess it says not to be used on aluminum. oh well  i did hear of a product similar to this that said it was just as good, but not as harmful.. all i remember was that it was all Canadian...

[Patrick]

I'd be really careful putting something in the crankcase that wasn't meant to be there......... Automatic transmission fluid as an additive is supposed to be a pretty good solvent, maybe a small dose of that and drive for a day? Never felt the need..........
Just do a few oil changes in fairly quick succession with a good high detergent diesel oil, should take a lot of crap out of the system. I use 15W40 diesel spec oil in everything I own, change oil in the volkswagens at 8000km, and have never seen sludge in my engines. Don't do a lot of short trips though, they always warm up well and run every day, probably has as much to do with it as anything.

If the engine is out and apart that's a different story!

[Doug]

I don't think that CLR would cause any damage to an engine block. I think that it might be prudent though to limit the time that it was in the cooling system as the radiator and heater core where the metal is quite thin would be the points where you might have a problem. It is possible for it to dissolve corrosion points to the extent that you would now have a leaking rad or heater core. The old blocks were all cast iron and the rads were copper and brass. It was possible to flush those systems with sodium hydroxide (lye) working nicely without devastating the thinner materials. Some of the newer flush materials are a combination of detergents and solvents which clean without attacking the corrosion.

[Ziptar]

CLR should be fine for the cooling system, as well as Simple Green. When I bought the Audi it ran hot so I flushed it with hose. Still ran hot, so I tried Prestone "Super Radiator Cleaner". I added it and drove for a week, I was shocked when I flushed it again. The water was rusty brown and these big globs of what can best be described as rust snot came out too. Best $5.00 I've spent in a while. Didn't seem to hurt the cooling system at all and it's run a bunch cooler ever since.

For the crankcase I wouldn't use anything but Non-Synthetic Type F ATF Fluid or Sea Foam.

When I get the engine in and running, I am going to Sea Foam it because the lifters are tickey, it's worked well in the past in my experience.

[jtanguay]

i should have been more specific, but the CLR was only meant to clean out the cooling system.  it does do wonders on rust, mineral deposits etc.

[Ziptar]

Hmmm.... I just pulled the MSDS for Prestone Flushes. ... The cleaner is mostly Sodium Hydroxide, yet Prestone says it's safe for all systems.


PRESTONE SUPER RADIATOR CLEANER
http://www2.hazard.com/msds/f2/bhv/bhvpq.html

PRESTONE SUPER FLUSH
http://www2.hazard.com/msds/f2/bpd/bpdjy.html

Lots going on in CLR
http://www.setonresourcecenter.com/msds/docs/wcd00025/wcd025c3.htm
I might use it to clean the coolant bottle but only when it's separated and out of the car.

I have always wondered about RMI25, They make some big claims but, I can't bring myself to run without coolant as some peole say they do. Might be fine with coolant.
http://arizonagn.net/how_to.htm
http://www.dieselsite.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=27

[jtanguay]

i might try an experiment sometime then... dip some pieces of aluminum into straight CLR and see what happens after about 10-15 minutes.  if no pitting/oxidizing, then i'd say that it is safe to use diluted in our engines.