LIMESCALE

[dazleeds]

changed all my pipes today as the old ones were crunchie turns out they full of limescale any idea what i can flush the engine with that will clean this out???cant be good can it..how do i stop it happening agian??cheers Daz

[Jesus325iTouring]

Caustic Soda.

Disclaimer: The information given here is not in any way binding and the giver of such information holds no responsabilty for the possible melt down of your cooling system.

Works on my lav and bath,get dreadful limescale here

[Simon]

The build up is probably down to the last 15-20 years of use, I always run a hose through the thermostat housing, (undo the drain plug behind the manifold), and just make sure you use the correct anti-freeze to water ratio when topping the system back up, it should be fine then.

I'd say you only need to run a flush in the coolant system after head problems as the oil will perish the hoses.

[dazleeds]

cheers mate will give it a go if the bloody rain ever stops did loads to her yesterday and in end she wouldnt start batt went dead the lot but must be somet daft so will have a go later if poss what drain plug behind the manifold you mean??will just water get rid of the limescale??the pipes were pretty bad luckily had a spare set so flung them on engine was overcooling so changed stat glad i did might not have noticed pipes if not
bloody typical 4 e30s on the drive 1 my daily not starting 323i t and t but in my name so cnt use it on my insurance and its pissin it well looks like im stopping on the zone all day today cheers mate Daz

[dazleeds]

no way jesus i aint riskin that meltdown is imminent maybe a good old calgon tablet?? nahhhh Daz

[Simon]

You will be surprised how much crud just water flushes out of the system.
Behind the manifold, there's a (19mm nut I think?) undo this and it will drain the cooling system from the block, leave it off to flush the block.

Don't forget to bleed the system properly.

[Guest]

Caustic soda are you mad!!! find a piece of aluminium and put it in a solution of caustic soda and watch what happens; it will fizz and eventually disappear.

What is a radiator made of?

try the same with a piece of lime stone, calcium carbonate, and i suspect that nothing will happen. Get a GCSE chemistry text book and find out about acids and bases.

Acid will also attack and dissolve aluminium, all be it more slowly than a more basic carbonate deposit.

therefore just buy a commerial radiator flush and follow instructions on the botttle, at least that way if it does screw your motor you could make a claim against the radiator flush manufacter.

Alternatively run de-ionised water in the radiator and drain and re-fill several. this would be tedious though as the solubility of calcium carbonate is not that high.

[Simon]

Caustic soda are you mad!!! find a piece of aluminium and put it in a solution of caustic soda and watch what happens; it will fizz and eventually disappear.

What is a radiator made of?

try the same with a piece of lime stone, calcium carbonate, and i suspect that nothing will happen. Get a GCSE chemistry text book and find out about acids and bases.

Acid will also attack and dissolve aluminium, all be it more slowly than a more basic carbonate deposit.

therefore just buy a commerial radiator flush and follow instructions on the botttle, at least that way if it does screw your motor you could make a claim against the radiator flush manufacter.

Alternatively run de-ionised water in the radiator and drain and re-fill several. this would be tedious though as the solubility of calcium carbonate is not that high.

I think he was taking the p1ss!!

[dazleeds]

ps when i said id give it a go i was going with simons oppinion Daz

even im not that crazy to put caustic in

[kevin316i]

To avoid limescale, use purified water insted of tap water when filling the rad and for top ups. You can by a 5L bottle of it at the chemists.