Liquid Soap to Clean Radiator??

[bhiland]

I know this thread is old but I was wondering how it worked? I to have a thin greasy layer that I'm wanting gone.

[Tom Wesenberg]

Before I started the 30 day vinegar treatment I used a cup of Cascade to disolve any grease in the cooling system. Between the Cascade and 30 day vinegar rust removal I should be good for another 83 years on my original radiator.

[bhiland]

Sounds good

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by PC/SR

Looking at the posts for kitchen cleaners, got me wondering how a few tablespoons of TSP would work. Run it awhile, neutralize it with baking soda. Anyone tried that? Thoughts?

I used TSP (trisodium phosphate), about 1 cup, did well for grease. Read NOTHING about neutralizing it. Commonly used as a washdown before painting walls & woodwork. It etches the surface for better paint adhesion. Mixed thick, like pancake batter, it is a good, though not fast, paint stripper. (No toxic fumes) Bill W.

[Terry, NJ]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

Will vinegar remove a thin grease layer?

I understand that vinegar and old newspaper (?) does a great job on greasy windows.
Terry

[Tom Wesenberg]

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Originally Posted by Terry, NJ

I understand that vinegar and old newspaper (?) does a great job on greasy windows.
Terry

BTW, if anyone read my vinegar treatment thread, you will see that I learned vinegar DOES remove grease.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Originally Posted by Tom Wesenberg

BTW, if anyone read my vinegar treatment thread, you will see that I learned vinegar DOES remove grease.

Sorry, Tom, Tom, I MISSED that it removed GREASE. Chief has talked about vinegar, but I just thought it was for rust & calcium like deposits.
We also used newspaper for cleaning coal oil lamp chimneys. We picked up the skinny weekly newspaper in town & they would give us a STACK of the last week's unsold papers, we were PO' FOLKS!! Either we couldn't afford paper towels, or maybe they hadn't been invented yet. My home area didn't have 'lectricity 'til 1954!! But Ol' Bill wuz loooong gone, waaay before that!! Bill W.

[marc hildebrant]

Using newspapers to clean kerosene lamp chimneys was a trick my father (born 1920) taught me.

Works well today on my old lamps.

Marc

[Rich in Tucson]

Tom, I believe that the original recommendation that you are looking for was Lestoil.

[Napa Skip]

The following is from Roger Kauffman's Technical Questions column in the January-February 2009 Model "A" News, although I've noticed it in several other issues over the years and even as a stand-alone tip:

You will need 2 rolls of paper towels, 1 trash bag (for discarded soiled paper towels) and 1 small bottle of Lestoil or Pine-Sol (not Lysol, as Roger pointed out in another column). With only clean water in the cooling system, warm up the Model A and add 4 ounces of Lestoil or Pine-Sol to the radiator. Drive the Model A 10-15 miles, stop, remove the radiator cap and - with a paper towel - wipe all the grease that has collected on the bottom of the radiator neck and underside of the top tank until it is clean.

Drive another 10-15 miles and repeat the same process. After 4-5 stops/cleanings, the grease wiped out of the radiator should be considerably less or non-existent. When you think you have all of the grease cleaned out, go one more time, driving 20-25 miles.

When completed, the inside of your radiator should look like a new penny. You may want to slide a one-floot long piece of rubber hose on the overfow tube to vent anything that may come out of it and prevent it from getting on the engine or chassis. Sometimes greasy bubbles will come out of the overflow tube, and the forward motion of the car can cause them to make a mess.

[Craig Lewis]

I've also used Cascade dishwasher gel, in cooling systems of newer stuffer and it really strips out the oily deposits. There's little or no foaming because of the sodium hydroxide base...the same as oven cleaner. Anybody who's witnessed the grease cutting power of oven cleaner (especially inside a grungy old engine block) they will see it even cuts through baked on oil varnish, and it rinses with plain water.
Once the oily film has been completely stripped...only then can you effectively go after the rust & corrosion with an acid such as vinegar.

Optional reading > I've also found Cascade is a super good stripper for the initial scrub down of a very grungy car. I've bought many vehicles at big city auctions, some white cars that looks gray with fallout and oxidized paint, and would scrub them down using cascade in a bucket of the hottest tap water and a long handled bristle brush. It strips everything...glass, moldings, green slime growing in door jambs and black mold from the drip rails. Rinse off with plain water and everything including the paint is almost shiny....ready for sand and paint, or touch up, polish & wax.

[BILL WILLIAMSON]

Craig,
I've had great success also, with TSP, to clean REALLY grungy cars. Bill W.

[marc hildebrant]

Real TSP is hard to find. TSP is tri-sodium-phosphate.

The active ingredient in Lestol was kerosene. It will burn.

Marc

[Richard Wilson]

I knew a very old man that swore by 20 Mule Team Borax laundry detergent to clean car radiators. It comes from the grocery store and is a powder. Since the 1920's, he had used it in Model T's, A's and even cars from the 80's and never had a radiator problem. He claimed it would remove grease and rust and did not foam (suds) up.

[RonC]

I would be careful of what might eat the paint off your car if your driving around with caustic chemicals. If you remove the radiator I've found Lye (draino) and backflowing works very well