cooling system flush with vinegar

What is the concensus on flushing the cooling system with white vinegar? any special things to do to get the vinegar out when ready to put in new coolant?

It is definately old school but it works. A little baking soda to neutralize the acetic acid and a good flush is a good idea.

I used to do it but found that the mild acid was still too aggressive and led to problems like hoses rotting out from the inside. Now I just flush everything really well with tap water, bring the engine up to full temperature, and repeat as needed. Regular maintenance means never needing the aggressive stuff.

NAPA makes a chemical to flush the system, it includes both an acid to dissolve the corrosion and a soluble mild abrasive to scrub everything clean. Part number is #1500



follow the directions on the bottle and you're good to go.

go to a pool supply place and get some muriatic acid and put it in there. ive done it a few times on other vehicles not my jeep. i used it at 25 percent strength. worked really well and got alot of grime out of there.

There is an acid out there called Phosphoric Acid. Mild enough that is in your daily coke that you drink. It desolves calcium, rust, and grime. Will not desolve aluminum like muriatic acid will. Plus it prevents future rust from developing (phosphate coating). About $15 a gallon. I have used it plenty.

Plus it is environmently friendly.

Love the stuff.

KJurasek said:

There is an acid out there called Phosphoric Acid. Mild enough that is in your daily coke that you drink. It desolves calcium, rust, and grime. Will not desolve aluminum like muriatic acid will. Plus it prevents future rust from developing (phosphate coating). About $15 a gallon. I have used it plenty.

Plus it is environmently friendly.

Love the stuff.

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intresting, where did you buy it at? locally? online?

I prefer to use something that is engineered/designed for automotive cooling system.

Lots of options at your local parts store and they aren't particularly expensive.

I'll preface this with a great big IMHO

tugalo said:

What is the concensus on flushing the cooling system with white vinegar? any special things to do to get the vinegar out when ready to put in new coolant?

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Why vinegar? There are automotive products specially designed for this purpose. Yes it does a dandy job on coffee makers, but that's because you probably don't want to use Prestone Super Flush in your Mr. Coffee.

old_man said:

It is definately old school but it works. A little baking soda to neutralize the acetic acid and a good flush is a good idea.

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I agree that baking soda will neutralize the vinegar, but just for fun, go dump a couple tablespoons of baking soda into a cup or so of vinegar...do you want what just happened to happen in your radiator. If you go this route make sure you have flushed it to clear water before adding the soda.

bails85 said:

go to a pool supply place and get some muriatic acid and put it in there. ive done it a few times on other vehicles not my jeep. i used it at 25 percent strength. worked really well and got alot of grime out of there.

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No, too agressive, and if you spill it on your skin...sizzle & burn. Muriatic Acid is made for pools and etching concrete. You may have used it on other cars successfully, doesn't mean it's a good idea.
:skull2:

birchlakeXJ said:

I prefer to use something that is engineered/designed for automotive cooling system. Lots of options at your local parts store and they aren't particularly expensive.

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...and so I ask again, why vinegar? Prestone Flush is used to clean out radiators on vehicle cooling systems...the last time I bought it I don't think I paid more than $5 or $6.

Even CLR would work better than vinegar and it's a "green" chemical, not poisonous, not caustic, environmentally friendly, but then so is vinegar.

I prefer Red Wine vinegar. Still smells the same but much classier.

...and I end this post with another IMHO

DO NOT USE CLR, it attacks aluminum, lead (solder), rubber and silicon, pretty much everything in the cooling system

Actually that's good to know...I have never used it except to clean my heater core.

the stuff I posted is less than $3 and works great, fwiw I'm not a NAPA fanboy just because I manage the store, I only post up what works. we have plenty of crap that isn't worth crap just like the other guys. And, for certain things, I shop at the other guys :eyes:

i have tried the napa stuff before and the prestone stuff. i actually use it quite often since i am an anti overheating freak. it works well for maintenance purposes for like a yearly flush but not for a full on cleaning. im not saying to dump a bunch of acid in your engine. im just telling u what i have done and it worked for me. im sure a professional mechanic will say not to do this. then again the one who told me is a friend of mine who works at ford.