Coolant Filter

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Coalfire
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Post by Coalfire » Mon. Sep. 29, 2014 9:27 pm

Anyone have experience with one on a passanger vehicle. Have to do a heater core on a 01 Cherokee Saturday, it is plugged with debris, tried flushing it last year with minimal success, will know more when I can cut the core apart, but thinking about putting a filter on to keep it from happening again.

Eric

 
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Post by SMITTY » Mon. Sep. 29, 2014 10:21 pm

Usually filters aren't needed, as there shouldn't be any debris floating around in the system. What causes blockages is either, A: loads of stopleak, or B: use of tap water (forms big, passageway-blocking barnacles).

If you flush and refill a system with new components using 50/50 coolant/distilled water, there will never be a need for a filter of any kind.

 
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Post by coaledsweat » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 8:07 am

A big no no is mixing different antifreezes. It is amazing what kind of glop you can create by doing so.

 
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Post by gaw » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 8:32 am

I had a heater core block up once and the shop was able to flush it open. I don’t know what they used but I think he said it was an acid cleaner. It worked and the heater worked several more years until the wife hit a deer and the insurance company totaled the vehicle.

The red Dexcool coolant that GM uses, and I think most of the stuff out there now is about the same, gets these nasty whitish deposits when it gets exposed to air. I found a GM technical bulletin that actually addressed the situation once and they recommended filling the recovery tank to the HOT mark when the engine is cold and never let air get into the pressurized cooling system. The problem with GM V6 and V8 engines is that you have to check the coolant level every week because sooner or later that intake manifold gasket goes and there goes your coolant.

Heavy duty trucks have coolant filters but I don’t know if and when they ever change them. I think JC Whitney used to sell coolant filter kits. A filter would then be a pain in the ass to mount in todays crammed engine compartments. Now if someone made an inline fine mesh filter that went in the hose going to the heater core :idea: that would be cheap insurance. Other than that I agree with SMITTY


 
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Post by gaw » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 8:37 am

It looks like someone makes one. It is a bit pricey for what it is.
http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Drake-ACC-GANO-8-Radi ... 50&sr=1-23

 
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Post by McGiever » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 10:36 am

Oh Great...spend $50.00 so that the filter plugs up and so the radiator doesn't...plugged is plugged no matter where it happens.
By the filter's size, it wouldn't take very long to be plugged full.

 
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Post by Sting » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 1:13 pm

orange AF plugs every time - dealer recommends yearly flush and fill because

Just go green

 
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Post by Coalfire » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 6:53 pm

ok contacted wix they have a filter base that you can screw a coolant filter, comes with two fitting to put in series in one of the heater core hoses. base is 54bucks

No coolant ever mixed, and has green in it. I will see about a pic when I do it.

I won't know what plugged it up till I get it apart.


 
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Post by freetown fred » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 7:04 pm

Soooo, if you got $54.00 to waste, it sounds like a GREAT idea--BUT--just replacing the core & like SMITTY said, just fill with 50-50 mix--you'll be good for as long as you're gonna keep the Jeep & then some ;) I think when you cut into that old core, you'll find as much of the flushing goop as anything else.

 
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Post by Coalfire » Tue. Sep. 30, 2014 8:08 pm

freetown fred wrote:Soooo, if you got $54.00 to waste, it sounds like a GREAT idea--BUT--just replacing the core & like SMITTY said, just fill with 50-50 mix--you'll be good for as long as you're gonna keep the Jeep & then some ;) I think when you cut into that old core, you'll find as much of the flushing goop as anything else.
That is it this core is only 6 years old. The inside of this block is shedding material, or the casting sand is finally coming out. Cooling system has only ever had green coolant, no stop leaks, as for the money its not mine doing it for a brother inlaw. Don't want this core to plug up in a year and have to do it again.

We will see how it goes

Eric

 
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Post by freetown fred » Wed. Oct. 01, 2014 1:53 am

Ahhhh, then that hopefully will do the trick:) Strange huh? Ain't family great :clap: toothy

 
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Post by top top » Wed. Oct. 01, 2014 12:33 pm

Coolant does age over time & needs to be replaced or rejuvenated. Also coolants have changed considerably over the years, so what I did when I had class 8 trucks may not be correct today.

The water filter, just like your engines oil filter, does not process all the water all the time. Maybe 10% of what is circulating goes through the filter, so the filter could be plugged, or the valves closed, and you wouldn't even know. It would be just like it was not there.

That said, I would service my big rigs system every fall. First close the valves going to the water filter, drain & flush with fresh water, refill & add DuPont flush acid, ( I think they no longer make the DuPont kit I used) let it run a while. I would usually just run an overnight trip of several hundred miles, but don't leave it in the system too long. Then another drain and flush, fill it again and add the Dupont neutralizer. Take a short ride with the bobtail, drain & refill with coolant & replace the water filter. I never had a problem with my trucks, although I have torn down many other engines with pin holes in the cylinders caused by defective coolant and cavitation.

Later they pretty much quit using the water filter and went to coolant test strips & packaged additives which you added as indicated by the test results. The water filters also contained chemicals which would be released over time. Adding too many chemicals is just as bad or worse than not enough.

What you described is most likely caused by running raw water or tired coolant. I wouldn't bother with adding a water filter, just clean & flush, refill with coolant & start testing it or just replacing it periodically. As someone said, avoid tap water, use deionized or distilled water.

I hear lots of people complain about stop leak. I have always been a believer of Barr's Leaks, the old stuff in the brown bottle containing the ugly brown liquid and pellets. I dump it into everything I have when I service the cooling system. It will fix a leak before you even know you have one, and I have never had it plug anything. About 15 years ago I bought an old backhoe with a swiss cheese radiator & leaking heater core. I doped it up with Barr's and have never needed to add coolant between service points which I do every couple years and the heater works fine. A friend had an old IH road tractor with a v8 gas motor. He ran it about 80,000 miles per year. He was losing coolant & suspected a head gasket. He doped it with Barr's & two years later tore it down for a rebuild & found two cracked heads, the gaskets were fine. The Barr's Leaks sealed them up & prevented an early teardown.

Here are a couple links that may help.

http://www.cumminsfiltration.com/pdfs/product_lit ... T15068.pdf

http://www.ihdiesel.com/cdlofit/coolant1.htm

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