Dreaded Chocolate Mousse...

[pommy_golfer]

Has anyone had their Oil cooler go on there VR6? Mine went a few years ago so i was told by the previous owner. There is alot of "chocolate Mousse" in there and its bothering me. its obviously stoppping the system from working at its optimum...

What can i use to get rid of it? I know petrol will clean that stuff out but dont know if i can pour petrol in the cooling system in case it warms up and explodes?! The guy at Hyper flow said he always used washing powder to flush his motors, could that work?

Has anyone else had the same problem? if so what did you use??

[syncro]

Just keep flushing it out with water. Again & again until it goes.

[pommy_golfer]

its all stuck to the inside of the hoses and around the expansion tank, i tried flushing it out with rad flush and it still doesnt budge.

what else can i use...anyone else have any experience with my problem?

[gldgti]

this is not a recommendation, just thinking.

you will need some kind of degreaser right? im not thinking the spray from a can type, more of a glycerine/soap based. so i can think of liquid hand cleaner being one source. washing powder may work however i would be cautious of using very alkaline chemicals since it will dissolve alluminium. very weak solutions or fast exposure followed by lots of water and maybe even some vinegar to neutralise any alkalinity may be the go.

the less alkaline the better (for your head) but i reckon that near neutral solutions would be fine providing its all washed out thouroughly. (or however thats spelled)

[BlackVr6ix]

pressure washer with degreaser?

[syncro]

That means that it is not mixing with the water then.

Have you replaced the oil cooler?

[WA Euro]

This is by no means a guaranteed fix and is purely a 'use at your own peril' kind of thing, but when i used to work for land rover, we had a lot of problems with K series engines blowing head gaskets and mixing oil with coolant. Together with Land Rover Technical Support we came up with a bizare fix which worked very well to clean out all the goo in hoses, oil galleries, heater matrix and radiator etc.

The fix was as follows:

Flush out cooling system with fresh water and fill to correct level
Add 1/2 a cup of washing powder to header tank (preferably non-bio)
Refit cap and run to operating temperature
Run engine between 2500 - 3000 rpm for 10 - 15 minutes with heater on hot and fans on full (air con switched off if applicable) Watch the temp gauge and stop if you start to overheat.

Allow engine to cool enough to remove cap. Drain cooling system and rinse with fresh water until it runs clear

Fill with fresh water run till hot - cap off
drain system
fill with fresh water, run till hot - cap off
drain system

Fill with fresh Coolant bleed as normal.

You should have a fully clean cooling system! Although there may be still a scum line in header tank which you could wipe out

I KNOW that this system works as i have tried it several times on landys of all varieties and my own MKIII GTi. I am sure that there are going to be MANY people poo-poo-ing the idea and saying it may be dangerous to engine but if you express caution and watch your gauges you'll be fine (but like i said - no guarantees!)

Let me know how you go!

Steve-o

[pommy_golfer]

Were the landrover engines aluminium?

does anyone else think the washing powder is a good or bad idea?

my mind is tellling me to try it and flush it our really well after.....

thanks guys!!!

[WA Euro]

Yeah mate, the k series engines were cast iron blocks and aluminium heads. They are 'wet liners' though which makes them about the most fragile engine around so if it didn't hurt them, don't think it'll bother anything else.

One of the previous replies on this thread did suggest some vinager to neautralise the alkalinity which sounds like a good idea. Might be worth putting a splash in on the last rinse.

I would also advise using a complete fill coolant when you refill (i.e. stuff you don't mix with water) or use a mix of normal coolant and demineralised water. This will reduce chance of corrosion.

Cheers, Steve-o

[pommy_golfer]

Thanks guys, with all that in mind i thinki will tackle it on the weekend.

how many G12s will i need to buy to fill up the cooling system?