General question . Not KF

[kfnut]

Hi
 My 95 year old father has mixed the green anti-freeze with the orange stuff in his Buick . It is now a mess in the cooling system and has a pinhole leak developing in a thin casting . Any suggestions on how to clean out the system ? I know this not a KF specific question but I can't seem to get a good answer locally and I know there is a lot of experience on this forum .

[joefrazer]

The difference is that Dex-cool is propylene glycol while the green stuff is ethylene glycol. The two don't mix well and tend to form a scum.

The mix probably didn't cause the leak. Mixing the two just shortens the life of Dex-cool and creates a film in the system that can be tough to remove if left in the system for a prolonged period.

A good reverse flush of the system should clean it out.

[alohagreen]

besides the NORMAL flush with a hose running constant....
i have  used , and will  use , the plane WHITE gojo by the gobs back in the system,
sealed ,warmed, and OPEN it ALL back up and WATCH the crud flush out.
and then hose flush MORE  rinse and repeat until your RESULTS are satisfactory to you.
 then add 100% antifreeze (NOT THE 50% crap) for your region.
 

[MarkH]

Hi
 My 95 year old father has mixed the green anti-freeze with the orange stuff in his Buick . It is now a mess in the cooling system and has a pinhole leak developing in a thin casting . Any suggestions on how to clean out the system ? I know this not a KF specific question but I can't seem to get a good answer locally and I know there is a lot of experience on this forum .

You can buy a blister pack of AC/Delco cooling system pellets, designed for casting flaw leaks in aluminum castings. I've used them and they work. My understanding is that they're compressed almond shell powder. I've seen aftermarket ones that look just like the AC/Delco branded ones and they worked too.

I know a couple guys that swear by standard table grade powdered black pepper. One guy ran a dozer in Viet Nam, which snipers would shoot bullet holes in the radiator at night. His morning routine was black pepper & water to run it the next day.
The other guy had a beater Ford pick-up with a rotten leaky radiator. I saw him run that truck a couple years with an occasional re-dosing of pepper. Anytime I walked by his truck there was aways a faint scent of pepper, especially when warm.