Is "boiling out" a radiator necessary?

[John R in Wisconsin]

I have a 45 year-old Ford tractor. The water pump went kaput, and so I have the radiator off while waiting for parts. I used to hear about "boiling out" radiators occasionally. Since I have the radiator off anyway, would it make sense to pay a radiator shop to do this for me? Is there another do-it-yourself solution to getting all of the old gunk out of an old radiator? Thanks for any comments!

 

[560Dennis]

Have you look inside at the condition of the tubes ? If full of white crud ,definitely do it right .
Time how quick a gallon o water flows out .

Take to a radiator shop and have it flow tested for best results.

Motor Manual say that 70 percent of engine failures are from cooling system issues .

Suggest you make sure before you put it back .

 

[JD Dave]

It depends on how dirty it looks down through the top/cap. My guess it's going to look cruddy. Suggest you hot wash it though with a heavy detergent or take it to a radiator shop where they can evaluate the mess and suggest a thorough cleaning solution. Now is the time while the radiator is out.

 

[WESnIL]

That seems like a no-brainer decision. Do it right now that the radiator is out.

 

[Stephen Newell]

I would inspect it first. I've had them boiled out before and it created leaks where there wasn't one before. They often use sodium hydroxide which is corrosive to lead solder.

 

[Mike(NEOhio)]

The trick is fining a radiator shop. Don't see any around here these days.

 

[Fixingfarmer]

It might be more cost effective to buy a new radiator depending on the ford.

We used to use cascade on otr trucks (mostly getting oil out from a bad oil cooler) if it was in the tractor plain original squeeze bottle liquid that’s certainly what I’d start with very cost effective depending on the size of ford one bottle would do 4 or 5 flushes but by ford I mean you technically could be talking about a big 4wd

There’s a good shop still in Waterloo Iowa that just did a recore on the A and boiled the tanks. They have done a couple 2 cylinders for me and use the good cores

But they are expensive about 3 times what an aluminum core costs doing it yourself

Sure comes back nice though I have no complaints like I did when I used the 100 dollar fix radiator place