Got a situation with a '99 Mazda Protege 320k miles that keeps rusting out the radiator. Local shop says that water must've got into the engine at some point and that rust in the engine will keep spreading into the radiator. No way to remedy it. Their recommendation is to put a new engine in it if I want to keep it on the road.
Does that sound right? Any incite to offer? As it is I'm adding about 2 cups of fluid each morning I need to drive. Not in a position to consider replacing the car...engine swap even would be really hard.
remedy for radiator/engine rust??
- Thread starter eflat
- Start date
Check the grounds from the body to the engine and engine/body to the battery. Make sure they are clean and corrosion free. I would take them off and clean them and put them back in place to make sure. (Sandpaper or Emery cloth works great!)
Also have the system flushed, then drained and refilled with the proper coolant / proper ratio of distilled/de-ionized water for your climate.
I would even throw in a bottle of "Gunk" brand cooling system lubricant to keep further rust from accumulating in the system.
Good luck! 
So is the radiator staying watertight but filling with rust? Or is it itself corroding and leaking (what I think)?
I agree with StevieC. ^ You can also try changing out to pure water every day for a week, if there is rust in the system, then finally changing to antifreeze.
How's the ground of the engine? I've read somewhere that if the engine is not grounded the current can go through the coolant and it would prematurely wear it out, render it useless as a corrosion inhibitor.
What usually happens is that the antifreeze goes bad and becomes an acid. It will attack the cooling system and cause rust.
There's really no way to stop it once it starts other than engine removal and disassembly so that it can be put in a caustic solution that will eat the rust.
how about those flushes from prestone??
I've worked on quite a few cars with this problem. Below is the process I used that seemed to help the most if not stop the problem.
1. Clean every ground you can find and the terminals on the battery.
2. Pull out the thermostat
3. Put some Prestone or other flush in the system and fill it back up with water
4. Start the car and let it run for a while. Then drive around for 10 or 15 minutes with the heater on full blast.
5. come back and let the car cool down
6. pull the radiator and have it tanked to completely clean it out. Fix or replace it if it's leaking
7. While the radiator is out backflush the [censored] out of the system until no more junk is coming out and the water is clear.
8. Check all the hoses for interior cracking or sludge. Replace if needed.
9. Put the radiator back in
10. Put a new thermostat in
11. Fill with 30% coolant, 70% deionized water, & a bottle of Redline Water Wetter
12. Make sure to burp the system
13. New radiator cap
14. After a drive cycle or two check to see if anymore water needs to be put in
This process has served me very well in the past.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: AdRock
I've worked on quite a few cars with this problem. Below is the process I used that seemed to help the most if not stop the problem.
1. Clean every ground you can find and the terminals on the battery.
2. Pull out the thermostat
3. Put some Prestone or other flush in the system and fill it back up with water
4. Start the car and let it run for a while. Then drive around for 10 or 15 minutes with the heater on full blast.
5. come back and let the car cool down
6. pull the radiator and have it tanked to completely clean it out. Fix or replace it if it's leaking
7. While the radiator is out backflush the [censored] out of the system until no more junk is coming out and the water is clear.
8. Check all the hoses for interior cracking or sludge. Replace if needed.
9. Put the radiator back in
10. Put a new thermostat in
11. Fill with 30% coolant, 70% deionized water, & a bottle of Redline Water Wetter
12. Make sure to burp the system
13. New radiator cap
14. After a drive cycle or two check to see if anymore water needs to be put in
This process has served me very well in the past.
Originally Posted By: eflat
Wow, thanks for all the advice. The battery does have some corrosion on it. I had no idea about that association. I'll check the other grounds, too.
You can check for electrolysis by sticking one voltmeter probe in your open radiator cap and the other to ground. Should have 0.00. It's also possible your rad itself is not meant to be grounded if it's in rubber mounts so don't go adding one-- just fix the others.
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
Originally Posted By: AdRock
I've worked on quite a few cars with this problem. Below is the process I used that seemed to help the most if not stop the problem.
1. Clean every ground you can find and the terminals on the battery.
2. Pull out the thermostat
3. Put some Prestone or other flush in the system and fill it back up with water
4. Start the car and let it run for a while. Then drive around for 10 or 15 minutes with the heater on full blast.
5. come back and let the car cool down
6. pull the radiator and have it tanked to completely clean it out. Fix or replace it if it's leaking
7. While the radiator is out backflush the [censored] out of the system until no more junk is coming out and the water is clear.
8. Check all the hoses for interior cracking or sludge. Replace if needed.
9. Put the radiator back in
10. Put a new thermostat in
11. Fill with 30% coolant, 70% deionized water, & a bottle of Redline Water Wetter
12. Make sure to burp the system
13. New radiator cap
14. After a drive cycle or two check to see if anymore water needs to be put in
This process has served me very well in the past.
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: eljefino
You can check for electrolysis by sticking one voltmeter probe in your open radiator cap and the other to ground. Should have 0.00.
Have the battery and the charging system checked. Sounds like the battery could be on the way out.
Also, check all the grounds. If a ground is bad it can cause the a low voltage situation and not have enough juice to start the vehicle.
Also, did you use a plastic bristle or metal bristle brush?
Clean the battery posts and cable ends with a metal bristle brush. The nylon won't take off the thin that's still on them. You want to see fresh metal on the surfaces that will be touching. Stop by an auto parts store and get a battery terminal cleaner with metal bristles.
When cleaning battery cable connections & grounds & such you always want to use metal bristles and see fresh metal.
As long as it's not the kind of steel wool for dishes that has the detergent in it then it will probably work ok.
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