Coolant Turned Green After 3 Months Usage

Warchild said:
That looks like Algae to me. Either way, I recommend cleaning all the blocks. You want 0 contaminants in the coolant and to me that looks pretty contaminated ;)

either that or your new substance which you added in, has reacted with the coolant and created a stain thats deposited everywhere. Isnt Autosol abrasive? its only nickel coated so wouldnt that remove the plating?

When I cleaned my blocks I always used cream used universal spray.
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Not really sure about Autosol. I've used it before on that block, the instructions said it can be used on nickel, but it was after that the nickel started to disappear. It might have damaged it, not that it really matters to me anyway.

What do you mean by 'cream'? To me that's something to put on a cake and has sugar in it lol.
 
tolagarf said:
Not really sure about Autosol. I've used it before on that block, the instructions said it can be used on nickel, but it was after that the nickel started to disappear. It might have damaged it, not that it really matters to me anyway.

What do you mean by 'cream'? To me that's something to put on a cake and has sugar in it lol.
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we have it in norway so you should get it in denmark too. It is slightly abrasive though. So not sure if its wise to use on something that might already be damaged.

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Oh I see. Guess I could just use some dish washing soap, shouldn't be damaging at all. I've got some of which has no perfume in it
 
Autosol is for cleaning chrome. It is powerful stuff and contains some kind of solvent that would burn my nose if I caught a whiff of it. You shouldn't have used it in there, man.

I also avoid using any of Mayhem's cleaning kits because they all contain very strong acids and stuff. I just simply use distilled white vinegar.

Now what to do? I don't know. If the Autosol has taken off the chrome coating you will be chasing your tail forever. Firstly I would take the block apart and bath the metal part in distilled white vinegar. Any staining? I would use a very, very fine buffing compound and a Dremel polishing "bud" or whatever they are called. Very gently I may add. Do not use anything else with chemicals in !

Once the cleaning is complete soak it again in the vinegar, then rinse off with distilled water and pat dry with a lint free cloth.

Then use XSPC E6 if you want an easy life. It is non toxic and doesn't do anything like that.

Edit. In fact I would not even use a polishing compound. Just use baking soda with a tiny bit of water.
 
AlienALX said:
Autosol is for cleaning chrome. It is powerful stuff and contains some kind of solvent that would burn my nose if I caught a whiff of it. You shouldn't have used it in there, man.

I also avoid using any of Mayhem's cleaning kits because they all contain very strong acids and stuff. I just simply use distilled white vinegar.

Now what to do? I don't know. If the Autosol has taken off the chrome coating you will be chasing your tail forever. Firstly I would take the block apart and bath the metal part in distilled white vinegar. Any staining? I would use a very, very fine buffing compound and a Dremel polishing "bud" or whatever they are called. Very gently I may add. Do not use anything else with chemicals in !

Once the cleaning is complete soak it again in the vinegar, then rinse off with distilled water and pat dry with a lint free cloth.

Then use XSPC E6 if you want an easy life. It is non toxic and doesn't do anything like that.

Edit. In fact I would not even use a polishing compound. Just use baking soda with a tiny bit of water.
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I think even white vinegar is acidic, not sure that's good to use besides cleaning radiators. I will only use the Blitz acidic parts on my radiators, not on the rest of the system. Problem is all my parts are contaminated with that green stuff now, even the pumps so I will have to run something through the loop the loosen up debris. I have to admit I've never heard anything bad about Mayhems Blitz kit, other than people using it wrong because they didn't read the instruction manual :)
 
White vinegar is indeed acidic. However, it is far more gentle than straight out acid. You could also use citric acid powder too, or oxalic if you want something stronger.

However, I have cleaned many WC components and I always use distilled vinegar now. You don't get the same blue/green dramatic results that you get from using a Mayhem's Blitz but that is only because the acid is taking off some of the copper.

Plus a bottle of vinegar costs £1, you don't need any gloves or eye protection and ETC.

I've used vinegar to descale reservoirs, remove debris from rads and everything else in between. I also use to clean my coffee machine (because I don't like running toxic expensive kits through it that do exactly the same thing) as well as my kettle and even my bike parts. I soaked a 35 year old headset from a BMX in DV and it came out looking brand new.
 
AlienALX said:
White vinegar is indeed acidic. However, it is far more gentle than straight out acid. You could also use citric acid powder too, or oxalic if you want something stronger.

However, I have cleaned many WC components and I always use distilled vinegar now. You don't get the same blue/green dramatic results that you get from using a Mayhem's Blitz but that is only because the acid is taking off some of the copper.

Plus a bottle of vinegar costs £1, you don't need any gloves or eye protection and ETC.

I've used vinegar to descale reservoirs, remove debris from rads and everything else in between. I also use to clean my coffee machine (because I don't like running toxic expensive kits through it that do exactly the same thing) as well as my kettle and even my bike parts. I soaked a 35 year old headset from a BMX in DV and it came out looking brand new.
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I already have the Blitz kit, might as well use it. These are Alphacool radiators anyway, they are dirty as hell. Apparently I never got them cleaned properly even though I did use distilled vinegar first time around. I need another go at them. Maybe I'll just give them 6 hours with the Mayhems stuff instead of 12.
 
tolagarf said:
I already have the Blitz kit, might as well use it. These are Alphacool radiators anyway, they are dirty as hell. Apparently I never got them cleaned properly even though I did use distilled vinegar first time around. I need another go at them. Maybe I'll just give them 6 hours with the Mayhems stuff instead of 12.
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They are not as dirty as that kit makes it look. That kit makes it look like there was all sorts of blue/green crap in there.

I have built (and still have) 4 WC PCs now and I have never had any issues at all over four rigs using vinegar. Sure, you may have some paint residue in there when they are new but water will flush that out any way.

I've also had bent, nasty filthy rads and vinegar has again worked flawlessly. In fact I have a BP rad I need to flush at some point today. Once the vinegar arrives.

Note, I have not used any magic potions and had a block that was literally black (polished it up with Dremel and T-cut metallic, it's much finer that reg T-cut).

I used vinegar to clean that, too. All of my rigs bar one use EC6, though I have had no issues with the Mayhem Pastel aside from it evaporating quite a lot.
 
What ratio would you mix vinegar with water when cleaning radiators and how long do you let it soak? Think I used 1:10 and gave it 1 hour
 
tolagarf said:
What ratio would you mix vinegar with water when cleaning radiators and how long do you let it soak? Think I used 1:10 and gave it 1 hour
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use it neat. I cap my rad, fill it up (giving it a shake to make sure it's gone around) then cap it and stand it on one end for an hour, other end for an hour. Drain, then flush. Once it's flushed put it on the radiator (I know right, radiator on a radiator lol) and it will dry fast because the copper/alu will soon get very warm.

I might try blasting it through with a hair dryer today if I get impatient.
 
Just took apart the other block, and to my surprise it's actually pretty clean with the exception of a tiny amount of gunk near the jet plate area. So I'm only seeing green stuff on my nickel parts including my fittings, this has to be oxidation in my mind... I mean had it been algae I would had expected it to be everywhere

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