[Mgs] Flushing the cooling system?

[Barney Gaylord]

At 10:03 PM 3/7/2009 -0800, Simon Matthews wrote:
>On investigating why my MGA heater was not functioning, I discovered 
>that the heater control valve was completely full of scale. I do 
>mean completely.
>
>This made me wonder what the rest of the cooling system might be 
>like. Does anyone have any recommendations? Don't worry about it? 
>Flush with something? If so, what?
>....

Drain and change coolant, filing with fresh 50/50 glycol and water 
solution every two years, regardless of mileage.  Same applies to 
flushing hydraulic fluid every two years.  If your cooling system and 
heater core might already be partially clogged due to past neglect of 
the fluid, you may be just out of luck and have to live with 
it.  Chemical cleaners may or may not help.  Mechanical cleaning can 
be expensive.

I had a heater valve clog up a few years ago in spite of bi-annual 
fluid change. That heater valve may have been 12 to 15 years old with 
over 150,000 miles on it.  New valve installed, and the heater still 
works.  I had my cooling radiator recored last year, after about 18 
years and close to 200,000 miles.  It was still working, buy possibly 
at slightly diminished capacity.

Barney Gaylord
1958 MGA with an attitude
http://MGAguru.com