Gah. I'm sorry man. Appreciate your keeping us up to date! Sure hope for good success. I know the last time I just went through our coolant system we had a good bit of rusty looking residue but I've never seen anything crystalized like that. That stuff looks NASTY.
I will also say that when I got things back together it overheated a LOT until I got the bleeding all fully figured out. I had to rev things up pretty high while operating the bleeder before it fully cleared things. I also had to push water through the water heater in order to clear bubbles there. But that's because the PO had installed the HWH in a way that the hoses ran higher than the bleed point...
Rich you are a brave soul. Working on coolant parts on the dock...I use Honda blue coolant and distilled water.. great intro by the way. Very cool effect.
Rich, the 'sandy' crud is called "scale" and it comes from the water you are using in your engine. In Florida, it is so bad I have to replace my toilet tank refill towers every 18 months or so. The solution (pun intended) is to always use distilled water with the antifreeze in your cooling system. The other crud that shows up in globules is a mystery to me, unless the water is reacting with the antifreeze you use. Try a new fill with distilled and check the system in 6 months. I know that's a pain, but better now than on cruise in the channel islands. Regards, G King SV Intuition
So yourself a favor and circulate Rydelyme or another name descaler through your entire system forward and backwards to clean your cooling system. I have a 38 year old raw water cooled Yanmar, and it helped quite a bit. Be sure to keep your hot water heater exchanger in the circulatory system or do it on its own. Expensive per gallon, but the stuff works. I plan on doing it every few years.
could it be you are in a unique situation in that you cruise in fresh water that is highly mineralized and that is what is affecting your engine through the raw water cooling?
Description A safe, non-toxic, and biodegradable marine growth remover. Specifically formulated to meet an industry wide need for a fast, safe, and cost effective alternative to mechanical cleaning of water cooled equipment. Can safely be recirculated through sea water cooling systems, dissolving barnacles, zebra mussels, calcium, rust, lime and all other mineral deposits. Most applications can be completed within 4 hours!
