White Powdery/Flux Deposits in Radiator...How To Remove?

P

pdee4t

Hi. I thought I'd bite the bullet and buy some KTM OEM radiators as my old ones were very cheap chinese aftermarket ones and kept having cooling issues amongst other things.
Anyway, they're all connected and on bike but took the cap off and just as I was about to fill it up....I noticed a whole bunch of white corrosion/powdery looking stuff inside the radiators on the cores and can even see a fair amount of it between the tubes at the top. there's quite a bit of it in between the tubes/cores where the coolant goes into so i do preferably need to get it out so it doesn't block anything up.

As seen in the pictures. Can somebody tell me what that is exactly and how would i get rid of most, if not, all of it?
I bought the radiators brand new yesterday.

I did put coolant in and ran the bike to try and flush most of it out and it did get a lot of it out but there's still a fair amount in there. any ideas?

62h1.jpg


534i.jpg
 
P

pdee4t

aww :( i preferably don't want to have to take em off again. any other way or anything else i could use/try?
also, what is it and how would it of gotten there?(they're brand new radiators)
 
PALMER84ONE

PALMER84ONE

All radiator fluid is a mix, aluminum loves to pull calcium from the water portion of the mix. Used to run distilled water and coolant in the old days. It's really nothing to worry about.
 
P

pdee4t

they're brand new though and never had anything in them. those pictures are when i 1st bought them from the shop and before i put any coolant or anything in them.
how about the bits in between the tubes/cores? any danger of it blocking it up and restricting coolant flow?
 
Last edited:
PALMER84ONE

PALMER84ONE

They have been preassure tested. I doubt anything is solid enough and/or big enough to block a port. Run it for couple hours, drain it through a filter and see if you capture anything on the way out. Pour it back in and forget about it.
 
P

pdee4t

so if they've been pressure tested, they aren't exactly brand new? it's the very top part of the port/tubes where it's all caked over.
ok will do. i ran it today for about 45 minutes but will go for a proper ride in the coming days and hopefully it'll come out.
 
P

pdee4t

i never use tap water. i always used filtered water from my filtered water system at home.
that makes sense then if they did it from factory :) glad it's nothing to worry about though.
 
P

pdee4t

bobkyle2:
They usually vac test them, or just with air pressure... Makes it easier for them to fix on the fly
Click to expand...

yeah makes sense i guess.
what is the powdery shit though?
and what would it be caused from other than calcium from water as it never had anything in them?
 
PALMER84ONE

PALMER84ONE

bobkyle2:
Don't use tap water... Best thing to do is buy premixed 50/50 anti freeze.

I wouldn't worry aobut it either way..
Click to expand...

I remember in the good old days when the coolant had to be mixed with distilled. Awe, good old USA and the EPA gave us premix, what ting for them to suck all the fun out of our lives.
 
Top