Heater core coolant strainer.

[Mangonesailor]

Wow interesting and great idea, post a link at Grainger? I have one on the way to STL so I could pick it up and save shipping, I just did a new water pump as the old one I did died after 50K miles, did a good flush last time so just filled the rad with water to wash out and refilled with new green coolant/distilled water. Mixture is only good to +5F so I need to suck some out and add straight antifreeze.

The first post has a link to the filter body already. You'll need to source fittings (Which I found on grainer) to fit the hoses and strainer body. The hex nut that you need to remove is about 1-1/2"... be sure you have a set of pliers or a cresent big enough for this. I have a set of Knipex pliers that I use, and when the system is cold, I only tighten to about 10 lbs-ft. I tried loosening the filter when the engine had been ran to operating temp... I could not loosen that hex for the life of me.

Have you checked to see that the hoses themselves aren't plugged? Squeeze the hoses under the hood. If they sound like they are filled with 'Cornflakes', replace 'em.
Pour in a can of 'Rad-flush' as per the instructions, then when you run the water through the heating system to flush it, combine that with an air line beside the water flow, from a compressor, with just a slow flow of air. The air will percolate in the system with the water & helps to break down any crud & scale build-up within.

I flushed it twice with prestone, drain and filled about 10 times and then ran water through it with the engine running. Hoses feel fine, but I have no idea how old that stuff is. Heatercore has been backflushed twice already. System should've been clean already. I will be bringing the truck to the stealership for a full coolant flush to see if they get any crud out as well.

[Picture not posted 'cause HUUUUGGGEEEE] Holy crap! Those are some serious chunks in there. I could see that tearing up the seals & vanes in the water pump over time.

Water pump was replaced after all of that coolant flushing and draining was done. I'm keeping a close eye on my engine temps as I drive.

 

[great white]

Bypass coolant filter in my heater line keeps the entire system clean and happy.

 

[Mangonesailor]

Bypass coolant filter in my heater line keeps the entire system clean and happy.

Not sure how this would lesson the probability of the heater core from ever becoming clogged.

 

[great white]

Not sure how this would lesson the probability of the heater core from ever becoming clogged.

Clean whole system. Heater core included.

 

[-sin-]

Excellent thread, rep given - thanks!

 

[Blue95]

Not sure how this would lesson the probability of the heater core from ever becoming clogged.

You said you couldn't find a kit that would work, most are universal and great white just adapted a kit to work on his truck. What you have is a great idea and cheaper, just won't filter the very small stuff.

Clean whole system. Heater core included.

Where is yours mounted? I presume you made a mount for the filter head and use a filter similar to ones used on semis? I know when I worked at a family friend's trucking company all those trucks had them and were small Ballwin/luberfine spin ons and changed every 100K or so, we always ran CAT ELC in all the trucks.

 

[great white]

You said you couldn't find a kit that would work, most are universal and great white just adapted a kit to work on his truck. What you have is a great idea and cheaper, just won't filter the very small stuff.



Where is yours mounted? I presume you made a mount for the filter head and use a filter similar to ones used on semis? I know when I worked at a family friend's trucking company all those trucks had them and were small Ballwin/luberfine spin ons and changed every 100K or so, we always ran CAT ELC in all the trucks.

Spin on filter and filter head.

Napa.

Heater feed line to the coolant bottle line.

I run the OEM recommended dexcool.

Getting on 5 years, no issues. Almost time to drain/refill....

 

[-sin-]

Spin on filter and filter head.

Napa.

Heater feed line to the coolant bottle line.

I run the OEM recommended dexcool.

Getting on 5 years, no issues. Almost time to drain/refill....

Got any Part #'s? and do you have a thread for your install?

 

[Mangonesailor]

Heater feed line to the coolant bottle line.

So it's not filtering what's going through the heater core, just what's going around the heater core.

But hey, you haven't had problems yet. I still have scale buildup that has to be removed and flushed out. I'm just going to use some wood bleach to eat it all out, purge it, neutralize it, and refill.

 

[great white]

So it's not filtering what's going through the heater core, just what's going around the heater core.

No, you're just not understanding how it works.

Its a bypass filter, not a heater core bypass.

It doesn't bypass the heater core, it bypasses a portion of the coolant via a restrictor until all the coolant has passed through it. It just keeps cycling the coolant through it as you drive. The coolant is endlessly filtered, which removes everything in the coolant. From larger pieces of gasket and silicone to fine grains of casting sand and scale.

Nothing ever gets a chance to accumulate and a anything in the coolant system is captured before it can drop out and create more crud.

If you've already got big blobs of crud and corruption in the coolant system, you're pretty much hooped to have to do a complete empty, rodding and cleaning......