HEAT. Sometimes it’s your friend, sometimes it’s your enemy. The line between the two is very fine and often by the time you realize it’s been crossed, your engine has already taken a significant hit. Design Engineering Inc. of Ohio knows all about that line and has an extensive line of products that are designed to keep you firmly planted on the right side. One of those products that we’ve used is called “Radiator Relief”.
What is it?
Radiator Relief (PN 040200) is a liquid additive that is used in your cooling system in conjunction with your normal antifreeze/water mix and it eliminates the natural tendency of the liquid to bond with the plastic or metals of your engine. This results in maximized flow and improved thermal transfer potential. You’ve probably used a functionally similar product (spot-free rinse) if you’ve taken your vehicle to the local car wash. When the water rolls right off your hood it’s not bonding to the metal. Think of Radiator Relief as a similar product for the inside of your cooling system.
What will it do for you?
As we mentioned, Radiator Relief will maximize the thermal transfer ability and flow efficiency of the INSIDE of your cooling system. This is extremely important because once you leave the garage with your dirt toy, grease, dirt, dust, pollen, weeds, and other environmental contaminants are going to cling to your radiator and restrict its ability to shed heat. Having everything working properly on the inside is your best defense against overheating when you can’t necessarily control what’s happening on the outside. Radiator Relief can also reduce scale buildup inside your cooling system and prevent new buildup, as well as prevent cavitation and foaming.
What WON’T it do for you?
If your engine is operating at its intended regulated temperature, using Radiator Relief will not lower that temperature further. Your thermostat will restrict flow until it reaches its designed operating temp. In other words, it will not cause your engine to “underheat”, but it will help to keep your engine running at or near the OEMs intended temperature, basically right in the sweet spot of where it should be.
Regrettably, Radiator Relief is not going to clean your machine or wash two years of crud off your engine either. You’ll still need to do that yourself, and if the radiator fins are packed full of last fall’s mud fest you need to get the power washer out and take care of that ASAP. Being caked in brick hard, baked-on mud is not helping your engine either.
Our Experience.
We’ve used Radiator Relief in almost every engine in our fleet, from motorcycles and ATVs, to snowmobiles and garden tractors. Even in brand new machines we add Radiator Relief to our cooling systems. On a machine with a temperature gauge, we notice less fluctuation in the temperature reading and on those without a gauge there is noticeably less cycling of the cooling fan. Both of these are great indicators that the Radiator Relief is working as intended.
At a retail price of $9.97, Radiator Relief is a real bargain considering the damage that can be done to your engine from even mild overheating. You’ve probably heard the expression that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, or in this case several hundred dollars’ worth of cure. Don’t wait until you have an overheating problem to add this product to your cooling system. Radiator Relief works!
