Suggestions for flushing

[RowanAmethyst]

So I have a 1976 Volare, that I'm redoing the cooling system on. The problem is, the coolant is full of sludge, and I suspect the coolant passages in the block are all gunked up. Right now I have the water pump off, and the radiator out, in preparation for new parts, but I don't know what to do about the passages. We tried just running a garden hose through the upper radiator hose, but there was zero flow through. Maybe we just need more pressure? I could take it right down the road to a small garage, see if they can do a flush, but I didn't know if there were any tricks you guys could think of to get it sorted.

 

[jasperjacko]

You have to remove the freeze plugs in the block to get all that junk out. Best bet is to pull the engine, remove freeze plugs, use high pressure water and whatever you can stick in the holes to scrape, loosen all the sludge whille you spray LOTS of water through the jackets. Also, there won't be any flow through the upper rad. hose because the thermostat will be closed, preventing water from going in. You will have to remove the t-stat.

 

[MARCH374]

Is your T-Stat removed ?

 

[RowanAmethyst]

You have to remove the freeze plugs in the block to get all that junk out. Best bet is to pull the engine, remove freeze plugs, use high pressure water and whatever you can stick in the holes to scrape, loosen all the sludge whille you spray LOTS of water through the jackets.

Pulling the engine is not an option, but I'll see what we can do. If the heads have to come off, so be it, I was going to get a new camshaft kit for it anyway but I was hoping to wait a little while to get that done.

 

[jasperjacko]

Trust me, if you don't get that gunk out of there, it will keep clogging you radiator and heater core.

 

[RowanAmethyst]

Is your T-Stat removed ?

The whole radiator is out, we're just going to replace the whole thing.

 

[jasperjacko]

You don't need to pull the heads. The junk most likely will be in the lower half of the block. The t-stat is under the upper rad hose connection at the intake manifold.

 

[RowanAmethyst]

Trust me, if you don't get that gunk out of there, it will keep clogging you radiator and heater core.

I get that, but I don't have the means to completely remove the engine. Are the freeze plugs really that hard to get at?

 

[RowanAmethyst]

You don't need to pull the heads. The junk most likely will be in the lower half of the block. The t-stat is under the upper rad hose connection at the intake manifold.

It is? Chilton showed it as on the radiator, unless I'm just an idiot and read it completely wrong. That would definitely affect our ability to get water through.

Now that I think about it, I think I'm just an idiot. I'll look again.

 

[jasperjacko]

Yes, they are that hard to get at while in the car. You may get some of them out but not all, and putting in new ones with the engine in the car may cause you much grief and busted knuckles. Another point worth mentioning, given the age and sludge build up, the original plugs may be ready to leak anyway.

 

[jasperjacko]

You could do the job in one weekend.

 

[RowanAmethyst]

Yes, they are that hard to get at while in the car. You may get some of them out but not all, and putting in new ones with the engine in the car may cause you much grief and busted knuckles. Another point worth mentioning, given the age and sludge build up, the original plugs may be ready to leak anyway.

Well, the sludge might not be as much of a problem as I'd thought. I was dumb and left the t-stat in so I thought the coolant passages were gummed up, but it might be okay with just a decent flush. The old radiator looked like crap but apparently usually the gunk stays mostly in the rad. The coolant coming out of the water pump looked perfect, it was just the rad and the overflow tank that looked gross. I just really can't do an engine pull right now, it's not a matter of time, it's equipment. We're on a gravel driveway, no air tools, no electric, just hand tools, and we don't have a hoist or anything.

Already we're gonna be kicking our asses trying to fix the trans cooler lines we broke pulling the radiator, was thinking of just cutting the lines back to before they start twisting, flaring and putting in a union, then getting some short flexible brake hose to make up the distance. Or should we stick with solid lines?

 

[kkritsilas]

There are chemical coolant flushes out there. I can't say if they are any good, as I haven't used them myself, but a couple of friends have and they said they were happy with the results. I don't think it will clear any clogs, but just perhaps help clear out any scale or thin build up in the passages. You need to follow the instructions on the product. Some say to take out the anti-freeze, put the product in with water, and idle the car for 10-30 minutes after the thermostat is open, others say to drive the car X number of miles/kilomers. In either case, flush out the chemical, and refill with anti-freeze/water mix..

Kostas

 

[ramenth]

Peak super flush is pretty damned good. I've used it my customers' cars for years and in my own even longer than that. Follow the instructions on the bottle.

 

[Aspen500]

Just from prior experience, if the block cooling passages are full of gunk there's a very good chance the core plugs are no good anyways. If you did manage to clean it out, I'd almost bet my life you'd have a leak. Sometimes the gunk is actually plugging the hole rotted in the plug(s). What I mean is, chances are you'll be replacing the plugs no matter what happens. As I said, just going by prior 30 years experience as an auto tech.

 

[ramenth]

One way to check is pull a block plug. Fairly easy to get to. Just wrench it out. If it's blocked with sludge, figure the rest is. If it's not, replace it with a petcock and drain every couple of years.

 

[RowanAmethyst]

Thanks for your suggestions, everyone! Tomorrow we'll be doing some work on it, weather permitting, so we'll try to see how the passages look before we put everything back together. Of course, now that I know to remove the T-stat (duh, I still feel really foolish for that), flushing the system should be a breeze. The water pump that was on it, by the way, was original, and while it still spun cleanly, it's a good thing we're replacing it now while we have everything apart.

 

[BHA43]

Pull the starter and take the one behind it out and the one on the other side back, they can be replaced fairly easy. But like 500 said hope for the best on the rest. And there are some in the bell housing area too!

 

[Volare4life]

i like to use a gallon of distilled white vinegar, but you need to drain it fill it with water and the gallon of distilled white vinegar, run it to temp and about 30 mins after that, shut it down, drain the system, fill with water to rinse, do it till it runs clear, fill it it with water and baking soda, 1/4 cup should be fine, run it for 15mins, drain and fill with distilled water if you live in an area that never freezes ie florida, if you live in an area that does freeze just use a gallon of pure green anti-freeze and 2 gallons ish of distilled water and you will be good to go

 

[kkritsilas]

For really gold temperatures like we have up here, the correct mix for anti0freeze/water is 50:50, or sometimes, depeneding on the antifreese, 60:40. Yourr suggested mix will crack a block in most parts of Canada during the coldest months, and is also probably true of the northern US states.

Kostas