radiator rust water
- Thread starter dutchess
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.
did you run a garden hose until it turned clear? I know that soudns simple, but thats what I did. My truck had also sat for 10 years. I realize not everyone lives somewhere that they can make that kind of mess.
samatulich
SILVER Star
I just started driving my cruiser after it had sat for the past 3 years or so. The radiator was clogged and I was having some over heating issues with it. I have replaced my thermostat, radiator and hoses with in the past 3 weeks. I would recommend that you take a close look at your cooling system. Have it flushed and pressure tested. You don't want to have over heating issues and if it has sat for the past 10 years you might as well spend a few hundred bucks and take good care of it (at least that is what I have done).
Radiators will build up scales and rust if they just sit there.
And don't forget to 'burp' the cooling system once you are done working on it (it is surprising how quick that engine will over heat with a few air pockets trapped inside).
Good luck
Radiators will build up scales and rust if they just sit there.
And don't forget to 'burp' the cooling system once you are done working on it (it is surprising how quick that engine will over heat with a few air pockets trapped inside).
Good luck
Use some radiator flush treatment from the auto parts. If you knew what you were doing it's possible to use diluted muriatic acid.
After that long of a time it is probably worth taking the radiator to the radiator shop and having it rodded out for $100.
After that long of a time it is probably worth taking the radiator to the radiator shop and having it rodded out for $100.
Man I did all of the above... Still have rusty water .... Almost like somewhere in the block it's build up? Runs a little warm but not at the point now where it's scary high...
All of the crappy stuff accumulates in the rear of the block....
The only way to get it out is remove the rear freeze plug on the drivers side and flush from that point..... really works best to remove them all on that side....
I've seen these things so full, the gunk was built up to the top of the block....
You'll never get it out otherwise.....
The only way to get it out is remove the rear freeze plug on the drivers side and flush from that point..... really works best to remove them all on that side....
I've seen these things so full, the gunk was built up to the top of the block....
You'll never get it out otherwise.....
X 2 on pulling the freeze plugs for a good look. You never know how the PO cared for the cooling system. Because of mild overheating issues I took mine out and found a coating like plaster and barnacles all around in there. The P.O. was known for scooping up swamp water to refill after a boil over. Also were deposits of that aluminum powder leak stop. It was a mess and that was after all kinds of flushes. Here's what I did for a super flush. I found plastic plumbers test plugs that fit the freeze plug holes so I could easily put them in and out and get a good seal. I removed the T-stat housing and water pump and made blank off plates with brazed on garden hose fittings and adapted the block drain to a hose fitting. I got one of those small 120v pumps with garden hose fittings built in. I cut up some garden hoses and plumbed it so the pump would suck out of a 5 gal bucket and pump into the water pump plate. Hoses from the T-stat plate and block drain ran back to the bucket. Sooo,,,,,,, I could now circulate my flush of choice through the block and not hurt my brand new radiator & water pump. I could easily pull the test plugs and check on my progress after each flush. I found that no radiator flush I tried would touch the deposits. I even ran an industrial HVAC scale dissolver though there with minimum effect. I had to fab up scrapers to go through the freeze plug holes & physically chisel it off the cylinder walls and made curved ones to reach around behind them. I tried diluted muriatic acid and it had some effect so I finally ran straight muriatic acid in there for 20 minutes. That's when the pump impeller gave out but it did the job. I had clean as new looking cast iron in there. Now with a 170 T-stat and lugging though the mud for hours towing a loaded trailer in the summer high 90s I still can't quite hit 180. This maybe extreme but it worked and I never would of known if I hadn't looked in there.
Last edited:
