Replacing entire cooling system, what else while I'm in there?

[Overland84]

Well, most of the cooling system. I've been losing lots of coolant from a leaky radiator and/or failing water pump. No leakage from the weap hole, so I'm not so sure that it is the water pump. I see it drippping off the bottom corners of the radiator. Hoses are crap, but not leaking. But what makes me think it may be the water pump is that when I start her up and give it some gas, you can hear coolant circulating behind the dash, and that sound is consistant with engine speed. Does a failing water pump do that? Or is it something else...

So I am just going to replace the radiator, water pump, thermostat, and all of the hoses. While I am in there, what else should I do? Replace belts? Fuel pump? I would love not to have to dig into all of that stuff for a while. By the way, I've been reading the forums non-stop, and I can feel the confidence to work on this old gal myself building more and more. What a great resource, and I'm smokin' one for all of you fine folks.

 

[Overland84]

Forgot to mention, '84 fj60

 

[Overland84]

Well after the lack of replies I did a little search and...voila! Sorry for the proverbial newbie question. Salud

 

[JLH911]

Well after the lack of replies I did a little search and...voila! Sorry for the proverbial newbie question. Salud

So what was it?

I'd suspect that there was some corrosion or rusty sediment floating around making that noise..or maybe air bubbles?

 

[Dave-T]

The noise you hear behind the dash is air in the system.

As far as replacing other stuff at the same time, I'd say, if it ain't broke don't bother. Most components on the cruiser are relatively easy to get to.

 

[Overland84]

Yes, I figured it was air in the system. And as the system is leaking, from the stock radiator with 210K on it, I figured while its out to go ahead and replace what I can while I'm there. I'm fairly new into this truck and am slowly restoring it, as best I can with my minimal hours under a truck with a wrench. But I'm stoked on it, and am looking forward to busting some knuckles on this truck with nothing more than a box of metric tools, my FSM, and the UNBELIEVABLE amount of knowledge and support on this site. I'm young, poor, and happy to bleed for this one.

by the way, how do I get more space to post photos? A photo says so much...

 

[northwest]

You should be able to attatch a pic at the bottom of the page under additional options. When you are trying to bleed the system I have found it hard to get all the air out of it. I do have a tee along the fire wall in that hose it has been a life saver in getting more coolant into the back side of the block. Look up hillbilly burping in the search key, that seemed to work well once I had enough coolant in it and the front of the cruiser elevated on a hillside. Hope that helps. If you are replacing the radiator I would replace the hoses and all the hose clamps for sure.