Waters
Member
- 38
- 13
- 8
- Location
- Lexington KY
New to wrenching on cars, let alone ones that are 60+ years old. Had my 53 M38A1 for about three weeks now, and took it out for an easy 15 mile round trip the other day. It was the longest it had gone in awhile, apparently, as about the time I was pulling down my road I started smelling coolant. Sure enough, it was boiling pretty good and had spewed everywhere under the hood by the time I got to my garage.
Radiator and overflow hoses were pretty well shot anyway, so I got new ones and installed after I drained the system and also found my 11-50 marked thermostat was stuck open. So in went a new 160 degree thermostat, new housing gasket etc. Tonight I had a time getting a new 11.5 quarts of coolant back in the system, which I attribute to air build up inside. Ran the engine every so often with the cap off, figuring that would work the air out. Finally got about all the coolant inside, but I've noted very slow fill and many clogged inlets at the top of the radiator visible through the filler neck.
Troubleshooting is being made harder by the fact that my temp guage doesn't work (I'm going to inspect for proper ground, as my fuel gauge doesn't either), and idling about 10 minutes resulted in what I consider too much heat, but I am not certain what the conditions are supposed to be like, and without a temp reading I'm kinda sunk. I have a feeling the radiator is open enough that it ran fine on several mile trips for the first two weeks I owned it, and clogged enough to the point that 7.5 miles of sustained 40-45 mph speed almost did it in.
At this point I assume the radiator just can't handle the jeep anymore. I figured I'd be in for a recore but the prices reported for that are near a new radiator anyways...problem is, I look around at jeep parts websites and the options seem to be either Omix Ada or no name "custom made in the USA" units that are about $600. I nearly pulled the trigger on the USA made from kaiser willys, but noticed that there is a 4 week wait, and I'd love to get this thing back on the road before summer is completely over. So the readily available units at the same price are more appealing, but I've read about trouble with Omix parts (especially the water pumps!). Any input from you guys that have been at this for a long time? I'm kinda frustrated with my lack of knowledge and the lack of parts availability.
Radiator and overflow hoses were pretty well shot anyway, so I got new ones and installed after I drained the system and also found my 11-50 marked thermostat was stuck open. So in went a new 160 degree thermostat, new housing gasket etc. Tonight I had a time getting a new 11.5 quarts of coolant back in the system, which I attribute to air build up inside. Ran the engine every so often with the cap off, figuring that would work the air out. Finally got about all the coolant inside, but I've noted very slow fill and many clogged inlets at the top of the radiator visible through the filler neck.
Troubleshooting is being made harder by the fact that my temp guage doesn't work (I'm going to inspect for proper ground, as my fuel gauge doesn't either), and idling about 10 minutes resulted in what I consider too much heat, but I am not certain what the conditions are supposed to be like, and without a temp reading I'm kinda sunk. I have a feeling the radiator is open enough that it ran fine on several mile trips for the first two weeks I owned it, and clogged enough to the point that 7.5 miles of sustained 40-45 mph speed almost did it in.
At this point I assume the radiator just can't handle the jeep anymore. I figured I'd be in for a recore but the prices reported for that are near a new radiator anyways...problem is, I look around at jeep parts websites and the options seem to be either Omix Ada or no name "custom made in the USA" units that are about $600. I nearly pulled the trigger on the USA made from kaiser willys, but noticed that there is a 4 week wait, and I'd love to get this thing back on the road before summer is completely over. So the readily available units at the same price are more appealing, but I've read about trouble with Omix parts (especially the water pumps!). Any input from you guys that have been at this for a long time? I'm kinda frustrated with my lack of knowledge and the lack of parts availability.
