Deuce cooling system service...

[Banshee365]

Well some of you may have seen my "losing coolant" thread. I went and borrowed a radiator pressure tester to come home to find it was too small. I decided to remove the radiator and take it to get cleaned and repaired. I started digging into the job by removing the brush gaurd, hoses, braces, etc... and pulling the radiator out. Here's what I found: the coolant in the engine was brown from either rust or oil. I think it's rust because it didn't seem to seperate like oil and water would. I thought it may be oil with my head gasket leaking problem but the oil analysis will tell me that when I get that done on the next oil change. I found several thing I'm going to replace as PM before they blow on the road. The bottom radiator hose was swollen to like 3" while being 2" at the ends. So much so that it was rubbing against the harmonic balancer. When I tried prying the hose off it just ripped so I ended up cutting it in half and removing the remains later. The belt's all looked cracked up pretty bad so I'm going to replace those as well. The cab heater hoses are rotted bad so I'm also going to replace those. The hose connecting the thermostat housing and water pump is cracking inside so I'm going to replace it. I'm glad I removed the radiator because it allowed me to find all of this stuff to fix. Now for a few questions concerning servicing this thing:

1.) The TM talks about oxalic acid and aluminum chloride to clean the system. I bought a bottle of flush from the auto parts store. Should that work fine too?

2.) Are the flushing guns nessecary and are they usually available locally to borrow or something?

3.) The TM also talks about filling the system with water, getting it up to temp, then pouring in neutralizer solution while it's running. Draining all of that, then refilling with a 5 gallon bucket of water and alkaline conditioner then drain that. Then fill with water and drain again! Then finally fill with the right mixture of anti-freeze. This sounds crazy and will a good flush then fill with commercial truck coolant of the right mixture work okay or should I fill and drain several times to get all of the crap out like the book says.

4.) My temp gauges never ever ever get's to 150 degrees no matter what and I live in FL. It is alway's cold as far as the gauge scale goes. Should I think about replacing the sensor or cleaning it or something or do you think it's accurate.

5.) Should I boil my thermostat to test when it opens?

Sorry for all of the questions but maybe someone is wandering the same thing but doesn't feel like typing like I do. After seeing what I've seen today I think totally going through the cooling system on a newly aquired Deuce will teach the new owner more about the truck and also leave it much better off longevity wise. I've never seen the stuff that came out of my truck come out of any cooling system before. Even the cab heater heat exchanger was DISGUSTING.

-Kelly

 

[jasonjc]

If evey thing is as bad as you say. The muiltple flushs sounds like the way to go.

 

[WillWagner]

While you're changing the hoses you mentioned, just do 'em all, the one behind the oil filters and the little ones from the heads to the intake manifold. B-4 I did head gaskets, i got a slight trace of oil in the coolant, no signs of coolant in the oil, but if you've got the old style head gaskets, that is a possibility considering the design of the gaskets..no sealing around any oil or coolant passages, strictly relying on clamping force. The coolant wil be out of it, go ahead and boil the stat to make sure it's opening, then you'll know it's ok. With the stat out of it, stuff a hose in the intake manifold and back flush the engine. This should get most of the rust flakes, sand and debris out of the engine. I think most of these engines/trucks, have temp gauges that read different. B-4 the hoses and radiator in mine, 200 deg. was the norm. After, 188 pulling a hill with a Fluke DT and a bladder fitting installed at the stat, but the dash gauge reads 190 loaded..I can live with that, and 160 after idling for a few minuets..the Fluke still reading 181. Guess i don't need to worry what it's doing at idle? As for the acidic flush, I'd steer away from it. Remember, the engine has a few aluminum parts on it...intake manifold, stat housing. If the cooling system hasn't been maintained properly or at all in the past dozen years, when you use the acidic stuff, there is a small chance the flush could further damage an already partilly damaged spot, and then you'd be replacing parts or worse, they could fail when you are driving it. There are plenty of non acid base cleaners you can use. Cummins sells a product called Restore. I use it on a weekly basis on the ISXs that fail oil coolers. The first version didn't work, the 2nd version does . OK, i'm done!

 

[Banshee365]

Made some progress on the cooling system today and the parts list is getting a little smaller. Replaced every 2" coolant hose. Now I need to figure the size for the smaller manifold hoses and I'll be all done. I ordered an NOS compressor pulley assembly off eBay and it should be here soon. I got the old one off with a puller and i soaked it in penetrant and put lot's of wrenches on it and sat my 6'5" 240 lb butt on them and the halves NEVER moved. I guess it's toast and I'm glad I bought the new one. I put the new belts on the alternator and got that all done though.

Now I need a new gasket for the thermostat housing, I found the NAPA number off another thread. But, I have a few questions.

I can't get the thermostat out of the housing. I can't even see a seam where it fits in the housing. It really looks like it's pressed in or something, how do you remove the thing? I may just be better off leaving it in the housing instead of boiling/testing it and hope it works okay. I have a feeling if I do any prying I'll break at least one of those fragile looking supports if not both of them. Any ideas or just leave it? Thanks!

-Kelly

 

[WillWagner]

Kelly. The little hoses from the water manifolds to the intake manifold are 1 3/4. The stat comes out, it might be siliconed in. Use a nice sharp gasket scraper and clean the gasket off of the housing. You'll se a seam..aluminum housing, brass stat. Gently pry it out. Oh yeah. The 5/16 capscrews for the water manifolds are 2 1/4 inch long. Soak them with a vert generous dousing of penetrant a few days b-4 you try to take them out. Tap the heads with a hammer.

 

[devilman96]

If it works it works, if it doesn't it doesn't... but if your planning on prying it out ya might as well put in a new one.

A suggestion for the flush... The bottle of flush you got from the parts store go get about 6 more to do the job... Or get a single gallon bottle of CLR from Home Depot or Lowes and DO flush it several times with the rear block heater open afterwards.

You may also want to consider installing a coolant filter in the system, that will really help pick up the garbage in the system but plan on changing it a few times in a row for the first 100 hours as it takes a good it to get the parts and pieces caught.... You can run a non SCA filter for this part and change over to a SCA after its cleaned up a bit... It saves a few bucks!

If you want a filter kit... http://odiron.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=8_18&products_id=499

 

[WillWagner]

Kelly, you should check out the latest MVM. There's an article on cooling systems and tips.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention, you might want to get some of the 5/16 x 2 1/4 inch bolts b-4 you start your project!

 

[Banshee365]

I pulled the rear water manifold off without really any problems from the bolts. I'll be carefull with the front one though in case I got lucky. The bolts are pretty rusty.

Yall think this would be a good time to reset the timing for the turbo since the radiatior and all is out? I'm still trying to figure out how to open that rear block petcock, I guess from underneath?

-Kelly