How much water does a 32 coupe radiator hold

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oldford

Senior Member
I'm talking about just the radiator out of the car without the engine or hoses hooked up. Trying to get an idea if any of the tubes are stopped up.
 
I don't the exact amount and it would depend on if it's an original core or it if it was a three row or four row cored radiator. One thing you could do is to feel the core for tubes that are not as warm as others to see is they are plugged. Maybe use a heat gun and you could measure their temperature's. While you have it out of the car reverse flush the radiator to see if you can unplug any plug tubes. Just be careful not to run too much pressure through them or you could damage the thin soldiered joints. Flush the block out too. When you get it to cool properly use a 50/50 coolant mixture to prevent correction. Straight water will only cause rust and a plugged radiator.
 
oldford said:
I'm talking about just the radiator out of the car without the engine or hoses hooked up. Trying to get an idea if any of the tubes are stopped up.
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You're not going to get any degree of accuracy with this method, noting the Ford design volumes are not know. As suggested, use products to flush and remove rust and dirt deposits.
 
Best thing I have heard is to plug lower outlet(s), fill with water and it should fully dump out when you pull the plug in just a matter of 15 seconds or so. If it takes two minutes to drain out you have an issue.
 
I stumbled on a method of detecting blocked tubes but the radiator needs to be in the vehicle and fully working. I had a 57 Buick and the first long journey I took showed an overheating problem. I managed to nurse it home about 80 miles by stopping at service areas and using a water hose to douse the radiator and take a lot of heat out of it. What I noticed was that some areas of the radiator dried off very quickly and some remained damp for much longer. The patches were in vertical stripes. The areas that remained damp were where the tubes were blocked.
I removed the lower tank and was able to rod out the blocked tubes and restore good cooling capacity.
Mart.
 
It's out of the car now but will try that. Also will try the 15 seconds just to maybe get an idea. Thanks everyone
 
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