radiator additive.
- Thread starter CP
- Start date
richard crow
Well-known member
if your mech says put in sealer get an other mech.unless your a used car salsmen
CP
Senior Member
maybe i read the post incorrectly. maybe it was a "stop leak" deal. i remember someone posting a picture of the interior of the radiator (under the cap) and it looked so "clean". my radiator does not leak, i was just thinking the "stuff" would clean a little of the old crud. no worries, ill keep digging. cp
It was me that used the term 'Sand Blast" in describing the large bottle of heavy duty aluminum Bars stop leak. With the high volume water pumps pushing nearly twice the amount of water through the radiator this product actually cleaned and polished the top plate and tubes as far down in them as you can see. No reason to not beleave they are not cleaned the entire length. I have used this in my radiators as a preventive to keep any small leaks that may or may not be in the system from developing into a problem. If I see water out the exhaust I put in another bottle. I have used it for a number of years and drained the system down to change the top hoses after having the Bars in for a number of years. When I looked down in the radiator the top plate and tubes were bright looking. They don't look like this in a new radiator, they are clean but dull. The rat droppings type don't clog the radiator if you desolve them in hot water first. When dumped in the radiator out of the bottle they can pile up in one area and are hard to get melted down. G.M.
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CP
Senior Member
yes, that was the pic i remember. i'm sorry i dont understand the "rat droppings" terminology. if its a radiator sealer, maybe id be best to not use. i thought..........that it was simply a way of cleaing the system. my radiator is old and if i put my finger in there,...i can feel "crud". ive drained it twice completely, but know its not as "clean looking" as the pic you posted. i guess my inexperiece is showing again. thanks though CP.
The sealer that is in the form of pellets is what the poster was referring to as "rat droppings" and as I said this is a good sealer but you should desolve the pellets in hot water before installing. The aluminum granular type won't clean a dirty, cruddy, oily cooling system. You need to use a strong detergent, along with a strong soap like 20 Mule Team Borax and run it or drive it for a while to get it good and hot and going through the system for a few hours then rinse several times before putting in additives and anti freeze. This process should be done on the engine before removing the old pumps when new ones are being installed. Now the system is reasonably clean and the aluminum granulars will do a final cleaning OVER A LONG PERIOD OF TIME. I use water pumps that pump almost twice as much water as most others and it works in my engines as the picture shows. I don't know what the results would be with other pumps with less water being forced through the system. G.M.
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flat 39
Senior Member
For G.M.
The radiator cap in my '39 coupe has an oily / greasy film on the inside. I wipe it off and it reapears in about a week. I use anti-freeze and no other additives. The only time the temp rises is if it is over 90 degrees and I approach 70 MPH (5 speed W/ 3:50 gears) then it reaches about 195 degrees.
What is the greasy stuff? where is it comming from? how do I get rid of it?
Thanks
Dick
The radiator cap in my '39 coupe has an oily / greasy film on the inside. I wipe it off and it reapears in about a week. I use anti-freeze and no other additives. The only time the temp rises is if it is over 90 degrees and I approach 70 MPH (5 speed W/ 3:50 gears) then it reaches about 195 degrees.
What is the greasy stuff? where is it comming from? how do I get rid of it?
Thanks
Dick
Marv
Well-known member
If i needed to clean a radiator with a home remedy, i would add a half cup of liquid Cascade automatic dishwasher detergent to a engine and radiator full of water. Let it run a few minutes, shut her off and let her set overnight and run for a while for however long it takes to get everything shiny and then flush out and run with clean water, and repeat until no soap suds or dirt. Marv
Flat39 when you find out please let me know. I thought mine was comming from the Bars sealant but it keeps comming and I keep wipeing it off. It has a brownish look and I don't use any thing brown. Infact I just wiped it off this morning and was thinking it must be oil. It's like the ring in the bath tub, it comes up to the cap and a little down in the filler neck. A paper towel picks it right up. I don't have a compression leak or at least not enough to show any pressure and it's a very small amount?? G.M.
flat 39
Senior Member
That is it Exactly.
One guy suggestly that it was coming from the type of anti-freeze I was using. ( yellow Prestone). Opinion was that the Orange stuff is better.
paul2748
Well-known member
If you are using the yellow stuff, make sure your system is entirely clean of the yellow stuff before using the orange stuff otherwise you are going to have a real mess on your hands. Recommend staying with the yellow stuff. The orange stuff can be a disaster.
41ford1
Well-known member
A question for G.M and flat 39 to ponder. Could the oily residue be comming from the pumps? They are lubed with engine oil. Maybe a small amount is getting passed the seals into the coolant. I see the same residue in the neck. It doesn't seem to affect cooling performance.
TerryOH
Well-known member
if the seals on the water pumps are not leaking water, it is highly unlikely they are allowing oil into the coolant. The water pump oil passage serves to supply oil to the outside of the oillight bushing for the water pump shaft and excessive oil would come out the base of the pulley. Prestone heavy duty radiator cleaner will get rid of the oily scum. You may want to clean and add the sealer to the coolant to see if this reduces the oil scum. The dish washing detergent sounds interesting.
41 I thought about the pumps before but the oil to the pumps is gravity feed and NOT under pressure. There is a lot of surface area on the back of the pumps and the face of the block and a lot of gasket covering the oil holes in that area. If there was a leak in that area the 2 or so lbs. of water pressure would push water into the oil through the nonpressurized oil passages to the timing gears. I don't think it could come from the very fhin film of oil between the shaft and bushing bacause of the water pressure at the seal. Any oil from the bushings appears as a very slight drop behind the pulley. This drop in the front is a good indication the pumps are being lubricated and should be removed once in a while with a paper towel. If there is excessive oil it will be slung off the pulley and splash on the inner fender apron. This excessive leaking is caused by to much clearance in the shaft and bushings or the main cause is oil that is too thin. These engines were not made for thin oil like todays engines. The clearance between the shaft and bushings is critical as the shaft runs on this film of oil NEVER touching the bushings. When the clearance is to tight and you can feel the shaft with a slight bind the shaft will drag and wear. The bushings don't wear as you would think but the hard shaft wears. G.M.
37 Coupe
Well-known member
Years ago I asked an old Ford garage mechanic who actually knew and worked on my 46 Ford when new, how they were able to retorque heads after a breakin period. I asked this because I had trouble retorquing or being able to get to every nut especially the oil filter ones. He said the only torque wrench they used was in a can of block sealer that the parts department had cases of,this was a new Ford dealership. Lots of guys that worked assembly lines from any or all engine makes will tell you sealers were added. There was a couple Cadillac engines in the eigthies that needed a steady diet of sealer.
Terry you can clean the system every two weeks and this scum will come back in 4 or 5 days. It is a very slight amount maybe 3 or 4 drops and is all absorbed with a paper towel. It all seems to come up to the highest point in the neck. Can't see the top of the tank and there may be a slight amount up in there but it all seems to rise to the highest point which is the bottom of the pressure cap. G.M.
FlatheadTed
Well-known member
I agree with you, that the oil is coming from the pumps this will happen to some degree because your oil pressure is higher than the radiator pressure ,and if you are running a high pressure oil pump more so even though its a trickle down system.. This is not a bad thing as you want the seal to be lube a little passing is oK .Bars leaks It looks like they have substitute the Grains for a powder ,I understand this is a fine wood fibre.I have used both and never found any hard undissolved particles in there .it takes time to dissolve ,
Flat39, Your pumps have bearings not bushings so the crud has nothing to do with the pumps. I do know the oil holes in the front of the block behind the pumps are drilled in on an angle and come very close to the water jacket. How do I know?? The drivers side of the block on my 39 convertible sedan was never drilled for the oil passage. The left water pump was never lubricated for close to 20 years and the only oil in the pumps was what was in the pump when it was installed. I went to install Skips pumps and discovered the hole was not open and never drilled. I checked the angle of the hole by sticking a drill in another block and drilled a hole the same angle and hit water. I drove a brass plug in the hole and put an oiler tube on that pump and put a little oil in it a few times a year. I'll have to check the cap on that one and see if it has crud. G.M.