1932 Model B 5-Window Loosing Water

E

Ed in Maine

Well-known member
To me this is a mystery. The car is loosing over a quart of water in just 1/2 hour of running time. This is what is known:

1. New engine, milled head and block, car has 115 miles on it.
2. This is the second head gasket, carefully cleaned and sprayed with Permatex head gasket sealer, on the gasket, on the head and on the block (all surfaces)
3. The head was torqued down very often to 50 ft.-lbs. After it was assembled, the head was retorqued after 5 minutes of running, then after 10 minutes of running until the torque required did not change from 50 ft.-lbs.
4. There are no bubbles in the water at the radiator cap. I took the fan belt off and watched a calm water surface
5. There are no visible leaks. All hose clamps are tight, there is no dripping in the garage. Where is this quantity of water going???
6. The tail pipe is not steaming.
7. The oil level in the crankcase has not changed. The oil is not discolored or foaming.

Any ideas? Could the head be damaged in some way that I have not noticed? My next step is to see if the water pump is pushing the water up to the over fill pipe when the car is traveling at speed. It is a very aggressive, new, water pump with lots of turbulence above the baffle in the radiator tank. Fortunately it has not over heated.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions. Ed
 
Good luck, not sure on a "B" but ann "A" tends to "seek " it's own level of water, as long as water is above tubes (core) it should be alright. When retorqueing, did you break loose and retorque (yes) or just retorque. Did you ck surface of block AND heat for straightness? Did you torque down per a manual? Larry Brumfield recommends 55lbs on an "A" and "B" is basically same thing.
Try posting on the model A forum and maybe Larry or Forever $ or others will chime in. Where is o/flow tube positioned in the rad, it's possible water is churning right up into it and out, you could try placing a piece of gas or vacuum hose onto it to raise it so just under the radiator cap so possibly the water couldn't get into it. Good luck
Paul in CT
 
Have had the same issue ,I have two vehicles one with 3.78 the other with 4.11 gears the vehicle with the 4.11's shows more of a tendency to loose water and this is my theory. Normal putt around town, no problems, 20-35 MPH, take it for a drive and try to run with higher speed traffic, 40-55 MPH requires a drink of water. The higher engine RPM spins the water pump faster and fills the radiator faster so the excess water goes out the over flow tube. Options like the previous post are to raise the overflow tube height, add an over flow tank or just slow down. I realize slow down is the no the best option.
 
About 30 years ago, I added a cheapo overflow tank on my 1932, 5W coupe Model B for the same problem. I mounted it on the firewall using a threaded hole already there. It's pretty high up. I used a rubber hose from the bottom of the tank to the end of the original overflow tube down at the base of the radiator coming up through the hole in the front crossmember.
Eventually the radiator cap got kind of cruddy and sealed very well to the radiator.
With the system full the coolant would flow back and forth thru the overflow tube.
When it was hot it would be visible in the overflow tank.
When cold most would flow back to the radiator. Never lost coolant again.
 
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