anti-freeze servay

TDO

TDO

Senior Member
I've been having trouble with my model A foaming , I have a flying quail on it with a temp. probe. I could see little bubbles coming out around the temp probe. I added an over- flo tank to catch the anti freeze. I wasn't sure if it was the anti-freeze foaming or compression leaking into the water jacket, I draind it all out and flushed it out with water for a long time ,to be sure it was cleaned out good. I then filled it with water and ran it pretty hard for about 20 miles even in these hills of WEST VIRGINIA, and no foaming and no water spewed into the over-flo tank. That tells me it was the type of anti-freeze. I was using Prestone with a water wetter additive. I'd like to know what kind of anti-freeze ya all are using and not having any trouble with foaming.:confused:
 
A water-wetter is a surfactant or, more commonly known as soap... This is probably the cause of your foaming.

As to which anti-freeze to use, I am a very strong advocate of the Evans Cooling products. I have used them and know they simply work and work better than standard coolant.

Hope this helps.
 
I use Prestone 50/50 with no other additives. It never foams.

My coolant finds it's own level, which is about 8 inches down from the top. If I try to add more, it will drip out the overflow.

If you see roiling bubbles while the engine is running, you may have a head gasket leak.
 
The fact that you had no foaming with straight water does not rule out a compression leak. To check for that you need either an electronic 'sniffer' or a simple wet-test kit to detect combustion gasses in the coolant. Sierra low-tox coolant does not foam if you want to try that. There should be no leakage by your Quail and temp probe. The cap should be completely sealed, the only exit through the overflow tube.
 
Antifreeze leaks where water doesn't. I wonder how many head gaskets have been replaced unnecessarily? I use to see it all the time on Ahooga and the old Ford barn, nobody ever discouraged it.. Most radiators new or old can't handle the flow that the water pump puts out . Some use thermostats to curb the flow. Snyders has recommended removeing material from the tips of the waterpump impeller, this is what I have done for years. I ran a thermo Quail on the coupe and was finally able to stop the leaks and droplets on the windshield under acceleration but it would still exit the overflow. This is caused by the water pump pumping more than the radiator can flow.In 53 years, unless I was overhauling an engine or installing a higher compression head, I have only needed to replace one head gasket.The one that I replaced wasn't because of water leakage but was because the gasket burned in two in the narrow area and caused compression loss on two cylinders. I still have my first model A and have only sold one AA in my lifetime. If I was wrong , it doesn't seem to have hurt any of them. Also, I wonder how many other problems were caused by unnecessarily replaceing gaskets like broken head studs and ruined threads.
 
I use Prestone 50/50 summer and winter. I have never had a problem. My mechanic does not like adding the water wetter. He says that if the system is operating properly I should have no need for an additive. By the way if you have a Meijers store in your area, they have Prestone 50/50 and undiluted on special. The undiluted is 2 gallons for $21 dollars.
Al
 
Hello Enterprise, WV from Morgantown! Prestone 50/50 here with no foaming.

dusty.....9 days of work until retirement:D
 
This antifreeze ,additive debate is almost as good as the type oil to use debate.Do a search and you will find many many post related to antifreeze and additive. What I have not seen is a debate as it relates to using some type of rust inhibitor by themselves are as part of the ingerdients in the antifreeze.
 
Dusty said:
Hello Enterprise, WV from Morgantown! Prestone 50/50 here with no foaming.

dusty.....9 days of work until retirement:D
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Pure spring water and NAPA rust inhibitor here. Just drain it on the rare occasions we have a freeze.

Congrats on your retirement Dusty! Come join the fun. On the weekends I do absolutely nothing, but during the week..... I rest up.:)

Ed

P.S. I was born in Huntington at a very early age
 
I run 50/50 antifreeze mix in all my cars old and new. When I first got my 27 T Roadster it foamed bad. I drained the antifreeze, put in water only and no foam. The old antifreeze smelled like acid! Flushed system well, added 50/50 mix and has not lost a spoonful since, (several years). My Model A was pushing water out from time to time but never hot. I pulled the stock head and found a leaky headgasket. Installed new Snyder 5.5 head and the B type gasket and never blows anything out now. It has 50/50 mix also. We drive our cars in the winter so antifreeze is a must for me.
 
I use tap water and water pump lubricant I usually get it at advance auto . I think its about 6 oz. it turns the three gallons of water sort of whiteish . It doesn't get that cold here . The cars are inside but I still drain them in the coldest of winter. I catch the water and pour it in 5 gallon buckets and store them in the building with the cars. I figure if by some freak accident the water froze in the buckets, it would be better than if it was in my cars . It use to get a lot colder here when I was growing up.
 
Mitch//pa said:
50/50 here also

dusty congrats on your retirement, how's the leg doin
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Thanks Mitch, as for the leg/ankle it healed real quick but only to a point. I don't believe it will ever be 100% again, it aches and it has a feel and sound of a wore out Model A wheel bearing;) Also to top it off I fell down the last step on a stairwell at home and tweeked not only my other ankle but my knee as well...just don't pay to get old....EXCEPT for RETIRING:D

dusty
 
green30coupe said:
Pure spring water and NAPA rust inhibitor here. Just drain it on the rare occasions we have a freeze.

Congrats on your retirement Dusty! Come join the fun. On the weekends I do absolutely nothing, but during the week..... I rest up.:)

Ed

P.S. I was born in Huntington at a very early age
Click to expand...

Yep looking forward to it but as for doing nothing....not going to happen, the wife has a do list that will keep me busy until the end of time. I told that she has me from Monday through Thursdays to do whatever she wants but the weekends were devoted to "my" time......well she's not having any of that:mad:

Things like that make me wonder why I quit drinking:rolleyes:

dusty
 
Prestone foamed in a '29 phaeton I use to own so I switched to the Sierra
stuff. If not Sierra then distilled water and anti-rust additive from NAPA.;)

Bob-A:D
 
I am probably gonna get clobbered for this. Have had a couple engines over the years could not get it to stop foaming checked every thing. Old friend told me to go to the store where they rent carpet cleaning machines and buy a bottle of anti foaming solution. I did poured in a little. It immediately stopped the foaming. The first one was several years ago no adverse effects and still doing fine. I passed this idea along to others who had same results.
I posted this suggestion here once couple "experts" said it just masked the real problem, may be, but if it works well and no adverse results why not? Phil
 
Using distilled water only. Don't get excited about the chance that the block will freeze and ruin the engine; our winter temps don't get that cold. Just a comment about warmer weather, it doesnt make a place nicer or better than others. Nice depends on attitudes, values, friends and family not temperatures.
 
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