changed antifreeze and have a question

John Walters

John Walters

Member
I recently drained the coolant from my radiator and added new water and antifreeze, as I am a new owner and did not know how old it was. I drained about 2 1/2 gallons, and added three per my reference material - 50/50 water and antifreeze. I ran it for a few minutes and was getting some drainage from the overflow, which was "foamy" in apparance. The water visible under the cap looked "foamy" as well. Is this normal? Should I have filled it to a little less than 3 gallon capacity to avoid the overflow?

thanks.
 
This is a common topic among Model A'ers. Although the capacity of the cooling system is 3 gallons, each Model A cooling system will "seek its own level".
I would drain a quart or two out and keep an eye on the level, generally it should cover the tubes at the top of the core. Otherwise it will continue to overflow until it finds its sweet spot, and anti-freeze will be all over your engine compartment.
The foaming will probably resolve itself once you find the level it is happy with.
If it is a '30 - '31 there is also a Service Bulletin addressing the placement within the neck of the overflow tube to prevent overflow.
If it did not have any overflow troubles before changing the coolant it is likely that it won't give any problems now.

Good luck

Darryl in Fairbanks
 
John, make certain you don't have any coolant leaking into your crankcase. Some antifreeze will destroy the babbitt in your engine if it gets into the crankcase.
 
If there is coolant in your crankcase you would have gray soupy oil and it would be visible on the dip stick.
 
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