Coolant issues 49 Ford

I've rebuilt my engine (8ba) this past year and have finally gotten it running. Im having issues with coolant bursting out of the drivers side lower radiator hose after running it for a few minutes. It seems as thought the system is pressurized and forces coolant out that hose. That hose is new and does not have a hole in it and is on tight. I have an aftermarket Aluminum radiator and the cap is rated at 19lbs (1.3bar), this I believe may be my problem. I will ad that the water pumps looked good, they were purchased a few years back so they aren't new. Any advice on properly bleeding the coolant system and what rad cap should I be running?
 
The radiator cap on a new 1949 Ford was rated at 4 lbs. In 1951 when the automatic was introduced the pressure went to 7 lbs. I'm thinking that 19 lbs. is your problem.

When picking a new cap, you need to measure the depth of the neck on your radiator. The original ones were 1" deep, I believe. The necks on newer radiators are likely much shorter.

Ken
 
What's the temperature gauge say? The fact that it is only doing it on one side makes me think that a thermostat is stuck closed. I would get a digital thermometer and see what temp is on both sides of the engine behind the thermostats. Those handheld thermometers are really handy. You could just take the thermostats out and see what it does. Like others have said 19 lbs. might be too much pressure for your aluminum radiator but if it's rated that high, I don't think it would cause it a hose to blow off. Modern hoses don't blow off. Find out what the maximum pressure rating of the radiator is supposed to be. Carefully grab the upper hoses and see if they warm up the same amounts so you can tell if coolant is flowing through both hoses, or one has a stuck thermostat. If you don't have thermostats, then that blows my hole theory. Check for white smoke out the tailpipe indicating a head gasket or crack. Pull the plugs and inspect them for one that is shiny new looking compared to the others. That's a sign that water is getting into the cylinder, hopefully that's not the problem.

Be careful, if it does have a head gasket filling a cylinder up with coolant, I had a V10 Ford pickup come into the shop blowing white smoke out the tailpipe. I parked it until later that evening and when I went to start it ran about a second and it just went clunk and locked up. It had filled the cylinder with coolant while I let it sit and it bent the rod when I started it. I never made that mistake again.
 
Last edited:
Temps were under 180 on both heads, Im goin to look for a new cap. Wish I wouldve kept my original rad and got it cleaned....
 
I have a couple of those new alum radiators on stock flatheads here. I run them with the cap loose no matter the weather. They do fine.
 
Leon, I gave that some thought and will try it. The only way to make a factory type cap work is to raise the neck on the rad correct?
 
First thing is to measure the depth of the neck on your radiator. It is very likely that you can find a cap to fit.
 
Back
Top