Water vs Antifreeze

Sorry but you are asking a new question on a postings that was last posted on 9 years ago. If you are asking Mike, he has not been here in about 10 day. I suggest you start a new topic/post. Maybe give a little back story why you are asking.
 
My advice to all you people who run water in the summertime; we are all getting a little older each year and it just takes one time to forget, because you forget, or you have some illness that takes your mind off of getting the water out in time. Your family will not know that there is a problem until they see it in the spring. That happened in our club, and a very good engine was lost. So easy to forget.
 
Jacksonlll said:
My advice to all you people who run water in the summertime; we are all getting a little older each year and it just takes one time to forget, because you forget, or you have some illness that takes your mind off of getting the water out in time. Your family will not know that there is a problem until they see it in the spring. That happened in our club, and a very good engine was lost. So easy to forget.
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This is very valuable advice. Can happen to the young among us as well.

I'm sure many engine have met there fate in the far from normal Freeze in texas
 
Jacksonlll said:
My advice to all you people who run water in the summertime; we are all getting a little older each year and it just takes one time to forget, because you forget, or you have some illness that takes your mind off of getting the water out in time. Your family will not know that there is a problem until they see it in the spring. That happened in our club, and a very good engine was lost. So easy to forget.
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Even young people can gorget... with terrible results !
Burned tops out of two pistons. Blk. froze solid. Middle of morning. Had to run it. Get home or freeze.
Bad behavior... not putting in antifreeze , cold clime or not !
 
Duffy,

The last time you re torqued the head nuts did they move very much? When was that?

The Ford recommendation is to re torque the head nuts once a year after they are re torqued several times when the car is new or a new head gasket is installed.
 
The last time Duffy had even been on Fordbarn was back in 2015 and this posting started in 2012.
 
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Jacksonlll said:
My advice to all you people who run water in the summertime; we are all getting a little older each year and it just takes one time to forget, because you forget, or you have some illness that takes your mind off of getting the water out in time. Your family will not know that there is a problem until they see it in the spring. That happened in our club, and a very good engine was lost. So easy to forget.
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I couldn’t agree more, The master has spoken !
 
What jrapose said ... water and soluble oil. I have been doing it for 50 years. no problems, no rust.
Drain in the fall and refill in spring. It's available as concentrated "soluble oil" from NAPA in half gallon jugs.

Joe B
 
Wonder how many cracked blocks will result from the recent cold spell down south for those not using antifreeze?
 
hi guys, slightly off subject, but close enough to ask for help on this. i have a car thats
been sitting forf 15 years with the water left in it. just how can i clean out the engine
and avoid getting all the rusty stuff out and not into the radiator ?? i have not started this one for years..but im back on it now.
tks, jerbo
 
Start by starting a new topic/post so your question does not get lost in a non related subject. Also, do a search using Fordbarn and what you are looking for, for example; "Fordbarn;flushing motor" T, A or V8 all are about the same.
 
I have a fresh engine, and my rebuilder speciafically asked me to use water during the break-in period. I have a Brumfreild 6.5:1, with the FelPro gasket.

Normally I use water, with reust inhibitor / water pump lubricant. I use it all year, and at the ends of the season I have a pan I use which recaptures it, and I just pour the same solution back in.

I formerly used antifreeze, but it does foam in an open system. I tried Sierra, but you need a special tester for that stuff... I'm always paranoid about the concentration falling, and having a little disaster.
 
As an engine builder, all I can say is running water ruins a lot of engines. Rust, rust, rust, cracks, cracks, cracks. I have scrapped just in the last 5 years over 300 Model A blocks that had rusted thru or severally freeze cracked water jackets. Their is no logical reason it run water in any Model A engine, or any other engine in my opinion.
 
a little bit off subject, anyone have any suggestions about how to clean out the rust & crud inside the engine water jackets with out running it through the radiator ? i'd hate to see that stuff get stuck in the radiator...and what to use to clean out the rust and build up?? tks, jerbo
 
Gene F said:
I have a fresh engine, and my rebuilder speciafically asked me to use water during the break-in period. I have a Brumfreild 6.5:1, with the FelPro gasket.
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I've seen recommendations to run with 100% water for gasket break-in, but only for the initial 3 re-torques, which can and should usually be completed in less than a day. This is what Yapp recommends at Secrets of Speed. I believe the reasoning is that at the very beginning, when the head is at its loosest, some small leakage from the cooling system is common, and you would prefer that leakage to be pure water, which will boil off and leave no contamination behind. You would add the antifreeze or anticorrosion agent once you were confident that the head had properly sealed.

Down here in NC I run 2 gal H2O and 1 gal antifreeze all year. Cheaper to buy, easy to mix, and protects down to 0° F, which is more than enough even if I top up with water during the year.
 
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SteveB31 said:
As an engine builder, all I can say is running water ruins a lot of engines. Rust, rust, rust, cracks, cracks, cracks. I have scrapped just in the last 5 years over 300 Model A blocks that had rusted thru or severally freeze cracked water jackets. Their is no logical reason it run water in any Model A engine, or any other engine in my opinion.
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AMEN TO THAT !

How’s that saying go....’you can lead them to water... they will put it in their engines’.
 
Opinions are just opinions. Want a true story? My dads Model A Tudor sat for about 15 years in his garage. I took the radiator out to start the process of starting the car after all that time. He had distilled water with the rust inhibitor (soluble oil).

Radiator shop called me shortly and said, "your radiator needs nothing, it's clean".
They were right. Car runs cool and never gets too hot at all.
True story. To this day, many in the club I'm in, still use this stuff.
 
Hello Barners,


I use "Sierra" antifreeze in my "Vicky" It is the best of it's type to be kind to the radiator. Works well.
 
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