Cooling System Fixes
05-12-2005, 01:32 PM
#1
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Richardson Texas
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yesterday when i cut the car off at the gas station and filled up it got to halfway on the temp gauge while sitting there. i do have a slow coolant leak somewhere and i think that its the line thats right on the top of the block that runs up to the tb. anyway when i refilled the coolant last night i noticed that it looks pretty dirty and there is gross looking stuff on the inside of the radiator. what should i do? is there anything that works well for cleaning the system out? should i let some CLR sit in the rad. like overnight then flush it with water to rinse it?
i saw in some other threads that it might help to remove the thermostat. will this make the car run cooler?
lastly i think im gonna install a valve, like a normal brass plumbing T valve into the heater hose or another small enough line in order to make flushes easier. that way i can just connect a hose to the valve and drain it with the car running and a source of water running into the rad. or something. what do you guys think? is there a better place to install it than the heater hose?
i saw in some other threads that it might help to remove the thermostat. will this make the car run cooler?
lastly i think im gonna install a valve, like a normal brass plumbing T valve into the heater hose or another small enough line in order to make flushes easier. that way i can just connect a hose to the valve and drain it with the car running and a source of water running into the rad. or something. what do you guys think? is there a better place to install it than the heater hose?
05-12-2005, 02:01 PM
#2
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Sunny Downtown Fenwick
Posts: 177
The spike while sitting is due to your engine is heatsoaking. Water in the motor is not circulating, but the engine is still transfering heat to it, so it heats up a bunch in the area of the temp sensor, raising your temp. No cooling system fix (short of an electric water pump that runs while you are parked) will fix this.
As for flushing, first find out what is causing the goo. Maybe you've got bad coolant seals, and oil is getting into the cooling system. In that case, better to save for a rebuild.
If you are looking to flush your system, just head on out to your local parts store. Prestone sells a flush kit with all the T's and chemicals you need.
As for flushing, first find out what is causing the goo. Maybe you've got bad coolant seals, and oil is getting into the cooling system. In that case, better to save for a rebuild.
If you are looking to flush your system, just head on out to your local parts store. Prestone sells a flush kit with all the T's and chemicals you need.
05-12-2005, 02:01 PM
#3
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Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: Metairie LA
Posts: 19
[quote name='Shane.Trammell' date='May 12 2005, 10:32 AM']yesterday when i cut the car off at the gas station and filled up it got to halfway on the temp gauge while sitting there. i do have a slow coolant leak somewhere and i think that its the line thats right on the top of the block that runs up to the tb. anyway when i refilled the coolant last night i noticed that it looks pretty dirty and there is gross looking stuff on the inside of the radiator. what should i do? is there anything that works well for cleaning the system out? should i let some CLR sit in the rad. like overnight then flush it with water to rinse it?
i saw in some other threads that it might help to remove the thermostat. will this make the car run cooler?
lastly i think im gonna install a valve, like a normal brass plumbing T valve into the heater hose or another small enough line in order to make flushes easier. that way i can just connect a hose to the valve and drain it with the car running and a source of water running into the rad. or something. what do you guys think? is there a better place to install it than the heater hose?
[/quote]
If your radiator is that dirty you should probably have it rodded out by a radiator shop. The over the counter type fixes aren't likely to help much, if at all. While you've got the radiator out of the car, check the price of having it recored with a new core that has one additional row of cooling passages. The price of recoring with an additional row of passages might not be much more that just having it rodded out. I had this done to my radiator several years ago, and it only cost me about $60 or $70 .
i saw in some other threads that it might help to remove the thermostat. will this make the car run cooler?
lastly i think im gonna install a valve, like a normal brass plumbing T valve into the heater hose or another small enough line in order to make flushes easier. that way i can just connect a hose to the valve and drain it with the car running and a source of water running into the rad. or something. what do you guys think? is there a better place to install it than the heater hose?
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If your radiator is that dirty you should probably have it rodded out by a radiator shop. The over the counter type fixes aren't likely to help much, if at all. While you've got the radiator out of the car, check the price of having it recored with a new core that has one additional row of cooling passages. The price of recoring with an additional row of passages might not be much more that just having it rodded out. I had this done to my radiator several years ago, and it only cost me about $60 or $70 .
05-12-2005, 02:16 PM
#4
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,850
I bought a new rad for my FB back in the day and it was like 50 bucks. Dont waste your time getting it rodded or getting it recored. The thing is cheap now adays, just buy a new one. Although, the price may have been cheap because my dad works at a body shop, I dunno but he ordered it so.
05-12-2005, 02:29 PM
#5
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Richardson Texas
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as far as i can tell the coolant seals are alright, i dont think its burning any coolant. i would think the buildup might just be from years of use without a flush, and the previous owners probably just used tap water when filling up.
what do you guys think about the thermostat removal idea? are there any downsides to this during the summer?
would clr hurt the inside of the radiator?
what do you guys think about the thermostat removal idea? are there any downsides to this during the summer?
would clr hurt the inside of the radiator?
05-12-2005, 03:24 PM
#6
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Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 1,850
[quote name='Shane.Trammell' date='May 12 2005, 03:29 PM']as far as i can tell the coolant seals are alright, i dont think its burning any coolant. i would think the buildup might just be from years of use without a flush, and the previous owners probably just used tap water when filling up.
what do you guys think about the thermostat removal idea? are there any downsides to this during the summer?
would clr hurt the inside of the radiator?
[/quote]
your not going to be able to clean a dirty rad with any type of fluid other than acid. Seriously, you need to rod it out to get rid of the junk or get a new rad
what do you guys think about the thermostat removal idea? are there any downsides to this during the summer?
would clr hurt the inside of the radiator?
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your not going to be able to clean a dirty rad with any type of fluid other than acid. Seriously, you need to rod it out to get rid of the junk or get a new rad
05-12-2005, 03:30 PM
#7
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Join Date: Jan 2004
Location: Columbia IL/St. Louis MO
Posts: 2,748
t-stat only helps when the engine gets up to a certain degree, i think like 225 or so, and it pops open and rushes more coolant to the engine. not really necessary, unless yours is broken. it is probably a 5 minute fix, and costs about 20 bucks.
05-12-2005, 03:45 PM
#8
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Join Date: May 2002
Location: Richardson Texas
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[quote name='nopistons94' date='May 12 2005, 02:24 PM']your not going to be able to clean a dirty rad with any type of fluid other than acid. Seriously, you need to rod it out to get rid of the junk or get a new rad
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i dont really have the money right now to do either of those, the radiator is $165. the car was fine on temp until it started leaking and when it got hot yesterday it was a little low. im gonna try the clr in the radiator, and removing the thermostat. im sure the thermostat alone would be enough to keep the engine cool, but i guess ill try to get the radiator clean too. and i will be fixing that slow leak in the next couple of days.
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i dont really have the money right now to do either of those, the radiator is $165. the car was fine on temp until it started leaking and when it got hot yesterday it was a little low. im gonna try the clr in the radiator, and removing the thermostat. im sure the thermostat alone would be enough to keep the engine cool, but i guess ill try to get the radiator clean too. and i will be fixing that slow leak in the next couple of days.
05-12-2005, 04:26 PM
#9
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If the coolant is hot enough the thermostat will not be a restriction, at least it shouldn't if it's working properly. Might be worth taking out to test it though. If you just take the thermostat right out the engine won't get up to temperature in normal driving, unless you were to install a restrictor (and that's just a guessing game). It would be like driving around all the time with the engine not warmed up. To make a long story even longer, I'd just leave the thermostat in.
05-12-2005, 05:26 PM
#10
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Location: Richardson Texas
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ill try it with it out and if its too cool(if thats even possible) ill put it back in
i think the hot problem could be related to my oil. my oil seals are bad or something so my oil is very thin and gassy, so it may not be cooling as it should. maybe i should ditch the omp and premix
i think the hot problem could be related to my oil. my oil seals are bad or something so my oil is very thin and gassy, so it may not be cooling as it should. maybe i should ditch the omp and premix