Clogged radiator

Rat Rods Rule

Help Support Rat Rods Rule:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

53 stickfigure

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 27, 2016
Messages
437
Location
Ohio
Im sure this topic has been discussed a million times but i cant afford a radiator at the moment. Was going to bring the 53 home yesterday when i noticed the top radiator hose was red hot and the lower was cold. I have new hoses and thermostat i was going to change this week, now its going to be today. Im going to try and seal a garden hose around the lower hose and back flush. If this dont work, any ideas? I've thought about clr, ive used it before, but not in a 64 year old radiator. I will get a new one later on, but , my wallet wont let me right now.
 
I have used some rad flush stuff, [I don't remember the brand name], on an old rad and it cleaned out the cores pretty well. Also the flushing didn't find any new holes so I won that round. Good luck.
 
For $3.00, I'd adapt a garden hose to the drain/petcock fitting.

How do you know the radiator's plugged? Can you see blocked tubes through the fill neck? I suspect the thermostat is stuck... or it's "dry". (It needs to be in fluid to operate.)

.
 
You sure your water pump's not toast? [S

Toad

For $3.00, I'd adapt a garden hose to the drain/petcock fitting.

How do you know the radiator's plugged? Can you see blocked tubes through the fill neck? I suspect the thermostat is stuck... or it's "dry". (It needs to be in fluid to operate.)

.
Both of these are valid
Pour water in the inlets and outlets and if it run through then it's not plugged.
 
Back flushed the radiator and she's as good as gold. A small amount of gunk came out the bottom but when i gorilla taped the garden hose to the lower radiator hose, a small village of rust clumps came out the filler neck. After a few minutes the water ran free and clear out the top. Changed the hoses and thermostat and a 70/30 mix of coolant and she's running cool as a cucumber. Im driving her home from the work garage tomorrow to start body work. Our first cruise in is may 20th.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top