The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Engine Shop 2 Radiator and Tool Questions

I have a new project truck, as some of you already know. I have two questions.

First, the radiator has no cap and the lower hose has a huge gash. I'm assuming I have at least 15 years (last time the truck ran) of spiders and mouse mess in there. Is there any advice you can give me for flushing the radiator? (I only want it to run well enough to go back and forth into the garage until next fall, when I'm planning to have the engine and tranny rebuilt by someone a lot smarter than me.)

At this point, I'm planning to fill it up with the garden hose and drain it a few times, replace the hoses and cap, then use Gunk brand radiator flush – according to their directions. Am I on track? Or is this a bad idea?

Second question involves a tool problem. I couldn't open the Master Cylinder cap with a regular socket, so I went right for the breaker bar. I twisted the hex head that was molded into the cap right off (cap looks like die-cast). Any bright ideas how to get the cap off now that I wrecked it?

Thanks guys,

soundslike your idea on the radiator is ok, for me I never belived in putting anything in it,,you might use some type of pressure hose to help blow out the rad. from the outside of the cores and then do the garden hose bit,,, with that twisted off plug, you might do a search here,, some have talked about it but dont recall who,,,maybe just drill it out, put a screw/bid and get it out that way,,,good luck,,Fred

If the hex nut twisted off the cap, I doubt that drilling a hole and backing it out will work..I think I would go right with the steel chisel and hammer and see if you could get it to turn, Maybe squirt a little poopoo on the seam where the cap meets the cylinder..Good Luck, Steve

Just take off that lower hose & flush it out with the garden hose. When you pull the engine for rebuild you can send the radiator to a radiator shop & have it cleaned & checked, or youmay just wan,t to go ahead & get a new one.

You may want to get a radiator cap with a hose fitting on it and tighten up a hose clamp on the bottom hose so that when you turn on the water, the pressure in the radiator will let you know if the core is bad. This might save you a few dollars and let you know right away if the rad needs to be repaired or recored. If you've busted a hole into the top of the master cylinder, there are probably chips in the reservoir and I would be afraid to use it.

Here's what I do for an engine flush. I start with a short piece of 3/4" radiator hose, a female garden hose fitting and an on-off garden hose valve. Unhook the lower radiator hose, remove the drain plug from the engine block. Unhook the upper heater hose and hook the garden hose to the fitting on the engine. Open the garden hose valve slowly, too much pressure and you can kiss the radiator and heater core good-by. Flush until clean water comes out everywhere. If no water comes out the block drain, take a piece of baling wire and start poking it around to the back and top until it starts flowing. This blockage will keep the rear of your engine from being cooled. Then put the hose down the radiator and flush away. I would not use the cleaner unless there is a lot of visible buildup in the radiator, it will probably open up a bunch of pinhole leaks.

Kimberly, flushing the radiator and engine with a garden hose with a lot of pressure should do the trick. On the master cylinder the new repop covers are die cast and I would use a big center punch and hammer and try to hammers it off that way or else use a big pipe wrench.
Jamo

Terrific. Thanks for helping me out guys! I'm renting a heated pressure washer this weekend to degrease the engine and sanitize the cab interior. I'll be working on the radiator and MC before then. Lots of great ideas - THANK YOU!

i would use a pipe wrench on the mc cap, if you can get it up there.

Kim, flush the radiator with a garden hose but put it in the bottom hose fitting on the radiator. This is called backflushing. Water goes the opposite direction as the water pump flows and tends to lift out the rust and junk better. Let it go for a while until there is clean water coming out. This is an old trick from radiator shops back when there were no pressure caps and keeping cool was really needed to keep it below 212.

More good stuff! Thank you!

If its really full of crud/bugs/mouse poop you may want to remove it & flush it upside down so the crud exits the cap hole. Also you can shake it around to help loosen stuff. Brian