Can I increase to a larger than 4lb Radiator cap?
#46
05-20-2019, 10:21 AM
#47
05-20-2019, 01:54 PM
#48
06-26-2019, 11:58 PM
UPDATE what it took to stop coolant loss. Oxalic Acid Flush Step by Step procedure
Hi All...Firstly Special Thanks to MixerMan, HT32BSX115, Tedster9, bjmayberry2, ALBUQ F-1, CharlieLed for the detailed information needed to fix my truck and for those listed that contributed with interesting questions to bring in the human interest part of what we all do....
In the end my head gasket on the driver side had failed allowing the burn off of coolant and some coolant into the oil. These failures were not as obvious as they should have been when I compare what my previous experiences have been when head gaskets have failed on other vehicles; My other vehicles, head gasket failures also had high temperatures registered on my gauge. This truck only ran with normal 190 temps showing on my gauge. Harder type of driving or easier type of driving, no problem with temp....I continually saw coolant under the radiator in the core support from overflow...but I was told that is mostly normal ....only 4 lbs of pressure will have the coolant backflow like that......I only faintly once in a while smelled coolant like it might have been coming out of the muffler pipe...I dismissed that because it also could have been blowing up onto the exhaust manifold from coolant that had back washed under the radiator core support.....All I know is I have had to keep adding coolant the entire time Ive had Ethyl....it went from a half a gallon every 6 or so weeks to the end where it was a Gallon and a half in 300 miles....
My question about reusing the old head bolts and one of your subsequent answers had a single sentence in that detailed answer. that actually... solved the "why".... One of you said be careful to put "the two shorter head bolts where they belong"....on what I took apart, all the bolts WERE THE SAME LONGER SIZE....There were NO BOLTS that were shorter.My heads have never been as tight as they should have been Those two bolts bottomed out in the block before the head could get as flush as it should have been...Someone had had the heads off prior to my ownership....When I did my first valve adjustment shortly after getting Ethyl, I found everything under the valve cover spotless...obviously someone had been there not to long before I got her. Maybe he changed out the head bolts. Maybe he reused them//// maybe this coolant usage thing has been an on going problem....I dont have the history of this truck....It was purchased from World Wide out of Denver...they sell antiques etc They make what they sell road worthy they say...but they also are clear to have you sign that "As IS" disclaimer....
I learned that these trucks dont show " milkshake" as easily as other newer cars do....the shake will be there DOWN THE FILL PIPE a few inches not at the end of the pipe where the oil cap sits...put a deep reach funnel in and you will see milkshake on funnel end that gets deeper into the fill pipe...I only found it when I put the oil into the engine after the new head gaskets were installed....
Oxalic Acid cooling system flushes produce FANTASTIC RESULTS..... below is a detailed step by step Oxalic Acid Flush for Dummies....I had multiple questions about this because I was afraid of doing something wrong...this type of detail might make someone else by pass the fear thing...
An Oxalic Acid flush.... is a great cooling system flush procedure for our old trucks.
Items needed 1.) Oxalic Acid powder (Rockler’s Wood Working Store here in San Diego has it on the shelf because its also used to bleach wood) It was $9.00 for a 1 ½ lb box of the stuff. You will only need 4 tablespoons per 22 quarts of water 2.) two 1 lb boxes of Baking Soda($1.89 per 1lb box in the baking section of any grocery store). 3.) Twenty Two Quarts of water for EACH of the 4 FLUSH steps. 4.) Twenty Two quarts of 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix or maybe even 22 quarts of Evans waterless coolant if you want to use this super good stuff like I did...Evans should back wash a lot less since it boils at a much higher temp...375 degrees.... 5.) PH indicator strips (Home Depot in the pool cleaning section) 6.) A new thermostat housing gasket.
This procedure presumes your truck cooling system uses 22 quarts of coolant to fill it up after completely draining the block by removing the block plugs and opening the radiator pet **** until fluid stops draining from the block and petcock. It is best if the nose of the vehicle is lower that the tail end to have as much of the coolant drain===park headed down hill…* be SAFE....block the wheels etc….
1. Drain the cooling system by removing the block plugs and open the radiator pet ****.
2. Remove the thermostat and reinstall the housing….
3. Replace the block plugs and close the radiator petcock
4. Mix 4 table spoons of Oxalic Acid Powder into a plastic gallon container like an old coolant bottle to make an acidic premix. Then fill that gallon container with water. This makes an acidic solution WHEN ADDED TO THE REMAINING 18 QUARTS of water NEEDED TO FILL THE COOLING SYSTEM that produces a pH of 6.5. Use the pH indicator strips to see if you are in that range…tap water in different regions will make the pH vary…Using distilled water will remove the need to test to see what the actual acidity is in the solution but its easy enough to adjust the strength of the solution up or down a little by adding more Oxalic Acid powder if the pH reads below 6.5pH or by adding more water to dilute a mixture that is too acidic by adding more water and retesting the pH with the indicator strips to verify what pH is actually there…6.5 pH is optimum for rust removal without being to harsh.
5. Start filling the radiator with water. After you add a gallon of water to the cooling system, pour in the premix gallon of Oxalic acid. Continue to fill the cooling system with water until it is just below the radiator neck…Its best that no water runs out of the neck of the radiator so none of the acidic solution comes in contact with paint. It’s a mild acid and will strip the paint of wax etc…its best that it doesn’t come in contact…if it does flush it off with water from your garden hose….
6. Replace the radiator cap and start the engine for a minute to circulate the coolant. Stop the engine, remove the radiator cap and dip a pH indicator stick into the radiator neck to see what strength the solution is….make any needed adjustments…
7. Replace the radiator cap and restart the engine to have it run on higher idle for 5 minutes so the contents of the cooling system mix and eat the rust etc.
8. Shut the engine off and drain the engine block and the petcock. Notice how dirty what comes out is…the color and condition of this fluid draining out will determine if you go back for a second flush….. only do a second flush after all the following steps are done….
9. Close all the drains and refill the cooling system with Plain water and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes
10. While the engine is running with the plain water fill you just did take this time to mix in 1 and a half pounds (a box and a half) of Baking Soda(aka Sodium Carbonate) spread into three gallon containers you will fill with water…This much baking soda doesn’t like to dissolve if it becomes too concentrated so distributing that amount of baking soda into three containers helps it from just settling to the bottom of these baking soda premix containers….this link is helpful to determine how much Baking Soda to use if your cooling system has a different (this was calculated using my 22quart system) amount of coolant to fill it. https://sciencing.com/make-sodium-ca...n-5595471.html
11. Stop the engine. Drain the plain water out of the block and radiator.
12. Close all the drain spots and add the three gallons of baking soda premix to the cooling system. Add whatever water needs to be added to have the fluid level come to just below the radiator neck again.
13. Replace the radiator cap, run the engine to circulate the baking soda solution. Stop the engine remove the radiator cap to use a pH indicator strip to see that the pH is neutralmake adjustments by adding more baking soda or diluting with water to get the pH correct.
14. Replace the radiator cap and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes.
15. Drain the baking soda solution from the block and the radiator
16. Reseal the cooling system refill it with water and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes.
17. Drain the block and the petcock….notice if what comes out of the block is clear water or not…if not…you may want to repeat all of the flush procedures again.
18. Once clean water is draining out of the block, replace all the block drain plugs, close the radiator petcock, and reinstall the thermostat. In mine the thermostat neck and the opening into the intake at the thermostat opening was a very pretty gun metal gray instead of the rusty brown that was there before the flush....
19. Add your choice of coolant making sure it is a 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix….or spend the big bucks and get Evans waterless coolant and follow their instructions to the tee…..
Good Luck....this first time took me about 2 hours to complete...but Im extra slow at any repair or maintenance...snail slow....sloth slow...etc
In the end my head gasket on the driver side had failed allowing the burn off of coolant and some coolant into the oil. These failures were not as obvious as they should have been when I compare what my previous experiences have been when head gaskets have failed on other vehicles; My other vehicles, head gasket failures also had high temperatures registered on my gauge. This truck only ran with normal 190 temps showing on my gauge. Harder type of driving or easier type of driving, no problem with temp....I continually saw coolant under the radiator in the core support from overflow...but I was told that is mostly normal ....only 4 lbs of pressure will have the coolant backflow like that......I only faintly once in a while smelled coolant like it might have been coming out of the muffler pipe...I dismissed that because it also could have been blowing up onto the exhaust manifold from coolant that had back washed under the radiator core support.....All I know is I have had to keep adding coolant the entire time Ive had Ethyl....it went from a half a gallon every 6 or so weeks to the end where it was a Gallon and a half in 300 miles....
My question about reusing the old head bolts and one of your subsequent answers had a single sentence in that detailed answer. that actually... solved the "why".... One of you said be careful to put "the two shorter head bolts where they belong"....on what I took apart, all the bolts WERE THE SAME LONGER SIZE....There were NO BOLTS that were shorter.My heads have never been as tight as they should have been Those two bolts bottomed out in the block before the head could get as flush as it should have been...Someone had had the heads off prior to my ownership....When I did my first valve adjustment shortly after getting Ethyl, I found everything under the valve cover spotless...obviously someone had been there not to long before I got her. Maybe he changed out the head bolts. Maybe he reused them//// maybe this coolant usage thing has been an on going problem....I dont have the history of this truck....It was purchased from World Wide out of Denver...they sell antiques etc They make what they sell road worthy they say...but they also are clear to have you sign that "As IS" disclaimer....
I learned that these trucks dont show " milkshake" as easily as other newer cars do....the shake will be there DOWN THE FILL PIPE a few inches not at the end of the pipe where the oil cap sits...put a deep reach funnel in and you will see milkshake on funnel end that gets deeper into the fill pipe...I only found it when I put the oil into the engine after the new head gaskets were installed....
Oxalic Acid cooling system flushes produce FANTASTIC RESULTS..... below is a detailed step by step Oxalic Acid Flush for Dummies....I had multiple questions about this because I was afraid of doing something wrong...this type of detail might make someone else by pass the fear thing...
An Oxalic Acid flush.... is a great cooling system flush procedure for our old trucks.
Items needed 1.) Oxalic Acid powder (Rockler’s Wood Working Store here in San Diego has it on the shelf because its also used to bleach wood) It was $9.00 for a 1 ½ lb box of the stuff. You will only need 4 tablespoons per 22 quarts of water 2.) two 1 lb boxes of Baking Soda($1.89 per 1lb box in the baking section of any grocery store). 3.) Twenty Two Quarts of water for EACH of the 4 FLUSH steps. 4.) Twenty Two quarts of 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix or maybe even 22 quarts of Evans waterless coolant if you want to use this super good stuff like I did...Evans should back wash a lot less since it boils at a much higher temp...375 degrees.... 5.) PH indicator strips (Home Depot in the pool cleaning section) 6.) A new thermostat housing gasket.
This procedure presumes your truck cooling system uses 22 quarts of coolant to fill it up after completely draining the block by removing the block plugs and opening the radiator pet **** until fluid stops draining from the block and petcock. It is best if the nose of the vehicle is lower that the tail end to have as much of the coolant drain===park headed down hill…* be SAFE....block the wheels etc….
1. Drain the cooling system by removing the block plugs and open the radiator pet ****.
2. Remove the thermostat and reinstall the housing….
3. Replace the block plugs and close the radiator petcock
4. Mix 4 table spoons of Oxalic Acid Powder into a plastic gallon container like an old coolant bottle to make an acidic premix. Then fill that gallon container with water. This makes an acidic solution WHEN ADDED TO THE REMAINING 18 QUARTS of water NEEDED TO FILL THE COOLING SYSTEM that produces a pH of 6.5. Use the pH indicator strips to see if you are in that range…tap water in different regions will make the pH vary…Using distilled water will remove the need to test to see what the actual acidity is in the solution but its easy enough to adjust the strength of the solution up or down a little by adding more Oxalic Acid powder if the pH reads below 6.5pH or by adding more water to dilute a mixture that is too acidic by adding more water and retesting the pH with the indicator strips to verify what pH is actually there…6.5 pH is optimum for rust removal without being to harsh.
5. Start filling the radiator with water. After you add a gallon of water to the cooling system, pour in the premix gallon of Oxalic acid. Continue to fill the cooling system with water until it is just below the radiator neck…Its best that no water runs out of the neck of the radiator so none of the acidic solution comes in contact with paint. It’s a mild acid and will strip the paint of wax etc…its best that it doesn’t come in contact…if it does flush it off with water from your garden hose….
6. Replace the radiator cap and start the engine for a minute to circulate the coolant. Stop the engine, remove the radiator cap and dip a pH indicator stick into the radiator neck to see what strength the solution is….make any needed adjustments…
7. Replace the radiator cap and restart the engine to have it run on higher idle for 5 minutes so the contents of the cooling system mix and eat the rust etc.
8. Shut the engine off and drain the engine block and the petcock. Notice how dirty what comes out is…the color and condition of this fluid draining out will determine if you go back for a second flush….. only do a second flush after all the following steps are done….
9. Close all the drains and refill the cooling system with Plain water and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes
10. While the engine is running with the plain water fill you just did take this time to mix in 1 and a half pounds (a box and a half) of Baking Soda(aka Sodium Carbonate) spread into three gallon containers you will fill with water…This much baking soda doesn’t like to dissolve if it becomes too concentrated so distributing that amount of baking soda into three containers helps it from just settling to the bottom of these baking soda premix containers….this link is helpful to determine how much Baking Soda to use if your cooling system has a different (this was calculated using my 22quart system) amount of coolant to fill it. https://sciencing.com/make-sodium-ca...n-5595471.html
11. Stop the engine. Drain the plain water out of the block and radiator.
12. Close all the drain spots and add the three gallons of baking soda premix to the cooling system. Add whatever water needs to be added to have the fluid level come to just below the radiator neck again.
13. Replace the radiator cap, run the engine to circulate the baking soda solution. Stop the engine remove the radiator cap to use a pH indicator strip to see that the pH is neutralmake adjustments by adding more baking soda or diluting with water to get the pH correct.
14. Replace the radiator cap and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes.
15. Drain the baking soda solution from the block and the radiator
16. Reseal the cooling system refill it with water and run the engine at higher idle for 5 minutes.
17. Drain the block and the petcock….notice if what comes out of the block is clear water or not…if not…you may want to repeat all of the flush procedures again.
18. Once clean water is draining out of the block, replace all the block drain plugs, close the radiator petcock, and reinstall the thermostat. In mine the thermostat neck and the opening into the intake at the thermostat opening was a very pretty gun metal gray instead of the rusty brown that was there before the flush....
19. Add your choice of coolant making sure it is a 50/50 coolant/distilled water mix….or spend the big bucks and get Evans waterless coolant and follow their instructions to the tee…..
Good Luck....this first time took me about 2 hours to complete...but Im extra slow at any repair or maintenance...snail slow....sloth slow...etc
#50
06-27-2019, 10:58 AM
#51
06-27-2019, 02:45 PM
#52
07-07-2019, 11:22 AM
Logistics Pro
I had the same "eyesight" problem PLUS, I had a bad hearing problem too! (going to work sounded REALLY BAD!!)
Good thing I had JUST enough sick leave......to carry me to my last day! I think I only had about 1hr left when I retired! Hows that for planning?
Lets hear that thing run!!
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