Water over flow
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Joined: Oct 2002
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Water over flow
REcently purchased a 53 F-100 with a V-8. Truck runs well. I noticed some water coming out of an engine over flow tube yesterday after a 30 minute drive. The engine temp guage does not work at the current time. Thank You! Have a safe Holiday Season!!!!!!!! TOM
Lead Driver
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 6,768
Likes: 547
From: Kalispell, MT
Water over flow
A couple of possibilities:
Simplest - this should be a flathead and it has a huge cooling system - 5 gallons or there abouts. With that much coolant you have to leave room for expansion or you'll get the type of runoff you've described. Leave the coolant a couple of inches below the neck of the radiator when you fill it.
Another more serious would be a sticking thermostat - they tend to regurgitate backward thru the pumps when that happens resulting in slightly foamy overflow. This seems to happen whenever I fill a late block ofter having drained the coolant. Air pockets under the closed t-stats keep them from opening when they should. Drill 1/8" bypass holes in the t-stat shoulder or loosen the housing to let the air out.
Worst case would be a cracked block or blown head gasket causing it to spew, and in this case you also have foamy overflow as exhaust gasses blow into your coolant. Take your rad cap off and watch the coolant as it idles up to heat. Watch for bubbles/foam in the tank.
I'd get the temp gauge working asap. Flatheads will run great under circumstances that would destroy a modern engine - I drove a flathead with a cracked block from Illinois to Montana. I took the thermostats out and kept adding water as needed. Power was down a little, but she just wouldn't quit.
Simplest - this should be a flathead and it has a huge cooling system - 5 gallons or there abouts. With that much coolant you have to leave room for expansion or you'll get the type of runoff you've described. Leave the coolant a couple of inches below the neck of the radiator when you fill it.
Another more serious would be a sticking thermostat - they tend to regurgitate backward thru the pumps when that happens resulting in slightly foamy overflow. This seems to happen whenever I fill a late block ofter having drained the coolant. Air pockets under the closed t-stats keep them from opening when they should. Drill 1/8" bypass holes in the t-stat shoulder or loosen the housing to let the air out.
Worst case would be a cracked block or blown head gasket causing it to spew, and in this case you also have foamy overflow as exhaust gasses blow into your coolant. Take your rad cap off and watch the coolant as it idles up to heat. Watch for bubbles/foam in the tank.
I'd get the temp gauge working asap. Flatheads will run great under circumstances that would destroy a modern engine - I drove a flathead with a cracked block from Illinois to Montana. I took the thermostats out and kept adding water as needed. Power was down a little, but she just wouldn't quit.
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