Leftover casting sand

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Oct 4, 2008 | 12:08 AM

Ford_Six

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From: The Big, Oregon

Leftover casting sand

I have an 89 Aerostar with the 3.0 I got from my wife's dad. It's been neglected, and has had cooling system issues since day one. What he told me was that there was a pocket of sand in the engine that keeps flaking chunks off every now and then, plugging the heater core or various other parts of the cooling system.
I ran a flush on it and changed the thermostat trying to get a few more weeks out of it, and lost heat. I can still hear the air diverter move when I move the selector, so that all works. The thing still overheats, pukes water out the overflow tank within 15minutes, and I think it has a blown head gasket between two cylinders (bad misfire/shaking at idle and just off idle, cranks unevenly).
Was it a common thing to have casting sand left over in these engines? I suppose I am a bit outside the warranty period on this-

Oct 4, 2008 | 01:36 AM

Pablo-UA

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From: Kiev, Ukraine

not sure this is sand. it may be rust in block. But I saw very dirty engines inside and overheating problems were related with clogged radiator, not engine.

And yoy can do pressure test to be sure what a gasket is bad.

Oct 4, 2008 | 03:36 AM

xlt4wd90

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From: SoCal

If the head gasket is leaking between the combustion chamber and a coolant passage, the engine can do exactly as you describe; puke coolant and overheat. This is easy, as the combustion pressure pushes enough coolant out the overflow tank, less is available for keeping the engine cool, and it overheats. It happened to one of my engines. A valve/head job stopped the leak, and made the engine run much smoother.

You can borrow a pump from your local auto parts store that attaches to your radiator to do a pressure test. Recognize that if the head gasket is indeed leaking, this test will push water into the combustion chamber, and can cause other problems, such as hydro locking the next time you try to start it.

Oct 4, 2008 | 10:16 AM

Pablo-UA

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From: Kiev, Ukraine

lets do a thread how to remove heads w/o pulling engine.... who'll do it first do some pics!

Oct 4, 2008 | 03:22 PM

96_4wdr

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From: Washington state

most cooling system plug ups, blockages and crud buildup if from using public system water w/chlorine or water contaminated with natural minerals which corrode and/or settle out of the coolant.

old worn out antifreeze is also a problem. the silicates and other minerals/chemicals settle out and form solid deposits.
first place will be observed is on the tube ends of the outflow radiator tank.

took at least a pound of solid deposits crud out of the outflow tank on a '66 Dodge 383 that came from E. Oregon high desert country, Nyssa. owner had used the "tap water" there.
gave up and threw away the radiator, hoses water pump and heater core.

block was still so plugged that it hot spotted and cracked both heats.

Oct 4, 2008 | 03:31 PM

Pablo-UA

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From: Kiev, Ukraine

There are more deposits in radiator and heater core then in engine block usually. Remove teater core hose and look in core with light of course.. If it is clean, there are no deposits.

Oct 5, 2008 | 08:58 AM

Bear River

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From: Salt Lake City, Utah

Also, due to the way the engines are flushed multiple times and also continuousl washed while being machined, leftover sand is almost impossible, and certainly not enough to damage anything.