Good idea to always watch your freeze plugs for green snail tracks.
On the other hand, (this is my first British car, and so) when I took my
parts to the machinist during the rebuild, he gave me this piece of advice:
The freeze plugs in these motors aren't cup-shaped like a good ol' 'Murrican
V-8. They're simply convex metal dishes - no walls with which to align and
seal.
As such, he said, they're a pain and a half to get in straight and thus to
get a good seal. He allowed that as mine hadn't shown signs of leaking, I'd
do best to leave them alone and simply keep watch on them for when they
actually do cut loose.
Life is full of contradictions. Best to be at peace with God, and always
carry a cell phone.
Matt Kulka
'74 B - currently holding most of its fluids.
> -----Original Message-----
> From: miker15@juno.com [mailto:miker15@juno.com]
> Sent: Friday, October 02, 1998 8:31 PM
> To: mgs@autox.team.net
> Subject: Think youve got overheating problems??
>
>
> Whilst the following pertains to my Riley it may be worth
> bearing in mind
> for our more usual daily drivers!!
> I took the Riley to work today - nice autumnal morning,
> seemed like just
> the day to flex her considerable 2.5l muscle
> Ran beautifully all the way there and started the home trip just as
> effortlessly...... however about half way home i stopped at a
> light and
> steam started to rise from the bonnet - now i knew it couldnt
> be a hose,
> they were all replaced so my first thought went to the
> radiator, stopped
> the car and looked underneath, no perceptible liquids but the
> endine was
> definitely very hot - i let it cool a few mins and popped the
> rad cap -
> then with my trusty gallon of water from the boot started to
> top up the
> rad - well it took the whole gallon, and most of another one - damn
> thing was practically bone dry - at the end of the second gallon the
> problem became apparent -blown freeze plug - this also came
> as a bit of a
> surprise since my pal and i changed five of them this spring - what we
> didnt know was that there are six! - and the offending one is
> at the rear
> of the engine block about 1/4" from the firewall - you'd only
> know it was
> there if you pulled the engine......or if it blew!
> I left the car there and will have to collect it tomorrow, hopefully i
> caught it before anything got fried too badly (a huge please to any
> supreme beings who may be listening!) but the moral of the story is -
> keep an eye on the buggers! theyre much easier to get at on a B!
>
> mike robson
> 69 roadster
> 70 BGT
> 53 Riley
>
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