No doubt, allowing the radiator to flow will make a huge difference
in cooling the engine.
Sounds about right on the freeze plug. If the water pump looks and
sounds good, you are probably OK putting it back in.
I can't believe how lucky you are that it froze and only pushed out
a soft plug. This goes totally against Murphy's law which says the
ice should have cracked the block to relieve pressure on the soft
plug <g>. You still might want to do a pressure test on a cold system
(or have it done) to check for leaks that you may not have noticed.
In a pressure test, the system is filled with coolant and charged
with compressed air at the pressure rating of the radiator cap.
If it holds pressure, you are OK. If the pressure bleeds down, start
looking for another leak somewhere. If it isn't on the outside,
it is leaking into the engine and anti freeze in oil does a lot more
damage than water in oil.
As for the radiator, a good radiator shop should be able to clean
out the core without installing a new one. The procedure is sort
of like cleaning a gun where a brush is poked down each core tube.
If there are no leaks, it should then be good to go. Should cost
lots less than a new repro radiator.
Bruce Kettunen
57 3200
MN
At Tuesday, 20 November 2001, you wrote:
>Ok, now it has all caught up to me. By being cheep and only using
water and
>not dealing with my radiator boil over issue the whole thing froze
and the
>plug was pushed out. I have gotten a lot of great advice from you all.
>
>This is what I have done so far.
>Purchased a new freeze plug for $0.90, this to date is the lowest price
>thing that I have ever purchased for the truck. Also got some aviation
>permlux that the guys at the machine shop told me to use. They
also told me
>to drill a hole in the center of the old cap about the size of
my biggest
>screwdriver and pry the old cap out. Then clean out everything I can
>reach - use a shop vac and it should also suck out more. Then to
punch it
>in take a wooden doll about 1 1/2 inches and punch it in about 1/8 inch
>indented from flush. Do you think this is the right distance?
>
>Next I got a flow test on my old radiator. It tested at about 8
gal per
>minute. It should be over 20 so the guy will try to clean it out for
>$40.00. Since it is not an original but a replacement I do not
think I will
>get it re-cored if it can not be made to flow better. Hope this
will fix
>all my over heating problems and then I will keep antifreeze in it year
>round.
>
>Once it is all completed I will post and let you know how it all went.
>
>Thanks again,
>NHJim
>45 Chevy 3104
>oletrucks is devoted to Chevy and GM trucks built between 1941 and 1959
>
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