radiator Repair 63

[Kim K Kaiser]

The replacement radiator will be in tomorrow, i read the manual  regarding the removal.. looks pretty strait forward.

refill with fresh water, replace cap, an set heater and defroster to maximum 

run car at medium speed for hour at temp as hot as possible without boiling,,   ( idle or moving vehicle?)

check for leaks, belts hoses then drain again,  

add ethylen glycol  to protect to -20 ,

use inhibitor an sealer, regardless of wheterh antifreeze has coolant or not.

so the questions

where are the block drain plugs,, i cant see them in the engine pictures in the book.

the coolant,, would the 50 50 mix be an appropriate fluid, and fill to top of radiator

or a concentrate then water. ??

sealer and inhibitor,  what would a brand name be for this,  or product name.

thanks in advance

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

Science has come along way since the good book was written.  Just get 2 gallons of distilled water, and 2 gallons of straight anti freeze.

Pour in 1 gallon of each, and then pre mix in an empty jug a 50/50 mix of water and anti freeze.  Top off to 1 inch below the filler neck on the radiator. Leave the cap off.

Start up the engine and warm up until the thermostat opens up. You just need to idle the car in park.  The upper hose and where it connects to the radiator will get hot.

The coolant level will drop, so just top it off. If you have an overflow jug, top it off to the top.  If you do not have an overflow jug, fill to 2 inches below the opening, or 1/2 inch above the fins in the radiator.

Put the rad cap back on and continue to run the engine.  Check for leaks.

The block drain plugs are on each side of the engine block. Get under the car and you will see them.  The anti freeze acts as a lubricant and inhibitor.

Be sure to check the level of the transmission fluid with the engine running and with the fluid hot.  You will loose some with a new radiator in place.

[Kim K Kaiser]

well, radiator made it in,, JOY!!  got to work on pulling the old one out,, what a mess,, it had hair, junk etc in bottom,  took time to rake out all the gump that this thing had accumulated on some of the framing members and the front of engine, i mean really packed in from I'm guessing years of this thing leaking and blowing back,,anyway, had it about licked till the transmission connections,,, they just didnt want to give up the grip,  hit them with nut remover, spray, let them sit, and they cam out, was dry  fitting the new one and and DAMN if the transmission fittings were too small for the new radiator,  they didnt ask the size when i ordered, and they said it was drop in, and i ordered car with a/c so thought it would be a cinch for fitting....SOOOO  off to parts store on wednesday i guess, to see if i can find a larger thread size for these to  to fit hopefully I can,, would i be better going to a radiator shop or a parts store for these,    should i put anything on these threads before i put them back in,,??

should have this done, soon, giving the holiday, stores wont be back in operation till wed,..

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

No need for anything on the threads.

[Kim K Kaiser]

Welll, i took radiator and fittings to part store. To find fitting for transmission line to radiator The fitting that came out of the radiater was a 1/4 inverted pipe fitting. It was to small to go back into new radiater as built. Determind it to be a,3/8 inverted flare fiting. So, got the 3/8 and it will not fit, so i called us radiator and he confirmed its a 3/8 inverted flare. I told him the 3/8 would not make but half turn in . Just to big on the thread size. Something to do with pipe threads standard threads . He had no answere exceot to say thats the size. So there happpened to be a 3/8 brake line w 3g/8 inverted. Flare. It fits just fine, except that, i hv this 8" pice of brake line, now i figured a Way to bend the lines to make them fit with an additional threaded extension. . Or should there be a 3/8 inverted flare fitting that would fit,

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

Get the brake line and cut it with a tubing cutter, hack saw or high speed grinder.  Now you have 2 lines to plug into the radiator.

[Kim K Kaiser]

ok,, got that fitting thing figured out,, now...

on the lower radiator hose,, i guess is should have shot a picture before i took it out, but there is a horizontal bar that runs right in front of the radiator opening,, 

does the hose go over the bar or loop under,, its centered on the hole but was concerned with it rubbing the bar.  puts a bend in the hose either way, not just a bend and slide on.  has to be looped under, or over, then sort of pushed down or up, to slide back over the outlet.

so that is my question,, which way, top of bar or below,, or does it matter

[24ro8f5mbs2jc]

Always, always, always take pictures before touching anything. Take as many as possible and from many angles. Period!

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

The horizontal bar is the sway bar.  The lower radiator hose runs under it.

[Kim K Kaiser]

well, i found the old hose, and re fit it, and it went under the bar,  as you suggest,

i got everything hooked back up,, lower hose leaked, i had to tighten it up.  also, one of the transmission lines leaked, they're a real pain to get in,, lot of pulling twisting, to get them lined up,

once i got them lined, the screwed in ok, not lite they were cross threaded.. so i may have to tighten it down, though it felt pretty tight, ..but,, tired now.. took all afternoon to hook up the hoses and the transmission lines..

[Kim K Kaiser]

well, i got the transmission line tightened up, no leak,, yet!  radiator hoses not leaking,, Yeah,!!  added some transmission fluid to replace the lost amount.

put in the water and fluid mix as directed,  temp got to between 1/4 and 1/3.  nothing bad happened.. let it run a while as directed in the earlier discussions.  took her for a ride.. temp dropped back to just a shade over 1/4.  again, nothing bad happened

so i think have the radiator change completed.  

at start up, though,  i had a dead battery, i had undone the negative post while working. anyway, jumped it off.  the new starting protocol seems to be, turn on key, a slow turnover, then another slow turnover, maybe two or three times,, then it fires off...so what could this be leading to.??

[3ft7bqmb7dryo]

Have the battery tested. If the battery is good, replace the battery cables and check the chassis grounds.  The grounds can be seen in the help file.