The Ford Barn

Keith True · 05-08-2024, 09:54 AM

Solutions and flushings are not going to open up blocked tubes.A tube that is blocked up 3 inches from the opening is not going to let solutions down there to open it up.The juice will just find an easier route to the bottom.The old 4 second rule came about when people were happy to drive their A's around at 40 MPH all the time.The radiator guy I used to use showed me that a radiator with 50% of it's tubes blocked will drain in 4 seconds.Somebody published that story over 60 years ago,and because it was in a magazine,it had to be true.Nothing but mechanical poking will unblock the tubes.I have worked on old equipment,and old cars all my working life,and never found any magic uullet that properly cleans a radiator.Over the years I've spent hundreds of hours trying to fix something that I could have fixed if I just took the top off the radiator and run a transmission dipstick down the tubes in the first place.

05-08-2024, 09:54 AM	#17
Keith True Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Epping N.H. Posts: 3,693	Re: Cleaning the radiator Solutions and flushings are not going to open up blocked tubes.A tube that is blocked up 3 inches from the opening is not going to let solutions down there to open it up.The juice will just find an easier route to the bottom.The old 4 second rule came about when people were happy to drive their A's around at 40 MPH all the time.The radiator guy I used to use showed me that a radiator with 50% of it's tubes blocked will drain in 4 seconds.Somebody published that story over 60 years ago,and because it was in a magazine,it had to be true.Nothing but mechanical poking will unblock the tubes.I have worked on old equipment,and old cars all my working life,and never found any magic uullet that properly cleans a radiator.Over the years I've spent hundreds of hours trying to fix something that I could have fixed if I just took the top off the radiator and run a transmission dipstick down the tubes in the first place.