Over heating solved

[Fugal 41]

How I solved my over heating issue. Engine would over heat with in 10 minutes running time. Idle or driving made no difference. Looking in radiator I could see great water flow. History, car restored in the sixties and sat unused until the last few years. I removed the thermostats, drained the system, purchased Oxalic Acid crystals and put one pound in the radiator. Filled radiator to just above the tubes. Put cap on loose and ran the engine til hot. Left the measure in and would run the engine til hot each time it cooled down. Week later, drained the system, flushed with clean water twice. Added 2 cups Baking Soda and clean water to neutralize any acid left and ran the engine hot once. Drained and flushed twice with more with clean water. Put thermostats back in, added antifreeze water mix. Now runs cool as new. Oxalic Acid will only attack rust in the engine and radiator. For small rusted parts, make measure in a bucket and let soak. If your problem seems to be dirt, mouse nest, what ever, try Cascade to clean. NOTE: Be sure to add Baking Soda to the drained acid mix to neutralize before disposing. NOTE: Wear gloves, do not breath acid fumes. Go online and study above information.
Be safe, Drive cool.

[texas webb]

Good write-up,thanks.What car-engine do you have?

[Joe Immler]

Lot's of time spent but sure beats pulling the radiator etc. Good write up. Thanks.

[fordhistory]

This is very interesting. It's one more thing to consider/perform when attacking an overheating problem with our flatheads.

[rotorwrench]

Oxalic acid turns iron oxide into a more stable ferrioxalate ion that is water soluable so is is used for cleaning & bleaching. It's a little stronger than acetic acid or vinegar but it will do about the same thing. The stuff will clean & bleach wood very well too.

[sidevalve8ba]

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Where do you find Oxalic acid? Hardware stores?

[1952henry]

Wood bleach. Found in hardware stores. Been writing about this for years. Glad to see another believer

[Six volt]

Really great information to know and to keep handy in the car filing system. I just took a snapshort of it on my iPad and will make a hard copy. You wrote it clearly, listing all the steps and concerns, there's no guesswork, thanks

[Fourdy]

I just ordered 5# of it for $15 postage paid on E---. I have done the vinegar treatment a couple times and each time it got better but still heats up. (just takes a little longer) I was amazed at the amount of dirty rusty water that came out of the engine. It will stain your driveway. In desperation I was just about ready to take my engine out and take it apart to send the block out for acid cleaning. I will give this a couple weeks treatment and see if I can cruise cool also. Thanks for your follow-up. Foundry

[rotorwrench]

When I did my last flathead overhaul, I took the block to a Redi Strip shop and had the guy tank it for a while. He kept his solution moving with a pump & filter so it would have good effect. When he pulled it out and cleaned his filter, he removed near a coffey can full of core wire. If the core wire is still in the block, it will take a while to get it all out. The Redi Strip stuff worked a bit faster than the mild acids do. That block looked new when it came out and no further crud on the inside. I wished that place was still in business.

[JSeery]

The blocks I have cleaned have a ton of wire and core sand in them, especially near the rear cylinders and along the bottom rails. It is just unbelievable how much comes out of them!

[TStiles]

A long-term issue in the marine industry, cooling system maintenance has been a real bugger. Just imagine having to pull out a 5,000# engine and all the heat exchangers in order to address overheating. And marine engines will need this service. Some every 3-4 years. Necessity can really be a mother and a lot of energy has been put into dealing with this issue. Today, using the right products (there are a handful of them) you can go from spending tens of thousands to hundreds of dollars (per event) to solve the problem. A product that I particularly like is Rydlyme. By simply setting up a circulating pump and filtration system and letting it cycle for a few days, I've personally been able to avoid pulling a boat apart just to service the cooling system. I have used these products on cars, too with great success. If you're curious, here'a a link to one of the products: http://www.rydlymemarine.com/

[weemark]

the block I have in my roadster had lots of casting sand left in it, the back 2 cylinders were completely enclosed in sand - there must have been no water at all getting to the back of the block. to clean them out you need a good metal rod to get into the water jackets to break the sand up and get it out of there.

[Darrell S]

A long-term issue in the marine industry, cooling system maintenance has been a real bugger. Just imagine having to pull out a 5,000# engine and all the heat exchangers in order to address overheating. And marine engines will need this service. Some every 3-4 years. Necessity can really be a mother and a lot of energy has been put into dealing with this issue. Today, using the right products (there are a handful of them) you can go from spending tens of thousands to hundreds of dollars (per event) to solve the problem. A product that I particularly like is Rydlyme. By simply setting up a circulating pump and filtration system and letting it cycle for a few days, I've personally been able to avoid pulling a boat apart just to service the cooling system. I have used these products on cars, too with great success. If you're curious, here'a a link to one of the products: http://www.rydlymemarine.com/

I would be interested on how this is done in a car cooling system. Did you set up a filtration system and some kind of pump? This looks like a very effective process.