Hello.
This email is a follow up to my previous over heating problem for anyone searching this database in the future..
I had been running the engine without the thermostat to keep the engine cool. Once I finished, I couldn't get the temperature needle to move up, so I had to put it back in to get the temperature back up. It still seems a bit cool. The needle in the temperature gauge is also very consistent now. Before, it was jumping around when it was too hot.
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-Found that my water pump was worn out. The impeller basically rubs on the bronze so long that it slowly rubs the metal away. The pump gets weaker because it basically leaks inside itself. I changed mine with a new one and now get at least twice the water flow.
-Flushed the cooling system. Below is the procedure I used. It's not the only way to do it if you research..
And you should research. This involves acid and is therefore dangerous.
-Remove your thermostat.
-I pulled off two of the freeze plugs on the front of the engine. These are aprox 1 1/8" diameter circular pieces of metal. They are domed shape and I guess they are put into the freeze plug hole and whacked. Then they push out and form a seal against the engine block. I found them hard as heck to get out. Ended up using a cold chisel, drills, punches...
-I bought a black stopper and drilled out the center and put in a 1/2" barb to barb adaptor in it. Then I got more adaptors to connect the garden hose to this rubber stopper.
-You can also get removable freeze plugs. They are basically a rubber stopper (non-tapered) with a bolt through it and a metal washer on either side. When you turn the bolt, it squeezes the rubber and it squishes out. You need the 1 1/8" - 1 1/4" size.
-So using this combination of stoppers and freeze plugs, I blasted water using the garden hose into both freeze plug ports, and also in the normal water intake and also backwards into the water exit from the engine. You should get lots of rust flakes and stuff.
-To find the water input to the engine, follow the hose from the water pump going up. It connects to the Tee at the back-bottom of the exhaust manifold.
-The water leaves the engine out the thermostat and up to that hose on top of the manifold.
-The hose on the bottom of the exhaust manifold is the bypass water path. When the engine is cold and the thermostat is closed, the water still flows, it just travels under the manifold and into the thermostat compartment from the bottom, straight out the top to the exhaust pipe.
-Pinching the bottom hose with locking pliers will force all fluids to go through the engine.
-once I did all this, I then flushed with chemical cleaner.
-I used muriatic acid to do this. I found that Marsolve and Rydlyme, two commercial products used for flushing, use muriatic acid. Muriatic acid can be found in the hardware store. It is commonly used in etching back brick (I think as a pre-painting step).
-Get a big bucket. Plug up your freeze plug holes. Pinch off the bypass water circuit. Get some extra 1/2 inch hose and plum both the water input and output back to the bucket. None of these flushing procedures involve the water pump.
-Get a couple of boxes of baking soda (arm and hammer type stuff). Once you are done, you can slowly put this in the bucket of acid and neutralize it before disposal.
-Get one of those pumps you connect to your hand drill. Connect this to one of the ends of the hose in the bucket. Connect another hose to the other side of the pump and put it back to the bucket.
-So now you should be able to pump water from the bucket, through the engine, and back to the bucket. Try this with plain water first.
-Once I got that done, I poured in the acid. Have goggles on your eyes (at least). Mine came in a 30% concentration. Get it down to 10% which is what the Marsolve and Rydlyme use.
-Then pump away! Pump and then let the acid sit for about 10 minutes to eat.. Then pump again.
-My pump broke while doing this. So I CAREFULLY disconnected the pump and reconnected the garden hose to the system and flushed out the engine with water, one bucket at a time.
-Good idea to take the bucket of acid out of the boat and into the field to put the baking soda in as it foams up when you do it.
