rx for unplugging radiator! man it worked great!

Unknown

i have a 1931 hudson 8 , i put a radiator on it i bought from one of you guys, great condition! however over the years some critters moved into it and had a family etc! i thought i flushed it well before installing it but i was wrong...



it was plugged up! the car overheated but the bottom of the radiator stayed cool! very puzzling at first! but then it came to me radiator must be plugged up! because i already had the water pump apart and re packed etc and it looked great! so today i consulted an old timer and we came up with a plan here it goes!

i want you all to know

i fixed the radiator problem with the following prescription :

i drained out the radiator from both ends,then,

i took off the top hose at the water tube on top of head. i plugged it with a closed end pipe and clamped it off. then i put 2 gallon of muratic acid in there a little at a time, as not to spil it all over the first gallon went very slow! i left the petcock open as to know when it reached the bottom of radiator. it took about 5 minutes or more. after it reached the bottom i put the second gallon in, then i started it and let it run until it started to puff steam out the overflow, shut it down let it cool , started it up till steam , shut it down, did that several times about 2-3 hours. i then drained the acid in to a pan slowly from the petcock only. strained it with cloth into clean bucket, poured it back in and ran it some more like before about 1 hr more. then i drained it completely by taking off bottom hose while it was sitll pretty warm!! man waht a show!! black,brown,nut shells,mouse crap,and more! i then flushed it out thouroughly fro the bottom with a high pressure hose and water. filled it up drove it like i stole it and walah! no overheating!!! worked great!!

[Deleted User]

Sounds like it should work well. We should probably mention here that muratic acid is NASTY and DANGEROUS stuff! Be careful here and wear protection and avoid the fumes....slim

Unknown

the fumes were nasty! and you should have a hose close by to wash off any spilage completely. muratic is somewhat nasty but whilst flushing it also cleans the concrete nicely!



the radiator fix is worth the mess!

Unknown

Aside from the fun of a DIY project, may I ask why you didn't just take it to a radiator shop for a cleaning?

Unknown

sure ! #1 it was heating up shortly aftre starting it up, secondly they wanted me to remove it , which i did not want to do "again" and the pleasure of fixing a problem myself makes me happy! there were no radiator shops in 1931 like today. part of owning these old cars is living in the past !



naw i just wanted the satisfaction of doin it myself!

and it was only $14.00 ! to boot.



my phlisophy is it aint no good like it is i cant do no worse to it!

and i have a spare to be recored if i had ruined it!

but i did not and all is well .



i like the shut up and drive thing!

Park_W

Having had to lift the radiator of a '27 over the headlight bar a few years ago to change a timing chain, I knew exactly why you wanted to DIY! LOL

Unknown

THANK YOU! it sucks !!! you need 8 hands 4 legs , and two mouths to cuss out of! at least!!

Unknown

sybersell wrote:

sure ! #1 it was heating up shortly aftre starting it up, secondly they wanted me to remove it , which i did not want to do "again" and the pleasure of fixing a problem myself makes me happy! there were no radiator shops in 1931 like today. part of owning these old cars is living in the past !



naw i just wanted the satisfaction of doin it myself!

and it was only $14.00 ! to boot.



my phlisophy is it aint no good like it is i cant do no worse to it!

and i have a spare to be recored if i had ruined it!

but i did not and all is well .



i like the shut up and drive thing!

Glad you like my wacky signature. Sounds like you had lots of good reasons to DIY. And, you can't beat the price and friendly service.

junkcarfann

FYI, Muriatic acid is the historical name for hydrochloric acid.

Unknown

hudrochloric,muratic,however you name it it worked great had her out for a spin this beautifu evening and all cool and nice! i di dflush with baking soda today first and about 200 gallons of resh water to be certain it was clear of the acid. now i just have to do the shocks,re instal the back bumper and tail light assembly rstore the trunk,hook up the headlights, and i am off to all the summer cruises and shows! in style! thanks again guys !



" i realy need to come up with one of those sayings!! " YOU GUYS ARE VERY WITTY ! nah i will spend my time driving!

Unknown

Any reaction when you used the baking soda or were you good to go by then?



Maybe we should have a contest to help you come up with a signature.

Perhaps something "acid" related.

Unknown

no reaction just more crud removal and finaly clear water thru.



yea i need a catchy saying too! let me know what you come up with...

Unknown

It sounds like the old, tried and true methods of cleaning radiators worked really well for you. Have you ever tried using acid to clean the interior of gas tanks?



10-4 on the catchy!

Unknown

no i have not but an old timer told me (same one) to put a few hands full of small gravel,in thee with water and shake like hell, rinse let dry good to go !



good luck



dr. do it my self !



(do you like that one?

Unknown

I've heard the same thing. Since the old timer was right about the acid, maybe the gravel trick works well too.



How about Dr. Did It Myself ?

Unknown

I Tried The Muriatic Acid In The Gas Tank On A Briggs&stratton Motor It Ate Up The Pickup For The Carburator,never Did Get It To Run After That.i Think I Would Try The Gravel & Ride It Around On The Back Of The Pickup A Few Days.

Unknown

Probably should remove the float in the tank before cleaning then.

[Deleted User]

sybersell wrote:

there were no radiator shops in 1931 like today. part of owning these old cars is living in the past !

I'm not sure if you were saying that there were not radiator shops at all in 1931. tho, I can not recall the exact year he opened the family business, but my great-grand father owned and operated Hudson's Radiator Service here in south-western Ohio in that era.

Unknown

Hudson13 wrote:

I'm not sure if you were saying that there were not radiator shops at all in 1931. tho, I can not recall the exact year he opened the family business, but my great-grand father owned and operated Hudson's Radiator Service here in south-western Ohio in that era.

no not saying there were no shops, but it was the depression ..... sorta like now?! and one had to make do with what he had or could scrounge up.

i was remarking in jest to the "why did you not take it to a shop " post.



and shops today are not like those good old ones! now nonone even knows what honeycomb is! let alone know how to re build them , nor do they understand the rareity of these old buggers!



thanks



bob

Unknown

A safer way but it would take a little longer is to use white distilled vinegar, which is actually oxalic acid. That was the ingredient in the radiator flush DuPont used to sell yrs ago, but the gov't is trying to protect us from ourselves and made them stop sellig it several yrs ago. Follow up with a dose of baking soda in the system to neutralize any acids lefty in the system.

[Deleted User]

I took the radiator from my parts car to a shop here in Newport to have it cleaned and checked before putting it in my 54 Hornet Special. Man, was I surprised to find out that the guy that worked on it was one of the original owners of the shop, ( His sons now run it ) and he was 92 years old! He only works part time and then only on the older stuff. He looked at it and said " Mid fifties McCord, some of the best radiators ever made, new stuff is junk." Then he pressure tested it and cleaned it and said it was good to go. Charged me $45......
Bob

[Deleted User]

Bob, for your $45 you got a lot of piece of mind and you didn't take a chance on acid burns or wrecking something from a chemical reaction you can't predict. I don't doubt most of our forum members are more than capable of doing things themselves but having spent 30 years using chemicals for treating water and cleaning the equipment related to treating water. Accidents happen in a heart beat and often if we didn't have emergency breathing apparatus someone could have died from the toxic clouds generated, burns were commonplace. We all wore protective gear and followed safety precautions but things happened. The point of all this is please be careful, acid burns can be severe and chemical reactions can cause fumes in confined areas that are deadly. Plus there is always the chance of ruining a hard to replace part or corroding aluminum pieces in your radiator. To me the $45 is more than worth the piece of mind.



Harry

[Deleted User]

sybersell wrote:

...put a few hands full of small gravel,in thee with water and shake like hell, rinse let dry good to go !

I learned of that trick on this forum. The person somehow strapped the tank to their small cement mixer and let it spin for a few hours.

[Deleted User]

I have three different sized cement mixers that I rent out. I was just going to stick my tank into the 1 sack (12 cubic feet) mixer and tumble it but I was worried about the mixing blades tearing a hole in the tank or snapping the neck off if the tank shifted. In the end I took the tank to a radiator shop and had it boiled out. That still didnt save me from trouble as I got a tank of contaminated fuel during all the storms and had to reclean my tank then seal it. Now the inside of the tank looks like it's plastic coated and I don't have to worry about a chunk of scale falling off the roof. That and I don't buy gas from the Valero station any more.



Harry

Unknown

I wonder how this gravel and small chains and stuff that peop;e use to clean these Hudson tanks get by the baffels that are in my Hudson gas tanks.

[Deleted User]

Billy, my Hash tank doesn't have baffle one. I scoped the inside looking for scale and damage and that tank is smooth as a babies butt inside. I think if I would have done the mixer trick I would have used ball bearings instead of gravel, the way my luck works I would have ended up with a grain of sand stuck in the tank until I was on a trip then it would come loose and plug something up.



Harry

[Deleted User]

I have taken 3 gas tanks to KING'S Radiator shop in Morristown TN.
Mr. King has a cousin that owns an automotive glass shop. Mr Kings cousin provides him shattered safety glass by the 5 gal bucket. Mr. King has a rotisserie that holds up to 6 tanks at a time. He pours about 2 gallons of glass in to a tank and seals it up, then tumbles the tanks for 24 hours. If the tank is not clean after 24 hours it is tumbled another 24 Hours, Then Hot tanked and set aside to dry, then back on the rotisserie with a couple gallons of sealer inside for 2 hours. 1st and 2nd tanks cost me $100 each 3rd one was $115 This was over a period of 4 years. I haven't had a problem since then from any tank I have had done. The thing you have to watch for is that the vent tube does not become sealed where it goes into the tank. It will make it hard to fill with gas, and it will puke gas back out of the filler if you try to fill it too fast. Mine was and I had to run a coat hanger thru it to open it up. Fortunately I did this before I put the tank in the car!

Bob

Unknown

guys it is not about the money ! i spend $45.00 on lunch , the point is i tried something and it worked. passing along the info is all iam doing i dont own stock in muratic acid! nor do i plan on opening a radiator shop. it is just a recipe that works when all else failed. as far as danger we are in danger everytime we get out of bed. many of you use as dangerous things on a daily basis how many of you smoke? now there is a safe way to plug up your human radiator! and acid wont workto fix that!



guys have fun drive and love!