What if...

... the water jackets in the block were full of calcified sediment that won't wash out in a flush?


I noticed the drain valve on my radiator wasn't working when I was removing it for another purpose, .... didn't think much of it.

Yesterday I opened the drain valve on the side of the block and coolant just dripped out really slow.

It's a ball valve, so it should be a wide open tube when it's open. So I shoved a nail in there. It went in about 3 inches with no resistance. Didn't get any sludge on it. But it didn't speed up the dripping of coolant.

I flushed it in 2014, didn't get much crap out of it, just a brown mixture of red and green antifreeze.

I'm thinking the bottom of the radiator might have the same stuff blocking the drain.



If that's the case, how would I verify this, and what can I do to get rid of it? Can that water jacket be accessed with the head removed?

Tomorrow I think I'll blow compressed air into that block drain while it's flushing and see if it spits out crud in the water flowing out.

Taking advice from some of the people on this forum I filled up my radiator with vinegar and ran it up to temp then let the engine cool down. After that so much gunk came out. I actually pulled the valve to help it flow though.

On my 8N I had to pull the head since somehow the previous owner allowed a bunch of pine needles to get into the system and it was...it was just bad.

Vinegar is an acid and usually sold in a weak solution . CLR and other lime and rust removers may work better since you can get a stronger solution . Occasionally it un stops pin hole leaks that were clogged with corrosion .

You can purchase infrared laser guns that give you a digital reading for about $15 . You would want to check the front of the radiator in the four corners when the motor is up to temp to verify coolant flow .

Pulling the drain valve will help a little but mostly just that area . It will help to do what you can but after doing that there will still be a lot that did not move . When a head is removed and or the Welch plugs you can see that the water ports are deep and the cleaner worked in the path of least resistance leaving large deposits in the slower moving areas .

If it is not overheating it would be best to do a light flush and fill with coolant / distilled water without creating a bigger problem

It was not overheating but I was seeing some wildly different temps moving around the block with my infrared gun.


I added a water temp gauge today but I also flushed it.

Flush kits are designed to hook to heater hoses. Obviously these tractors don't have heater hoses so I hadda make my own in the plumbing section at Menards.

I got water flowing freely out the block drain, removed the radiator and flushed it too, and it's also draining well.


Then I blew compressed air into the upper outlet on the head, and when it stopped coming out the water pump, I held my hand over the water pump outlet to hold in some pressure until it stopped coming out the block drain.

I assumed at that point my block was empty. Radiator was empty too, totally. I wanted it totally empty because I don't want my crappy well water in it, and also because I don't want it to dilute my antifreeze/water mixture.

But it took less than 2 gallons to fill it over the top of the core in the radiator. Even after I ran it a bit, drained a little out of the block drain to make sure air wasn't trapped in it. I even warmed it up and the coolant level didn't go down.

I thought these things were supposed to hold 14 quarts? (3-1/2 gallons)