Cleaning crud out of water jackets

Axtell · Jan 24, 2015

My 8N had decided to spew white smoke and dilute the oil crankcase with coolant. It appears I have a blown head gasket and/or warped head. I took the head to my local mechanic who agrees and said he would clean and shave the head for me, me get another gasket and I should be good to go. I hope that's all it is. Anyway with the head off I am inspecting the water jackets and notice a considerable amount of crud in each jacket. I sure would like to break the thing down and soak the block, but that is a too big a job right now. Is it possible or has anyone flushed out the cooling system this way. Seems a simple flush (drain/add/drain/add) will not do.

Thanks
Axtell

old · Jan 24, 2015

Fill the water jacket with vinegar and let it sit a day or 2, drain and flush and if still not clean fill it again. May take a few fillings and flushing but should clean it up pretty good

Jimmyjack · Jan 24, 2015

Ive used a pressure washer with some success.

Ken(Ark) · Jan 24, 2015

Ditto on the pressure washer .

Those cavities are deeper than they need to be so its not that big of a deal if you don't get it all cleaned out . I know , it's hard to leave some debris in there knowing that another hour and you could have got more out .

souNdguy · Jan 24, 2015

Check that shaved head on deck with no gasket and no plugs,
use a couple bolts as guide dowel, see if head wobbles rolling
over. If so use grease as a witness mark to relieve head with a
die grinder

dahermit · Jan 24, 2015

How is the head shaved? Is it machined on a mill?
Or, is it surface ground? What is this "head
shaving"?

BigMarv1085 · Jan 24, 2015

I'm with old on the vinegar.

Tall T · Jan 24, 2015

(quoted from post at 17:02:34 01/24/15) How is the head shaved? Is it machined on a mill?
Or, is it surface ground? What is this "head
shaving"?

The head re-surfacer or planer or milling machine, slowly walks the head over a large horizontal, thick spinning grind stone. "Shaving" is a less than accurate nickname for planing or milling a head.

It's probably a throwback to woodworking, where a planer literally shaves a surface.

Fuddy Duddy · Jan 24, 2015

Shaving the head and not checking the block also for trueness may
just ad to your problem. Make sure the block is good too. Like old
said the best way to clean out the cooling system is with vinegar. I'd
put it back together then fill with vinegar and run it around a bit. As
stated below, Make sure the pistons aren't hitting the newly shaved
head now.

Hobo,NC · Jan 24, 2015

Its tuff to get it out even if you had the engine apart on a engine stand with the core plugs out... I have seen the crud a few inches deep... Bare block was sent to a machine shop for a good cleaning then I dug and flushed quite awhile on it... Vinegar is not gonna do it but if it makes you feel good go for it...

I don't know of anything that will break it up but manual labor... Have fun are leave it be...

Axtell · Jan 28, 2015

Thanks to all for the tips. I will be trying a combination of all. Picked my head up today and waiting for the gaskets to come in the mail.

Dan · Jan 28, 2015

I agree with Hobo. I have cleaned the water jacket a few times and the best solution was to put the bare block on an engine stand with the freeze plugs out and dig it out with a coat hanger and rotating the block on the stand for the crud to fall out. I spent a couple of hours on my '39 9N block - every time I thought I was good to go more would fall out. I would say about half of the water jacket was filled with sandy looking rust and leftover casting crud.

Dan

BlackThumbHomesteader · Jan 29, 2015

I'm partial to hitting up the closest Dollar Store or similar and grabbing a few bottles of CLR(or similar) and running it through the radiator(thermostat removed) and letting it sit in a 50% mixture with water overnight. With the head off I would pre-mix, fill up the channels, let sit, and then flush it out with either air or water or a combo of both.

I do this in my cars, none of which are younger than 30, and it's amazing the amount of rusty crap that comes out.

Cleaning crud out of water jackets

Axtell

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old

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Jimmyjack

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Ken(Ark)

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souNdguy

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dahermit

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BigMarv1085

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Tall T

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Fuddy Duddy

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Hobo,NC

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Axtell

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Dan

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BlackThumbHomesteader

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