1550 cylinder head plugs

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 14, 2015

Last summer I found two of the plugs on the left side were seeping water when parked so I thought maybe I should change them all. Took the valve cover off today, the front and rear plugs had oil sludge on them but the one in the center was clean. There was also some beads of water in low spots on the head. Good thing I looked. Was this a common problem with these engines? It seems I've seen a number of posts about leaky plugs. On the plus side, the valve train parts all looked good.

oliver90owner · Apr 15, 2015

Not exactly common, but think here of thin steel plug with water behind it (and hot). Likely a more prevalent fault where no inhibitor has been maintained in the cooling system or head gasket leakage has allowed acidic exhaust gas into the cooling system. Nothing to do with just that model - simply an operator fault, at some time, in most cases I would say.

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 15, 2015

These are brass. I had a hard time finding them. Parts stores don't stock them. I got some steel plugs for another engine from O'Reilly but they had to order them in and the brass was on back-order, no telling when. I finally found a machine shop that had some. They're going in with Permatex No. 1 just to be sure.

Married2Allis · Apr 17, 2015

Is there a best way to flush the cooling system on these engines ? Are there better products out there that help get rid of crud and treat corrosion?

Mike(NEOhio) · Apr 17, 2015

Last time I did one I used the Prestone 2-part flush. That was on a Ford, I don't know if I'd use it for a wet sleeve engine. It uses oxalic acid. I had a lot of sludge in the back end of my 1550 so I took the oil filter off and put a 1/4 45 deg. street L then a 6" nipple and capped it. I'm going to run it and change it a few times with straight water then use a flush. I also put a garden hose adapter on the nipple and put the hose directly on with the other block plug out and the radiator drain open and let it run. I put a nipple into the front block drain just so it would not run down into the frame. I wanted to get most of the junk out before I use the flush. I can post some pictures tomorrow if you want.

Married2Allis · Apr 18, 2015

If you get a chance pictures would be great, thanks.

1550 cylinder head plugs

Mike(NEOhio)

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oliver90owner

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Mike(NEOhio)

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Married2Allis

Well-known Member

Mike(NEOhio)

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Married2Allis

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