im confused ..cooling system question

if it was me, Id change the head gaskets just to be on the safe side. But thats just me.

KY JELLY wrote:How did you get the air in your water system then ? Did you leave a certain amount of air for expansion ?

ok so when i removed the intake to get the Nos flowed it was winter time so i poured in some antifreeze , when i got the intake back i drained her and filled her up with tap water , and filled it up to the top of the radiator ..... iam i supposed to leave air in the system ????

bruno wrote:

KY JELLY wrote:How did you get the air in your water system then ? Did you leave a certain amount of air for expansion ?

ok so when i removed the intake to get the Nos flowed it was winter time so i poured in some antifreeze , when i got the intake back i drained her and filled her up with tap water , and filled it up to the top of the radiator ..... iam i supposed to leave air in the system ????

When you released the pressure did it blow water out ? There needs to be a small amount of air for expansion water will not compress it will expand when its heated or frozen , if it had a lot of air in it and did not blow water out when you released the cap you are either getting air from a cylinder and lost some water some where or had an air pocket when you filled it up.

Does the water have a red tint to it ?

yes it did blow water out .... it had a greenish tint to it ....

also the manifold is about 6-8" taller then the radiator cap and there is no air bleed on this csr water neck ..

you could have just had an air pocket trapped , did you circulate the water when you were filling it and check it again after putting the cap on and warming the engine ? I assume you have an electric pump.

yes and yes ...... i will retorque the head gaskets and put her back together , drain old coolant and put in distilled water ....



just one more question on the re-torque of the gaskets ...should i bust them all loose and retorque or should i just tighten them up a click ???

I busted them loose in normal sequence one at a time and re torqued before moving to another stud. Mark nuts with a sharpie to see if they tightened some . I am not running distilled water in mine just tap water.

I would test it after you get done by engaging the transbrake and bringing it up to launch rpm and make sure you are not losing any water, you can even hook up a pressure gauge to the over flow hose or fitting where the water can't escape and record the pressure it gets to while warming the engine , after hitting the transbrake , and after cool down .

Watch or have someone to make sure no water blows out between the head/ block/ gasket when you test it on the t brake

Thxs Randy for all your help .....


i know Charlie evans made a comment in reguards to torquing my heads down but i cant seem to find that thread but as far as the final torque # what should it be 135 , 145 , 155 ????

135-140

no more then 140 ...... gotcha ..i thought Charlie had some higher #s ...o well

thxs Lem and Randy for the help

With 30 or 40 wt. oil.

Lem Evans wrote:With 30 or 40 wt. oil.

I use green 20-50 oil.............

richter69 wrote:

Lem Evans wrote:With 30 or 40 wt. oil.

I use green 20-50 oil.............

That's the 3rd choice

Lem Evans wrote:

richter69 wrote:

Lem Evans wrote:With 30 or 40 wt. oil.

I use green 20-50 oil.............

That's the 3rd choice

That's The HeRo's choice...........

do i need to bleed of the air in the coolant system ?

and what size restrictor are yall using in the water neck housing ?

You should be able to push the air out by turning the pump on / off several times. When you pull the cap make sure the pump is running you will usually have a void (air) under the cap, add water with the pump running. When you get most of the air pushed out the top hose / water neck area is where the air should be. If you pull the cap off without the pump running most likely water will run out the cap .

You just need to make sure you don't have air trapped in the block or radiator it will finally work its way to the highest point.

I do not run a restrictor so can't help you there.

This is a little different than your setup, but the principal is the same. On my setup where my radiator is in the bed of the truck, I have a thermostat housing that has the plug into it. When I fill the system, I keep plus loose and add water until it starts t ocome out of the plug, then I tighten the plug, turn the pump on to circulate the coolant and top off the radiator while it's moving the water. Get's the air bubbles out in no time.

yep ...must be some sort of odd reaction ....have duplicated the issue 2 times already both with 2 types of caps one is a 16lb and a 13lb deal ..... and there is lots of pressure in the system .......

just glad its not the gaskets ........ i havent even started beating on her

Maybe one of your kids shoved some of your home cookin in the radiator hole and now it has gas

You can get the pH test strips for checking coolant, it should be very close to a pH of 7 (neutral).

A very small amount of anti-freeze will still give the water a green tint. Having iron and aluminum together is like a small battery if the coolant is even a bit acidic (lower pH).

Bill