Technical Overheating Cadillac

I REALLY hope youre right! For whatever its worth, when I was getting rid of the air after installing the thermostat last time it did, out of nowhere, belch out a bunch of water all over and then equalize finally, as if a lot of air was trapped. I had never had a car do that when getting rid of the air. That was after it warmed up. Still might be from the clogged rad. Who knows

 

I agree with 35desoto Just get it rodded out again.I may try that with the ***** hose since my56 wagon hasn't had much road time on her yet.Now if I can just find where my wife hides her *****hose .lol.Bruce.

 

what part of the country you from as I know of a real good radiator shop here in the Chicago area ,as they do big trucks and have a reputation to upkeep , that when they say the rod the radiator they take it apart and rod it , not throw it in a tank and try to back flush the **** out as most shops are doing now .

 

Charlotte NC. The fact that I found a coil of radiator spring up top when I shined a flashlight in there had me a little mad. I replaced the water pump and hoses before installing the "cleaned" radiator.

 

Having your old radiator "rodded out" may be 1/2 the cost or more of a new radiator. If you want to keep the car, consider a new one.

 

Does your engine actually boil over with steam coming out or are you just paranoid with gauge reading????

 

get a cheap laser temp gun from hf tools, you can see hot cold area's easy

 

My son Rich had his '63-1/3 Galaxie radiator rodded out by a GOOD radiator shop in San Jose (CA) after picking it up from the 'other' shop a week prior.

He dropped it off in the morning, went to pick it up that afternoon. He then asked the owner, "Did you remove both tanks to rod this out, or do you have some 'new way' of rodding without removing tanks???"
The guy ***ured him he'd removed top and bottom, and rodded out every tube. "Then the tanks were cleaned, and soldered back on..."
Rich then told the guy to look closely at the solder line. "Here's the license number of my Galaxie, stamped in the solder channel. I stamped them in there before I brought it down.
Now, do you refund money or do I go get my brother? He's the ***'t District Attorney..."

The guy refunded half the money, ($45) Rich said, "Great paint job for $45. I'll tell everybody on the internet.."

Then he took the radiator to the reputable shop. They removed tanks, straightened fins, and side braces. Rodded out the core, re-***embled and repainted it.
The total was $65.00.
A competent radiator shop can do the work in record time, because they are set up for it, and do it like a 'factory'. Some newbys that have bought an existing business scowl at what they'll have to do, if more than 'boil-and-paint'!
Lots of that around here...

 

BEST tool in the box, you'll wonder how you ever did without it!

 

Ran 2 gallons of apple cider vinegar and the rest water for 2 days. Not much came out when I back flowed the rad upside down with the hose. So Ive taken it back to the shop to be flow tested and rodded out if need be. I'll keep you guys posted.

 

I hope it works out for you.Bruce.

 

The motor should have block drains so before you pull the radiator open up the drains and fire it up and keep the radiator topped off and you should be able to get the rest of the crud out of it.

 

Good news, I just got off the phone with the rad shop. It was flowing at about 12 gallons per minute. They opened up both ends, rodded it out, and now it flows 32 gallons per minute.

 

The SAME radiator shop?

 

Yes. They gave me a little break considering I was just there a few months ago, and to be honest, nobody has the good reputation they do locally anyway. Most other shops dont deal with that old of a rad.

 

you might want to look into one of these you can get them on e bay a couple of bucks cheaper http://tefba.com/index.html we use somethign simular on the semis plus a seperate spin on water filter/ conditioner cartridge .

also do not forget you cn drill a small 1/16th hole in your thermostat to help purge the air out before it sees op temp so you don't get the big burp , doesn't hurt the system at all . in the past almost all the good brand thermostats were drilled and had a rattler on them for the air ( the rattler plugged the hole when the air was not present )

 

I did that with my thernostate after some one told me to do that on my 56 buick wagon.It does help!

 

Thanks. Yeah oddly enough my thermo does have the rattler and hole, but it still did a big overflowing burp after running a while. Anyhow, Right now I'm just trying to ensure a clean as possible block before I hook the freshly cleaned Rad back up.

 

So I put everything back together and ran the car. The temp gauge after fully warming up was still pegged. Thermometer in the water read 200/205. Took out the thermostat (a 195 degree one) and ran it without it. Temp gauge still pegged and thermometer in water got as high as about 190 when set on high idle. Pulled the temp sensor and it had some crud in it, cleaned, put back in, still pegged gauge. Tested the gauge by touching the wire to ground. It works up and down. Kind of stumped. The next plan was to run a lower temp thermostat, and try and replace the temperature sending unit.

Does anyone know where I can find a temperature sending unit (6v) for a 1950 cadillac? Didnt see any at the usual cad supply stores online.

 

on some there are numbers stamped into the wrench hex , I have used that to cross over . my car quest guy found me one for a 54 we had at the shop , wasn't cheap .was around $30

 

1512015 seems to be the GM part number for the temp sending unit for your 6 volt 1950 Cad.
The good news is that that same part number fits MANY applications, am betting NAPA can fix you up, if you give them the GM part number.
They are on ebay, as well, but VERY pricy..
http://www.ebay.com/itm/GM-Temperat...r_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item19b87ef3b4
Look at this one, good price.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/251678592378

 

Changing to a lower temp thermostat won't make any difference. Once the thermostat opens at its designed point it stays open. Its not going to magically lower the operating temperature.

 

Noticed some water under the cad today that made me nervous. Luckily two of the rubber freeze plugs I replaced just needed to be snugged down a little.

Adjusted the brakes, pedal feels much better now.

Took it around town a little bit and she ran cool.

 

She ran cool, meaning the temp gauge is now reading correctly?

 

Honestly I only drove it about 15 minutes two one destination, and back. Through that time I didnt notice the gauge get too high, but it was also slow traffic and lights so I was happy. I still plan to change the temp sending unit.

The other day when testing with the thermo out, the hottest I could get the car sitting there with a high idle was 190. So Im feeling confident things are okay.

 

I would reccomend you get hard core plugs in before you have one of them rubber toilet stoppers pop out , its a good winter job to do .

 

Trust me, these things wont pop out. I had a HELL of a time getting two out to flush the degreaser, so much so that I had to replace the two I took out because once they are snugged and get hot, the rubber stays swollen. The two I replaced I didnt lock down as much hoping theyd be easier to remove in the future, but you need to snug them up. No problems now.

 

I agree with Stimpy replace the rubber freeze out plugs with the regular ones .Had one I replaced on on a late model ford bronco and it lossened up and the water poured out {this was at night so I didn't see the steam} and burned up the bearings .We wouldn't want to see that happen to your caddy. ThanksBruce.

 

The rubber ones are a temp. fix....IMHO

 

If I ever have to take the engine out I'll knock in some metal ones. I'll be careful to look for water on the ground before driving it though, and in the rad. Thanks