Heater core or vacuum hose?

Topic: Heater core or vacuum hose? (Read 7295 times) previous topic - next topic

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #30 – January 31, 2008, 06:29:45 PM

Quote

Have you tried flushing it out? I take two 3ft long pieces of heater hose and stick one end in on of the slots in the hood along the side to hold it upright. I then poor CLR into the other hose and add water until I hear it coming up the other hose. Then I cram the other one up in another slot in the hood. Let soak

How much CLR do you use for a heater core?

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #31 – February 03, 2008, 10:48:50 PM

#2 cylinder isn't perfectly flat at the bottom water jacket between it and #1. Leakdown testing showed only water "drip" sounds coming from the motor on this cylinder, but when the air is turned off, it loses compression from 120psi to 0 in like 2 seconds. Head's pulled and waiting to be machined. Air from the chamber was bubbling out of the sensor hole in the heater tube. The piston was pretty clean when we got the head off. All the other cylinders look like they are performing great though, center of chamber burn and all.

This air pocket issue at this location (at the sensor) would describe why MANY of the problems I've been having have been occurring.

Odd thing I saw though is that I have a ton of nasty oil/coolant mixture on the bottom of the lower intake and being sucked up the pcv hose, yet the oil everywhere else (heads, pan, etc) looks great. I'm still not sure what this stuff is, but it was quite thick. Probably going to put a collector after the pcv to see if it keeps happening and why it is.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #32 – February 03, 2008, 11:01:11 PM

Glad you found the problem, No warpage on the block itself?

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #33 – February 04, 2008, 02:00:12 PM

There doesn't appear to be. The head itself is very minor but enough to cause a poor seal at that spot.

Also, blew the heatercore out backwards and while some crud came out, it may not have been enough to cause a blockage. After more blowing, rusty water came out. Sounds like its time to try it out again and be ready to cap off the tubes on the intake if it begins to smell like antifreeze inside. I'm picking up the new heatercore today.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #34 – February 10, 2008, 02:18:57 PM

Heat's still the same - medium-warm at best. Now though, I get heat before the thermostat opens.

Haven't touched the heatercore besides blowing it out though.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #35 – February 10, 2008, 05:21:37 PM

Blew it out or flushed it out?

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #36 – February 11, 2008, 08:30:22 PM

Blew it out. I bypassed it until I can figure out what else is going on with the motor.

I can't seem to fill the coolant properly for some reason. Today I parked at an entrance to a parts store that has a huge climb (like 45 degrees upwards) and got a bunch of air out/HOT steam after immediately turning the car off when the tstat opened. Topped it off when the pressure was relieved. Parked it and when I came back 3 hours later, it started doing the same thing - temperature gauge peaked and started blowing coolant out the overflow tube. I pulled over, loosened the radiator cap and let some fluid drain to the ground (like 1/2 cup maybe) - then the engine sucked the radiator dry again and I put more fluid in.

Head gaskets are confirmed good now and the heater core is bypassed, yet it seems like I still have hotspots in the motor. What am I doing wrong? Am I supposed to be some air in the radiator at all times? It sure seems like whenever I allow air into the system, it begins to work properly again.

I don't understand whats going on now. No matter what I do, the thermostat never operates properly until I relieve the system pressure. It has a new radiator cap from Ford, rated at 16psi. It blows and sucks from the overflow just fine.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #37 – February 12, 2008, 01:04:51 AM

i had to go back and read this from the top.

For your heat (raidiant symptoms), check and make sure that the 3way vac line is connected on the pass side engine bay. There will be one tiny little black line that comes out fo the pass side fire wall near the AC/Heater core, one from the vac dist block and one from the fender well pass side. This vac line not being hooked up ***WILL prevent the internal vac controls from operating.
You already mentioned the motor sounds bad so thats a different issue all together but still, check that vac line.

For the over heating....................
You did not explain how you did the leak down test. In every instance,, both valve covers need to be off. You need to rotate the crank so that each cylinder intake and exhaust valves are closed. Next you can insert air into each cyl with a tester that has no check valve. You can use an air compressor or a regular bike foot pump with what i have made up here. This just happens to be one of those times where i had all the proper junk lying around to make the tool i needed but im sure you have the professional version.

You never posted all your compression numbers so im not sure whats going on. your coolant is going somewhere and you said the oil is clean. the exhaust has to be dumping it out and therefore a blown hg. Compression numbers will tell you that right off the bat but usually if the compression numbers are confussing, a leakdown tester would be best especially if you are dealing with a hairline crack in the cyl wall or head. You might not see this problem in a normal cold motor condition if it is a hardcore crack because heat will asssist in expanding the metal and widen the gap. If your head or block is cracked, you may have to suck it up and do the leak down test or compression test with a hot motor.

I have attached a pic of my homemade leakdown tester that shows a fitting to add air and the fitting that came with the compression tester for the spark plug hole. The 289 heads use the larger fitting shown on my compression tester now but i stuck the fitting for the 302 on the leakdown so you can see.

if your not sure what i mean by the 3way vac valve thingajig for the hvac located in the engine bay along the pass side firewall,, i can find a pic of it and post.

I think the next thing you might wanna do is this..........
remove the coolant temp sensor and rig you up a fitting that will allow you to insert controlled air into the coolant system.
listen for air and watch for leaks. with this rig you will be limited to the radiator cap psi rating.

or............
buy that cap for your radiator that has an air fitting already on it so you can put air in the engine block that way.
insert air and watch / listen for leaks. with this rig you will have no real limit on psi insertion so dont go crazy ,, just pump air in and watch the guage.

[COLOR="Red"]In both cases above,, it would be best to isolate the radiator from the test so i have learned that a golf ball fits pretty good up inside each radiator hose after you add a clamp.[/COLOR]
please post your compression numbers with a cold motor and then a hot motor. Im hoping you see a difference for the sake of solving this frustrating issue.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #38 – February 12, 2008, 01:44:16 AM

With rockers both out and tightened down we pumped air into each cylinder at TDC (pain to find sometimes), turned the compressor off and watched how slowly or quickly the pressure would drop. After the new head gasket/resurfacing of head, the passenger side was consistent with the drivers. As far as compression, I'd like to get another check, but they were all in the 145-150 range (don't have the exact numbers written down here, but I have them somewhere). I don't think I'm introducing air into the system anymore, just having a problem with water not circulating until the thermostat opens - then it runs fine. I only seem to put in as much coolant as I drain out when I pop the radiator cap. Everything from gaskets and water pump to thermostat are the right parts and installed properly as verified by yanking parts and reinstalling them (I have like 3 sets of engine gasket kits now). The only thing that stuck out was a small nick in the upper to lower intake that I put a tiny dab of rtv on to help prevent a minor vacuum leak.

The engine runs much better than 2 weeks ago, just doesn't seem to heat up evenly throughout...and the transmission having its own shifting issues. I'd love to swap it out with a 4r70w though.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #39 – February 12, 2008, 10:35:02 PM

Mr new radiator cap got me good. I was going to replace it but forget before the car warmed up. The temperature gauge did its usual thing so I turned the car off and went to relieve the pressure at the cap. Mr new plastic motorcraft cap decided it would rather blow itself off instead of staying held on by its locking clips, bending the "threads" and all. I'm really surprised I haven't blown a hose off at this point as that geyser was MUCH more than 16psi that came out of that thing. First time I've seen that and the old cap that was on a week before the new head gasket got thrown back on. I'll see if it acts any better in the morning, but I'm sure it will as I've never had a problem with it and pressure. Of course, the overflow tube was like halfway full, not overflowing or low so I'm pretty positive the new cap may be the one causing all these problems (only put on to "fix" what ended up being a small leak at the headgasket - the old cap is at least 5 years old now).

Tip, even if the cap is supposed to hold until you push and twist, always look AWAY from the thing when loosening it. It got me good. Flushed my eyes out just to play it safe. Hand is burned somewhat good.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #40 – February 13, 2008, 01:35:17 AM

check your water pump... not too bad of a job and its only $20 for a stock replacement...

I had similar problems. I never was able to trace it back to a leak till I got a new radiator and hoses then it went away...

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #41 – February 13, 2008, 01:41:35 AM

oh man,, sorry to hear bout the burns there. Tip for your.......next time throw a nice thick shop rag over the cap if you gotta remove it when hot.

question,, what are the odds your water pump is rotating the wrong direction internally?

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #42 – February 13, 2008, 09:10:48 AM

It wasn't so much anything but the cap actually blowing off and getting me. A rag wouldn't have helped, just shot up at me also. I thought about the water pump thing but less likely being a replacement straight from ford. I'd assume that they may have the same water pump housing in the opposite rotation though?

Watching the water flow with the cap off would tell everything though, would it not? What exactly is the flow supposed to look like inside the radiator? Or would it be easier to pull the upper hose, aim it into a bucket, and wait for the tstat to open a little?

I'm telling you, I've never had so much bad luck with any parts of this car until just recently. the new motor, even if it does run exceptional compared to the old one.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #43 – February 13, 2008, 09:07:16 PM

If everythings kosher,... I would assume that you should have too man problems with all the bubbles. Sometimes I squoze the upper radiator hose and that seemed to help, but I'm sure that I had a blown head gasket...

But when you squeeze it you can tell because the fluid level will go up and down when you look inside when the t-stat is open. I dont think it did when it wasn't.

Heater core or vacuum hose?

Reply #44 – February 13, 2008, 11:17:46 PM

Today relieving the pressure at the radiator cap, enough to cause the pressure to go to the overflow tube, seemed to burp out a lot of air. Having other issues though - the overflow tube/pressure issues ended up causing problems with one of my igniter plugs, making it arc together and scorch the thing so now I'm out one headlight. I had it laid out so gravity wouldn't be an issue but obviously, with pressure I'm working against gravity. When I get a new plug, I'll have to find some new way of mounting my ballasts and igniters or just sealing the things up permanently...

My passenger side foglight is blowing fuses too so that side of the car has very little light right now. the borderline-sized overflow tube. Plus, my drivers side power lock is making a nice grinding noise now. Its falling apart all at once!