is there a coolant drain on our flatties?

[Cpt.Fred]

i was told there would be a device on the engine

to let all the water out of it.

well, i don't find it... stupid me.

can anyone tell me where it is?

thanks!

fred

[BobT-47P15]

I think mine has a petcock drain on the driver's side, but don't recall

the exact location. It may not be found on all engines.

Otherwise, the "freeze" plugs can be removed to let out coolant

and accumulated crud.

[boxer_inv]

Captain, here is a photo of where my drain plus is located - little petcock on the LHS of the engine block, just a little above the oil filler tube hole next to the freeze plug.

Edited August 12, 2010 by boxer_inv
spelling

[Cpt.Fred]

thanks!

how does that work, do i have to turn the whole thing or unscrew it completely?

i wonder if all of the coolant will come out...

[Frank Elder]

It works the same as a radiator petcock Fred, open the valve for water to come out.....it is probably plugged with engine sludge though.

Some have tried poking wire to clear it out but most end up removing the entire petcock and find a solid mass of sludge.

Reg Evans has a real good picture of sludge where the petcock used to be....if you have this problem the whole engine should be flushed.

That means removing the freeze plugs, water distribution tube and your valve covers for inspection and cleaning.

Good luck.

Edited August 12, 2010 by FRANKIE47

[Cpt.Fred]

that's my plan exactly.

i want to let all the coolant out of the block, since i added citric acid a few days

ago, and flush it. i will decide on what to do when i see what comes out there.

i ordered new freeze plugs at andy b.'s, but they don't confirm my order. that means i'm hesitating a little to just rip them out there...

i want to try to remove them like don told me, with a self-something metal screw thingy (forgot the word). maybe i'll try a little dishwasher soap like i read here, it's all in the radiator thread...

thanks for locating the petcock for me! tonight is cleaning night...

[Andydodge]

Not YOU again!!!!...........lol.........you still here!!.....lol.......Hi Fred!........your friend, Andyd........the petcocks sometimes freeze up, becoming difficult to undo, much better is to remove them entirely, they have either a 7/16th or 1/2" hex that you can undo them from the block and "free" the petcock up later, once removed you should have a stream of water run out but sometimes its clogged up with crud, just poke a piece of wire in the hole to clear it. As for the welch plugs they are 1 & 5/8th.......when I replace any that have rusted out I always use brass ones, never rust, ever.......and you can polish them, shiney.........makes the engine go faster!!.......lol.........andyd

[greg g]

Designed to open the valve to drain the coolant. However after this many years several things might happen, most of them bad. You can twist off the top of the valve trying to open it, you may get it opened with out a problem but crud will not allow it to drain, you might decide to remove the whole valve, and it will twist off leaving the threads in the block. Probably the best thing to do is to spray it liberally with a penetrating oil and then try to remove the whole valve (it can always be replaced) then dig into the crud behind it with a legth of wire to encourage it to drain. Of course if you are going to change the freeze plugs, pulling on will drain the block as well.

[Cpt.Fred]

yeah, andy, me again.... that lousy german with his rusty heap...

spending too much time in front of the screen than under the plymouth.

working seriously interferes with getting the car back on the road...

not financially, but temporal.

*sigh*

one of these days...

[woodie49]

that's my plan exactly.

i want to let all the coolant out of the block, since i added citric acid a few days

ago, and flush it. i will decide on what to do when i see what comes out there.

i ordered new freeze plugs at andy b.'s, but they don't confirm my order. that means i'm hesitating a little to just rip them out there...

i want to try to remove them like don told me, with a self-something metal screw thingy (forgot the word). maybe i'll try a little dishwasher soap like i read here, it's all in the radiator thread...

thanks for locating the petcock for me! tonight is cleaning night...

I recently pulled the water dist tube on my '49 and planned to backflush. I noticed in the manual it says backflush only if you remove the water distribution tube to avoid potentially further clogging it, so I am assembling mine without the tube, then I'll backflush and then reassemble with the tube.

I only mention this because it sounds like you plan to flush your block as currently assembled and then decide what else to do. If that is the case, maybe just flush the block, but don't backflush it.

[Cpt.Fred]

hey woodie,

what exactly is backflushing?

i didn't think it would make any difference which way around i do this,

just planned to put water in from the top (thermostat housing)

to flush out the crud at the bottom...

here's why i didn't find a petcock, there wasn't any.

this was in there instead, looks like an old temp feeler housing to me...

it came right out, some water was oozing out, and then i pushed a screwdriver in there and off it went,

just took 20-30 seconds for all the water to come out there:

this doesn't look too bad, does it?

maybe the citric acid was a good plan after all...

andy b. sent my parts (including the freeze plugs) yesterday, do you think i should pull them all out

(and risk not getting the new ones sealed up properly) or just leave them in there

and try readjusting the timing first?

fred

Edited August 13, 2010 by Cpt.Fred

[Andydodge]

Fred.......are you trying to multi-task?........lol.........timing/cooling/lol........I'd concentrate on either one first, maybe take the welch plugs out while you are waiting for the new ones to turn up, btw if you do take the plugs out and decide to stick a hose in the plug holes just make sure that the distributor hole which I can see open is covered up while your hosing.......a sump full of water & oil means another job to fix........lol.........once the plugs are out, clean the hole & water jacket and the stepped ridge that the plugs fit into........then dry off and find a drift that will allow you to install the plugs.........andyd

[Cpt.Fred]

andy, multi tasking is my second name...

timing, cooling, radio, keys, brakes, work, girlfriend, bicycles, beer,

scooters, more beer... did i mention the brakes?

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah.... alright i'll take the plugs out.

[greg g]

Supposidly by reversing the flow of water throught the block and or radiator, the flow will loosen the scale that has been deposited because it is flowing against what has been laid down by the opposite flow. Kind of like when you pet a dog or cat in the oposite direction of how their fur grows....

[Cpt.Fred]

Kind of like when you pet a dog or cat in the oposite direction of how their fur grows....

...and you KNOW that is no good. *scratch + bite*

[woodie49]

Fred,

Your flow of water through the engine is up from the pump (water comes in through the lower radiator hose), through the block and out the thermostat housing back into the radiator. If you flush your block by supplying water to the water pump (through the lower radiator hose), you are flushing the block in the same way as the water flows during operation.

If you flush your block by forcing water through the thermostat housing, you are reversing the flow of water through your block. That is backflushing.

I don't know how realistic is it, but the manual cautions that if you backflush with the water dist tube still in the block, you risk further plugging it, I guess by running a bunch of crud through it that has settleed elsewhere in the engine PAST the tube. The tube, being right behind the water pump, would tend to get the freshes (cleanest) water. I do know that it is fairly easy to backflush with the tube out for me, because I pulled mine and haven't bolted the water pumpo back on yet.

In either case, you need to pull your thermostat unless you flush with the engine running and keep filling the radiator. That is how we used to do it back when gas stations were service stations instead of 7/11s.

[Cpt.Fred]

woodie,

thanks for that info!

i would have flushed through the thermostat housing, i already took the thermostat out of there...

guess i'll let it be now, because i don't want to pull the water distribution tube now.

the newest plan is now to reassemble the engine, time the ignition,

flush trough the radiator and then visit the last two hot rod meets of this season,

both in a 100 mile radius from berlin.

afterwards i'll know where i really stand with this motor and i'll take off the whole nose then

and pull the plugs and maybe the tube as well in fall/ winter.

it's a real pain to get to all the plugs with fenders still on and everything still bolted to the engine.

i don't know, i have to drive it or i'll get depressed soon...

[woodie49]

If you have the thermostat pulled, you can flush by hooking you hose to the lower radiator hose. With the engine off, it will still circulate water and the water is traveling the same direction as your water pump pushes it, so should be no problem with the tube still in. If you hook a discharge hose to your upper hose to get the water coming out past the engine compartment, it won't be too messy and you'll flush out a lot of stuff. Particularly if you ran some acid to loosen everything up. Just stay out of the way of the water.