Hey, Mike, enjoying the white wonderland that is Saskatchewan in the winter?
Rain, flurries, wind and Cold here.
Nick
Rain, flurries, wind and Cold here.
Nick
What did you do to your non-G body project today? [2021]
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Drove the Cummins to work this morning. 33°F outside. It seems to be much better at cold starts since replacing the heater grid relay. I think the idle is too low, need to adjust it. I have a tiny external head gasket leak, apparently a very common spot to leak and it doesn't really hurt anything, it just drips a bit of coolant. Its not overheating or mixing coolant and oil.
I'm gonna try to put new coolant in it this weekend, I have no idea what is in it now but it looks like 3 different colors of coolant mixed together.
I'm gonna try to put new coolant in it this weekend, I have no idea what is in it now but it looks like 3 different colors of coolant mixed together.
You going for a total flush of the block and the rad or just a rad dump and refill? Those colors, sort of pink, yellow, and sort of a muddy brown? yellow/lime green is sort of the default color for Prestone, Pinkish is the color for the late model GM antifreeze / Napa/similar, and the muddy color could be a sign that someone tried to fix that dribble by adding Bar's Leak or something along that line to the mixture at some point.
A lot of the newer antifreeze offerings are chemically formulated to work with aluminum blocks and heads, others have a wider application and can tolerate mixed breeds; iron block and aluminum heads. As an example, what dribbled out of my water pump on the LS 2 5.3 was pink; it is a mixed breed or iron/aluminum combination. Biggest issue here would be corrosion and galvanic action between the differing metals and what the antifreeze does to slow/stop it. Found a fair amount of internal corrosion inside that water pump when I pulled the back cover off to see what was jamming the impeller.
Also not sure if Prestone gets along with other brands. They may have a formula that will mix with others. Don't go shopping for the late model stuff all that often, all my engines use 50/50 Prestone pre-mixed which I buy by the gallon.
Nick
A lot of the newer antifreeze offerings are chemically formulated to work with aluminum blocks and heads, others have a wider application and can tolerate mixed breeds; iron block and aluminum heads. As an example, what dribbled out of my water pump on the LS 2 5.3 was pink; it is a mixed breed or iron/aluminum combination. Biggest issue here would be corrosion and galvanic action between the differing metals and what the antifreeze does to slow/stop it. Found a fair amount of internal corrosion inside that water pump when I pulled the back cover off to see what was jamming the impeller.
Also not sure if Prestone gets along with other brands. They may have a formula that will mix with others. Don't go shopping for the late model stuff all that often, all my engines use 50/50 Prestone pre-mixed which I buy by the gallon.
Nick
Total flush. Mostly because I just don't know what type of coolant is in it or how old it is. I drained some out of the radiator, it looks orange like Dexcool but I think it's more likely yellow/green and red mixed because some parts look really green and others very red.
I dumped a bottle of Prestone radiator flush in and drove it around a bit. I'll probably fill and drain a few times with water until it runs clearish, then fill will new coolant.
Gonna agree on that probability, sounds about right. Also possible if a previous owner didn't want to pay the price per gallon for the Dexcool and just dumped in Prestone or a generic Walmart product.
This going to be a "while I'm doing this gig, guess I'll go ahead and; and it becomes a rad and heater hoses replacement exercise along the way? (You know how this works. If you leave them, one is about guaranteed to fail, if you replace them "while you're at it" they all turn out to be pristine.) And, of course, you have to use new clamps, because one or more of them will give you grief when you try to remove them, and hits just keep on coming.
Nick
This going to be a "while I'm doing this gig, guess I'll go ahead and; and it becomes a rad and heater hoses replacement exercise along the way? (You know how this works. If you leave them, one is about guaranteed to fail, if you replace them "while you're at it" they all turn out to be pristine.) And, of course, you have to use new clamps, because one or more of them will give you grief when you try to remove them, and hits just keep on coming.
Nick
Turn those bolts down! Thing looks like a monster truck. I don't think I have any good pics of mine's stance, I got it a bit lower than that on stock bolts and managed to keep a smidge or rake as well.
Dropping it an inch or less won't have an appreciable effect on that. Gotta make sure you don't hit stuff square on to keep from dragging no matter what in these cars.
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