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Engine waterway clean TR4a


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Had another good old fettle with the wire. I’m a bit more encouraged now. I don’t have a constant flow, but it is very wet and there is less black sludge around. The sludge I removed yesterday had dried completely on the cloth and looked a lot browner than it was when it was wet. The photograph is from this morning. 
 

I’m thinking now that I should remove the radiator and thermostat. Then bypass the heater, so that I can run water from the front of the engine and out of the drain hole. I can’t run the engine, so I’m think of buying a cheap water pump to help with task. I could even run some cleaner through with this set up and use hot water. Has anyone ever tried this? 
 

Gary

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8 hours ago, PaulAnderson said:

Remember when prodding in the tap opening to have the radiator cap off, to allow air into the system to replace the water and crud that you want out.   If you don’t not a lot will come out.

Paul

+ put a plastic bag over the starter unless you fancy a starter motor dry out or repair job 

Edited by BlueTR3A-5EKT
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Bit the bullet. Taken the radiator, all the hoses, dynamo, water pump, starter motor and the manifolds off. The pump is in good condition, but I am going to refurb everything before they go back on the car. I am going to try and flush the block independently of the rest of the cooling system. Haven’t quite figured that out yet. Probably make some sort of flushing system from a bucket and a drill driven pump. Keep you posted !

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M2P : several years ago, I was playing with a permanently overheating TR4 engine.

The draining hole was completely blocked.

After many hours spent at playing with acid, I finally removed the head and liners : it was as hard as a stone in there.

I finally used a cold chisel and hammer, with a good result, as the gain was -about- 1L in coolant capacity.

 

 

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The problem is that far too many owners in the 1950s and 1960s would use water (only) as coolant except in wintertime. 

Even in Devon and Yorkshire, where the water is soft, this is a very bad idea as even soft water causes corrosion.

Anti-freeze should be used all year round, and replaced every 2-3 years.   Alternatively, use Evans Waterless Coolant and just leave it in there for ever.

Ian Cornish

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1 hour ago, Chris59 said:

M2P : several years ago, I was playing with a permanently overheating TR4 engine.

The draining hole was completely blocked.

After many hours spent at playing with acid, I finally removed the head and liners : it was as hard as a stone in there.

I finally used a cold chisel and hammer, with a good result, as the gain was -about- 1L in coolant capacity.

 

 

Not quite sure how you got a 1 litre gain ! But good result. 
When trying to “ unplug” a No 4 cylinder without removing the head and liners I normally reach for the Makita with a small drill bit and have at it !

You need NOT to break a bit here, but the liner shoulder which is the other side is about 10 mm thick and I angle the drill so that it skims it ( judgement). Then by hammering with narrow old screwdriver a lot of the plug normally breaks up inside the block, and can be flushed out by filling through the top of the thermo housing. But head off and liners out is the ultimate clean, gives you a chance to adjust the liner height too.

Mick Richards

Edited by Motorsport Mickey
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On 1/7/2022 at 12:23 PM, GaryBZ said:

Bit the bullet. Taken the radiator, all the hoses, dynamo, water pump, starter motor and the manifolds off. The pump is in good condition, but I am going to refurb everything before they go back on the car. I am going to try and flush the block independently of the rest of the cooling system. Haven’t quite figured that out yet. Probably make some sort of flushing system from a bucket and a drill driven pump. Keep you posted !

084B9D72-2161-460F-A688-9884C759E523.jpeg

Gary - have sent you a PM ( Personal message) which I can see you haven't yet read. Its in your forum mailbox which all forumites have - it's found via the envelope icon in the top right hand side of the forum page screen - if there is a little red flag over it, that means you have an unread message within it - click on the envelope and it will open your mailbox - it's worthwhile setting it up so it automatically emails you if you get a message .

Cheers Rich

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This is all great information, Guys. Thanks to everyone for your help and advice. 
 

I have ordered an electrical water pump for £25. It is designed for increasing water pressure for showers, etc. I have access to an engineering workshop, so I am going to make a set of plates and bungs to seal off the waterways. I will include stop valves, so that I can direct the flow around the block. I am going with this approach as I can fill the system with hot water and flushing liquids. I have now managed to get water to trickle out of the drain hole. With a bit of luck and a number of flushes I am hoping to get a satisfactory, although not perfect result. I have sent the manifold and the pump housing off to be blasted and sprayed with a high temperature coating. The radiator and heater matrix are both fine and I can clean these out with my pump system separately from the block. I am still hoping to get the car running well without having to strip the engine. Time will tell !

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With my '66 3.8 Jag I had a core plug rusting through / just starting to weep, and so proceeded to change them all, with engine in car.  While at it I used a pressure wash in those core-plug holes to flush out the water jacket. That worked well.  

I wonder if similarly a jet wash might similarly be used on the 4-cylinder TR engine, both through the water heater drilling and the drain plug hole ?

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4 hours ago, Bfg said:

  

I wonder if similarly a jet wash might similarly be used on the 4-cylinder TR engine, both through the water heater drilling and the drain plug hole ?

Indeed they can be used to good effect, I used a jet wash with a modified end which was a six inch piece of brake pipe bent as required to clean out the boiler on my 4" scale traction engine at the end of each season. Had to take out the plugs around the firebox to jet all the crud out that used to collect on the foundation ring.

Ralph

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  • 2 weeks later...

I didn’t have a lot of success flushing the system out with the pump I bought. Bit disappointing, to be honest. A garden hose would have worked just as well. Anyway, whilst I had all the outlets and inlets blocked I decided to fill up the system with the descaler I bought. I also sprayed WD40 into the block drain hole and quickly screwed back the plug. I left the whole thing to soak for a few hours and then removed the drain plug. I had a trickle of WD40 and a tiny bit of sludge, so I thought I would give it another poke round as a last resort. To my amazement within a few minutes I had a flood of descaler and water coming out of the hole. I can’t say if it was the WD40 or the descaler that has done the trick. I suppose attacking it from both sides didn’t do any harm. I am going to leave the descaler in for a couple of days and give everything a final flush out before I start to put things back together.

I am glad I didn’t rush to remove the head and fiddle with the pistons and liners. Desperation was setting in over the past few days and it would have been easy for me to get carried away. Thanks for your help and advice. Hopefully, my next post in a few weeks will be letting you know how well the car is running !!!

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10 hours ago, GaryBZ said:

I didn’t have a lot of success flushing the system out with the pump I bought. Bit disappointing, to be honest. A garden hose would have worked just as well. Anyway, whilst I had all the outlets and inlets blocked I decided to fill up the system with the descaler I bought. I also sprayed WD40 into the block drain hole and quickly screwed back the plug. I left the whole thing to soak for a few hours and then removed the drain plug. I had a trickle of WD40 and a tiny bit of sludge, so I thought I would give it another poke round as a last resort. To my amazement within a few minutes I had a flood of descaler and water coming out of the hole. I can’t say if it was the WD40 or the descaler that has done the trick. I suppose attacking it from both sides didn’t do any harm. I am going to leave the descaler in for a couple of days and give everything a final flush out before I start to put things back together.

I am glad I didn’t rush to remove the head and fiddle with the pistons and liners. Desperation was setting in over the past few days and it would have been easy for me to get carried away. Thanks for your help and advice. Hopefully, my next post in a few weeks will be letting you know how well the car is running !!!

As WD40 is a water dispersant it probably did not help much, but pleased you have removed the blockage and can proceed with getting the car running again.

Ralph

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