barnett468

yes . . the longer the acid is in there, the more rust it will eat but it certainly won't eat holes in your engine or rad.

the citric acid works best when warm . . this is one reason for driving the car or just let it sit and idle if it will not over heat.

also, the movement of the water thru the system might help break off any pieces loosened by the acid which is a good thing.

now, all the crud that comes loose will go directly into your radiator, which is the reason i said you should install a gano filter.

install the filter then do the flush and you can see any junk trappded by the filter because it is clear.
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Gun Jam

Were you able to identify the problem with certainty? Have you come to a conclusion?

-Gun

Nurdyguy

It was a crazy week so I didn't get anything done. Some parts I ordered did come in though so I plan to work on the car today. Unfortunately, it snowed yesterday so I probably won't be able to make any test runs. I'll keep you guys posted.

I did have a change to talk to my parents though and they said that about 8-10 years ago they were having the same overheating issues. They said they bought the biggest radiator they could find and hadn't had any problems since. However, I really doubt they did much highway driving and the issue seems to only pop up on the highway.

Nurdyguy

Do you guys know where to get the citric acid flush? I haven't been able to find any yet.

barnett468

merceds benz dealers

Nurdyguy

Well, the wife and I took a little trip to Vegas (I tried to win the Dodge Hellcat... no dice...) so I haven't had a chance until today to work on the car.

I drained the rad and this is what the gano looked like.



I'm starting the process Barnett described for flushing the system. This engine hasn't been opened since the 70s so who knows how much rust is in there...

barnett468

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see...we're right once in a while [all the time].

you can also go to the hardware store and buy oxalic acid [wood bleach] in powdered form and mix 1/8 cup per each gallon of water and drive around with that . . it will work better in your case . . flush your system twice with plain water first.

if you get a ton of rust out, do the same process again.

after you are done, rinse it out and spray water on the drained fluid to dilute it . . then dissolve 1/4 cup of baking soda in warm water and put it in the rad and fill it up and run it for 5 minutes then flush it out and you are done.


ok, i hope you put the gano in the top hose . . it is also clear so you should be able to see it when it gets dirty.

now...the shop charged you how much to "flush" your system...

by the way . . i guess it quit running hot...what did you do to fix that?

are they going to try and flush it again for free...not?

does it still die in a corner?

did you get me jet sizes yet...no?

how much did you loose in vegas?
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Nurdyguy

I never doubted what you said. The original quote from the shop was only about $200 and they could have it done in a day or two. With my schedule it ends up being a multi-month thing so I opted to pay a little for the speed. I'm just SUPER disappointed in the shop (both for this and the carb issue). It's a fairly reputable franchise so I plan to write a rather unpleasant letter to the owner. I doubt it will make much of a difference but I suppose I'll feel better after.

I'll give that a shot too.

It's tough to see when there is coolant in the system but I'll keep an eye on it.

Yeah, gonna have some words with them...

It has only had heating problems when on the highway and I haven't tested it there yet. I'm still in the overall process. So far I've:
1. Drained the system (and cleaned the gano)
2. Refilled with water and ran it on idle for about 15min
3. Drained it again (water was orange)
4. While still warm, I put in a bottle of "Blue Devil" from O'Reilys. I'm sure it's no where near as good as the citric from MB or some CLR, but for today it was what I had on hand.
5. Added water to the "Blue Devil" then drove it around for about 25min.

I plan to drive it a bit more, then drain it and run water through it again and then repeat with some MB citric, then maybe some CLR. I expect I'll be repeating this several times, trying to get this thing cleared out.

My wife's check engine light just came on so I'll try to bargain a free check-up out of them but we'll see how far that gets us.

The last thing I've done on the carb is when I cleaned it and adjusted the float. It no longer dies on corners but it still hesitates about 30% of the time when I'm driving and then hit the gas hard. It kind of feels like a kick-down delay but I'm not sure. Since the overheating issue was more pressing, I've been spending time on that instead.

Oh, and I finished replacing the driver door latch assembly so the door actually closes now! Unfortunately I messed up some of the trim on the door panel so I will probably have to replace it (way down the road though).

Carb stuff is on standby until we get this overheating sorted out.

Well, regular gambling losses were only about $150 (I started out really cold but we made up some ground). The wife and I did both enter 3 different poker tournaments though so that's another $420... Overall though it was a great trip. We got married in Vegas and this was our first time back (been almost 8 years). I tried to work the system a bit to earn some comps for next time but I'm not exactly counting on it.

barnett468

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ok, im confused...a mustang does no have a check engine lite per se . . it has a low oil pressure lite . . if that comes on, turn it OFF like yesterday.

so did you or did you not drive the 65 mustang to vegas?

how far was it to vegas, just 1 block?

did it run hot?

tx65coupe

I wouldn't let that shop touch another one of my vehicles for any reason. It looks like they didn't perform the job they were paid to do.