Rusty Cooling System on 51 DC

[Flewster]

I still am having rusty water and rust flakes becoming lodged in my radiator. I drain and then vacume the chips off the top but have had to do this now at least 7 or 8 times. The water is real rusty. was holding off puting antifreeze in tilll now due to all this rust.

what is the best way to get this thing clean and free of the rust?

 

[mEl]

(quoted from post at 21:52:03 12/03/11) I still am having rusty water and rust flakes becoming lodged in my radiator. I drain and then vacume the chips off the top but have had to do this now at least 7 or 8 times. The water is real rusty. was holding off puting antifreeze in tilll now due to all this rust.

what is the best way to get this thing clean and free of the rust?

There is no doubt a very bad buildup around the rear sleeve which eventually will cause a piston to score. The only way to properly clean it up would be to completely disassemble the engine and remove the residue. There are acid flushes that will dislodge rust but the sludge at the rear will probably not flush out. I have never tried removing the head and flushing down through the water ports with a high pressure washer, at the very least some disassembly will be needed. Maybe someone else has some ideas that have worked for them.

 

[Anonymous-0]

DC's on this farm have same problem ... Is there any thin wron@ with addin@ oil to the radiator ?? ,,, couple yrs back i recall a fella on this forum that had a yard tractor with nothin@ but oil in the radiator for coolant ,, 40 yrs back , My neihbor mechanic talked about usin only oil in the radiator of a ancient loader tractor at a concrete plant where heworked

 

[Anonymous-0]

a thermostat will help keep the rust from ending up in the radiator but it wont cure the problem Mel described

 

[Anonymous-0]

oil makes a slimy mess in a cooling system

 

[Flewster]

Well, i am planning on pulling the head this winter as I need to replace a broken valve spring plus have all the valves ground and cleaned up. Maybe even take a sliver off to even it up and give just a little more HP. I guess then I can take a better look inside.

On a second note does anybody know of a good place to send the head for this work? Somewhere around Topeka KS or is it best to send it to somebody that works on old Case equipment?

 

[Derrol Wells]

Drain the cooling system,remove the head. Let the block dry out inside, then with a vacuum cleaner and some 1/2 inch copper tubing, vacuum out the dry rust flakes that are in the block. Can see best to do it at night with a flashlight. I have done this to two Case LAs and it works. Never run just water in the cooling system again. Water will eventually ruin the sleeves, waterpump, and other system parts, so keep a very strong antifreeze solution in it all the time. Your not saving money by running water only.---Derrol in Texas---

 

[caseman-d]

Napa has a rust inhibitor that I have used mixed with water in the summer time. Another option would be to pull the water pump and flush that way. Better than pulling the sleeves.
caseman-d

 

[Anonymous-0]

Agreed ,, I will search archives , and try to find post of oil in radiator used as coolant

 

[CHUCK CAMBIS]

oil used as coolant, soluble oil. this is used in many machine shops including where i used to work. the bad news is it has no good qualities. sure it will lube water pump, but as many know when it gets hot it starts making bacteria and in less than two weeks it will be green in color and the smell will be................and antifreeze is cheaper!