Fittng New Rad- Coolant flush 2200

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dave jackson

New Member
Hello all- am about to fit our newly reconditioned rad to our 2200 auto- its had a new core and i assume it would be a shame to fit it without flushing the syste :oops: first so..
1/ Whats the best way to flush the system?
2/ What are these 'engine sideplates' i've been hearing about? Do they need to be removed to flush the system properly and do they need to be renewed everytime they're off?
3/ Whats the best procedure for bleeding the coolant system afterwards?

Am very new to the 2200 engine as you might guess! :oops: Thanks in advance!
 
Undo the heater hose, just above the thermostat housing, and undo the 2 screws, and move the heater pipe out of the way. Make sure the lever is on.

You will find the thermostat housing held down by 3 1/4 inch nuts. remove the nuts from the stud and remove the housing.

Take out the thermostat.

On the back right hand side (when facing forward) you will find a petcock. Open the pet cock and see if coolant come out. If the coolant is green then that is good. If the pet cock is blocked, then this is a sign of sludge. Drain out the coolant out of the block. The remove the petcock totaly so you can get a better water flow. It threads into a hole. Take a water hose and flush the block out until it comes clean. Block up with the lower radiator hose attaches to the water pump and flush out a few times. If your water is hard, you may want to do a final flush with distilled water/ rain water to get rid of any hard water.

As for taking off the side plates, it depends on what you found when flushing. Sometimes you can take the petcock out and then you have to poke around in the hole to get flow from the bock. This means that things are sludgy. If however things seem to be clean from the start, then I would leave the side plates alone, if they are in good condition. Taking them off is a lot of fiddly work. If things appear sludgy then take them off and clean. Do you know the motor's history? Have the plates ever been off? Do you have any plans for a rebuild sometime in the near future. If you do, then they would be much easier on the engine stand.

Re-assembly is reverse of removal. Inspect the waterpump bypass hose. This tends to get neglected, and are easier to replace without the radiator in the way.

Put things back together, make sure that the heater is in the on position. Fill with coolant, or soft water and inhibitor until your radiator takes no more. Start you motor. Watch for the coolant level to suddenly drop as the thermostat opens up, and then refill with the engine running. Once the level has stabilised, put on the radiator cap, turn the motor off and check for loose hoses.

James.
 
Thanks James! Thats a great help! Only had the car 2 months and dont know much detailed history of the car mechanically- though theres plenty of general service history and plenty about the bodywork repairs over the years. The chap who did the recore for me did say there was a lot of crap in the old one- plenty of radweld so will just have to wait and see what comes out the block before taking the sideplates off i suppose! Will keep you posted on the result!
Thanks again
Dave
 
Hi Dave.

I'm new too, first post earlier this evening. I recently had engine & gearbox out for clutch renewal. Coolant was reasonably clear with no obvious elements of crud etc. Although the sideplates looked pretty good on my 1972 2000 I considered it a good opportunity to replace the drivers side. When removed I was very surprised at the amount of silt that had accumulated & the condition on the reverse of the plate was very corroded at the bottom. I ordered the passenger side the next day. I appreciate it was very handy having the engine out to change the plates although it was still difficult on the drivers side until I removed the oil pump, this gave me more room. The silt build up was cleared out & the block hosed. Incidently the silt was sufficient to prevent water flowing out of the drain tap in the block. I've never encountered an engine with sideplates but can confirm when they are removed it is gratifying to see the block cleaned through.

I hosed through the heater matrix as well, fair amount of sediment was cleared out. Refilling coolant was done in the same fashion as James describes with no problems with air locks.

I hope your block flush through does the trick.

Kevin.
 
If you really want to clean the system , a good way to do it is to go to a pharmacy and buy a tub of citric acid powder, and after you have fitted the rad, mix it in a pint or so of water and then add to the cooling system . Fill the system as normal ( best with some antifreeze as well at this time of year ) run the car until hot , and then leave it for about 3 days . Then drain and flush as others have said . It is amazing what the citric acid will dissolve
 
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