[Big Dave]

Re: Post #13

“Where could I get the radiator, heater and engine acid-cleaned and back-flushed? Pittsburgh isn't too far of a drive for me.”

Big Dave says;
I’m sure there is someone in Pittsburgh that can do it. I found a local radiator shop in suburban Naptown to do the job. Pittsburgh should be no different.

Depending on how long you can live with the truck down, pull the water pump off and give it a good looking-over. The water pumps on these trucks are integral to the block and are pricey. Ask me how I know. You really don’t want to run acid through the water pump if you can help it. Delime it by hand if you can.

Borescope your radiator. If it is badly limed up or corroded, think about a replacement. These are volume-built radiators and in the scheme of things, not all that expensive. Your water pump probably costs twice what a radiator costs.

If the radiator is merely corroded, a regular acid back-flush will add years to the service life, but if it is limed up you need to get drastic. If the radiator is limed up you can bet the farm that the block and heads are limed up and lime isn’t easy to remove. Citric acid won’t touch it. Rig up a pump setup and pump muriatic acid (swimming pool concentration – the stuff used for cleaning masonry is too strong) through it. Let it run a minimum of three days. A week is better. Lime is that tough. Then neutralize it with a solution of baking soda and distilled water. Back flush again with tap water, then with distilled water. At that point you’ve done all you can.

Just to show the extremes: My Ford uses an International 444E engine. Very tough engine still in wide use for school buses (which is savage duty for an engine.) It uses a very powerful (and expensive) water pump. So powerful that the high flow through the block would cavitate and pit through the first two water jackets. Seems amazing but I have seen such damaged engines myself. Ford pickup used to have to add an additive every three months or so to suppress the cavitiation. To fight this I switched tio waterless coolant. But I had to back flush and then completely dry the engine. That is major operation when you have a big engine in a tight engine compartment. And the waterless coolant is $40 a gallon. But it is the last stuff I ever have to put in it. Best of all: after six years of complete neglect I have zero cavitation pitting, zero corrosion, and zero lime. Bright metal looking back at me. You probably don’t want to get that radical. I drive a lot and expect at least 600,000 miles out of my engine and transmission. At least it won’t die from heat.



“I may change the transmission eventually, but for now the automatic one is staying.”

Big Dave says:
It’ll let you know when it’s time to change. Pieces scattered down the road are a cogent argument. Make a plan to convert and execute it when the automatic grenades itself.