Cleaning out a cast iron block
This is my second season with my '84 Allegro. Bought it with a blown engine. Put a Craigslist-found 454 in it (truck spec GM Performance crate engine). When I got the engine home, put it on a stand an...
Forum Discussion
Tachdriver wrote:
I'm not sure if pulling the freeze plugs out will reveal any more than what you have. It is too bad this was not all checked before you installed it. So what if you installed the radiator and ran it a year and did a flush? Keep an eye on the coolant color in the mean time as a tell tale.
If the coolant does change due to rust in the engine then you know what to do.
That's what's weird. The coolant that came out of the block and radiator was squeaky clean. I pulled the thermostat housing off to look inside and it looked clean.
But...I turned the radiator upside down to completely drain it and THEN the black icky stuff came out the upper fitting (the inlet). I guess it was plugged solid.
The engine had 20k miles on it. I pulled the valve covers and oil pan (replaced the rear seal) and it looked brand new inside. At the time the rust coming out of it didn't concern me - I thought a good flush would do it.
I guess I'll pull the drain plugs first to see what I'm up against. If it looks bad and/or I can't flush it properly I'll take it out again over the winter and have it redone.
My next trip is in October, on a route that got it hot this time last year. A long climb into the Poconos (okay, so not real mountains but still some work for the old girl).
I'm DEFINITELY going to look into a coolant filter. Ironically I just came inside from mowing and got talking to a neighbor that works on diesel cranes. He suggested the same thing.
