Brtele

I don't know about you guys, but whenever I have a "new" old car I'm working on - I'm always scared to death to get it out on the highway for the 1st time. The Buick's maiden voyage was yesterday. I kissed my wife and kids and then got onto the highway for a short stretch, got it up to 65mph and promptly got off the next exit. I turned back around and got on the highway and got it up to 70mph and it just sang going down the highway. I gave the brakes a few light/hard tugs just to get a sense of what would happen when I needed them. Knock on wood, I think everything is functioning as it should from a safety standpoint. The older and "wiser" I get, the more I get scared of stuff like that. 16 year old me would've let it rip months ago on the highway (probably in the rain).

Looks like Colorado? Maybe.

I traced this down as a problem within another thread and wanted to start a separate thread to solve. I got an opportunity to troubleshoot the heater situation this weekend - I'm not getting vacuum to the heater valve when I have the car switch to heating mode and the fan in the high position. Now I get to start tracing vacuum leaks - one of my favorite pastimes. Last night I started the car and applied hand pump vacuum to the heater valve. With the heater controls in the correct position and the fan running on high - I started getting great heat out of the floor and then the defrost vents when changing. Disconnected the hand pump vacuum and progressively lost heating. Great news is the heater core, valve and hoses are passing hot coolant and I now know I can get heat. I switched to the vacuum canister and it's receiving a good vacuum source and is providing vacuum to the systems downstream. This is as far as I've traced so far. I'm actually thinking of replacing all vacuum hoses with silicon to ensure I don't have small leaks. I've done this on previous cars with great success. I know the silicon hoses are a little larger in O.D. which is creating a little concern for me when looking at the tight clearances on this Buick's firewall. Silicone Boost/Vacuum Hose (siliconeintakes.com)

I got an opportunity to troubleshoot the heater situation this weekend - I'm not getting vacuum to the heater valve when I have the car switch to heating mode and the fan in the high position. Now I get to start tracing vacuum leaks - one of my favorite pastimes. In other good news, the car is running great and I took it for a 30 minute road trip - no hot lamps, ran perfectly.

Got the recored (3-core) radiator ($640) installed last night and everything hooked back up. Prior to install, I ran a wire wheel over there the entire support area and then coated with a rust inhibitor and a couple top coats of duplicolor de1635. Filled it back up and waited for the stat to open - once it did I had great flow across the top row! Still don’t have heat inside the car, but I’m putting that on the back burner for the moment. Drove the car with a heavier pedal for about 20 minutes and it never illuminated the hot lamp, carb never boiled over. I’m still looking to install a true water temp gauge so I can properly monitor situations. Thanks again for all the help.

These are the only radiator pics I have until I get my radiator back from the shop.

Already turned him loose on the three core replacement. It shouldn’t be a problem as I don’t see myself driving the car when it’s over 95 degrees. But I do appreciate the 4 core recommendation. Thanks

That's exactly what they're doing. Thanks,

Radiator guy called and said the radiator would not pass a pressure test and the tubes were brittle, splitting and leaking. He stated the radiator needed a new core - dang it ,it's not really that inexpensive ($500-600).

That’s exactly how I just got it out. It was STUCK

I’ve really been wiggling it forward and back from the top, but it feels very secure on the bottom. I’m getting zero movement up and down, and I’ve pulled hard hard

I’ve disconnected and drained coolant and transmission fluid. Took the top brace off. the radiator feels securely fastened to the lower radiator support but I can’t find where. I’ve searched and looked through the manual. what am I missing? Thanks

Tapped the existing hole with a 5/16-18 tap and easily screwed a grade 8 bolt in the hole. Used some permatex high temp thread sealant on the threads. Let it set up and started the car - no exhaust leaks I can hear, but didn’t get to temp. Replaced the heating valve with a new four seasons valve. Replaced the thermostat with a new 180 stat. Started the car and once warmed up the flow was decent across the top row, but I’ve got some serious cold spots in this radiator utilizing an infrared heat sensor. I’m in the process of pulling the radiator and taking to a local repair shop to ensure the rad is in tip top shape. Making progress though

Tapped the existing hole with a 5/16-18 tap and easily screwed a grade 8 bolt in the hole. Used some permatex high temp thread sealant on the threads. Let it set up and started the car - no exhaust leaks I can hear, but didn’t get to temp. Replaced the heating valve with a new four seasons valve. Replaced the thermostat with a new 180 stat. I’ll start the car tomorrow and see if I can spot any hot/cold spots in the radiator with an infrared temp sensor.

Please don't flame me for asking this question - The hole I've created by removing the Heat Riser Valve: can I use JB Weld (Exhaust Temp Rated) to fill this hole?

Don’t quite know how I’m going to plug the hole just yet.

You guys were correct - separate pipes. I just needed to give the pipe a little “how’s your father” to get it decoupled from the header. Valve body dropped right out. it wasn’t frozen completely shut but at a 45ish degree. I went ahead and cut the valve out and will plug the holes up prior to reinstalling. I did have a gasket between the valve body and header. You guys/gals think it would overheat with the valve being halfway open?

Man, I really don’t want to take off the driver’s side pipes. I was freaking out on those nuts trying to break loose

Good lord I can’t believe I got the bolts off the exhaust manifold. Question: Do I have to drop the exhaust from the rear of the car in order to remove the heat riser valve from between the exhaust pipe and manifold? I tried pulling the exhaust out of the way - nope.

My plan is to pull the heat riser valve from the exhaust manifold and try and loosen up the operation to it functions per design. If I can't get this to happen without loosing my mind, I'll rip the guts out, fill holes and re-install. I do not plan on driving this car below 40 degree temps at all. But it does suck to just yank it out dang it - per my OCD, I'm torn. I'll always wonder if that heat riser valve would provide another 53hp when working as designed.

Before tearing into the radiator and thermostat, I thought I should check into the heat riser valve. Looking at the valve, the counter weight is in the closed position. When I reached down the exhaust manifold and tried to turn the counter weight it wouldn’t budge. I sprayed it with some penetrating oil from both sides, wouldn’t budge - not even a little bit. Should the valve be able to freely move if you spin the counter weight? I’m thinking this might be why the intake was so hot and fuel boiling over. i would think the tstat would’ve reared it’s heard earlier - but not counting it out yet. Any advice is appreciated

No, I don't believe it wasn't low on coolant, but actually had a little too much when I previously filled up the coolant. But I thought once the car was at temp/pressure it would puke out what it needed to in order to equalize. Once it cooled down in the driveway, I took a look and the top row was still covered with coolant. Separate note - All this has led me to thinking I'm going to install a temp sensor in the ash tray position. It would just make me feel better. Classic Instruments has some cool stuff I'm looking at/dreaming about.

Motorad is the only company I could find that offers a Fail-Safe style thermostat. Please let me know if I'm overlooking a company called Safety Stat. This is what I found for a 65 Buick Riviera

Thanks Tom. I've typically utilized Stant stats, but being new to the Buick world are there any stats I should steer clear of or definitely utilize?

All on a 70 degree day. 1st Hot lamp indication: Had just finished sitting at a red light and went a 1/4 mile at 40mph before the light came on. Pulled over quickly and shut the car off, opened the hood and it puked out of the overflow. 2nd Hot lamp indication: Waited approximately 20 min after the initial shutdown and the hot lamp to go away. Started up the car and started driving home. I was careful to keep my foot out of the gas and coast as much as possible. I never had to stop the entire ride home averaging 35mph. Light came on about 1/4mi from the house and I threw the car in neutral, shut it down and coasted to my driveway. I really don't believe this is a fan clutch issue as I had decent airflow while driving. Regardless, I'll get it back up to operating temp and test that it's working properly. It could possibly be a thermostat, but it's been opening and allowing flow prior to yesterday and I believe it was working yesterday. But I might change it as it's not too difficult or expensive and I have no idea how old it is. I also have very, very slight leak at the thermostat housing. I could be wrong, but my gut is telling me the radiator has some blockage in it - maybe not though. Positive note, it happened close to home and is making me go through the coolant system to ensure I can safely travel farther from home.