Gino Roth Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 My 1926 Buick Standard radiator will not hold its water. While I believe it is normal for some to boil out, a short drive with mine will leave a water trail several blocks long. The car seems to run fine with no exhaust water vapor and there is no water in the oil. In opening the thermostat housing, I found no thermostat inside. Can anyone provide a picture of what it looks like? The Shop Manual does not show or discuss it. Is it possible that a modern thermostat can be substituted? I feel that without the thermostat in place, the water pump is dumping more water in the upper tank than it can drain thru and the excess goes down the overflow tube. I have not had this car long so this is a new event for me. Thanks for any pics. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikefit Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 Hi don’t know how f your engine has a water pump that has packing on the shaft but I’ll tell you what my 23 was doing the same thing found the packing on the suction side of the pump was pulling in air and in doing so it would not pull the water out of the radiator then there was no place for the afternoon coming water to go only out the over flow short drive it would be out of water. Hope this helps. PS the pump would not leak at the seals when setting for a week or so. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 I see the electric fan. That implies overheating has been an issue. Are you sure the radiator is not plugged? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gino Roth Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 Electric fan was only installed recently before this problem surfaced however, the radiator could be plugged up but it looks very clean at the top with no chunks visible. I will pull out the radiator for cleaning if a thermostat does not solve the problem. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregon Desert model 45 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 This is what the end of it looks like. I didn't try to pry it out so don't have a complete picture of it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian_Heil Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 Lack of a thermostat would imply cooling issues in the past potentially. Don't laugh but I've fixed two cars where the electric fan was wired backwards and was pushing air. Car idled great and did parades fine but down the road the ram air matched the pushed fan air and the net air flow was near zero. Do a radiator dump test. Remove both hoses, stuff a rag in the lower radiator outlet, fill the radiator with water, pull the rag and see how fast the radiator drains. Also an inexpensive thermal gun aimed at the radiator when running hot will pick up cold plugged areas of the core. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gino Roth Posted January 12, 2023 Author Share Posted January 12, 2023 Two really great suggestions Brian! I really want to save this core if I can. I'm having the distributor re bushed right now but when I get the engine running again I will follow both of these procedures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buick35 Posted January 12, 2023 Share Posted January 12, 2023 3 hours ago, Brian_Heil said: Lack of a thermostat would imply cooling issues in the past potentially. Don't laugh but I've fixed two cars where the electric fan was wired backwards and was pushing air. Car idled great and did parades fine but down the road the ram air matched the pushed fan air and the net air flow was near zero. Do a radiator dump test. Remove both hoses, stuff a rag in the lower radiator outlet, fill the radiator with water, pull the rag and see how fast the radiator drains. Also an inexpensive thermal gun aimed at the radiator when running hot will pick up cold plugged areas of the core. I had a senior moment and at one time I put my fan on backwards on my 35 Buick.Funny thing was it didn't run all that hot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmTee Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 See the before & after 'dump test' of my '38 Buick radiator here: https://www.caparadiator.com/video 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 One other idea if this engine is running hot and has not had the water jacket cover removed on the left side of the engine is the water jacket around the cylinders may be full of rust and mud accumulated over the years. If everything else is healthy in the system, absence of the thermostat should make it run cold, not hot. Thermostats control minimum water temp, not maximum. If you don't know the condition of the water jacket you should consider removing the water jacket cover and inspecting. It will probably require removal of manifolds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank DuVal Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 20 hours ago, Buick35 said: I put my fan on backwards on my 35 Buick.Funny thing was it didn't run all that hot. Putting a blade on backwards does not make the air go in the opposite direction. It just makes the blades move air less efficiently in the same direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Str8-8-Dave Posted January 13, 2023 Share Posted January 13, 2023 3 minutes ago, Frank DuVal said: Putting a blade on backwards does not make the air go in the opposite direction. Correct. Reversed motor leads would reverse motor rotation and cause a backflow condition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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