freeze plug replacement question

[chub chub]

any advice on the best way to remove a freeze plug just below the manifold on a 52 special? also, when installing the new one, is any sealent needed, or is it just a matter of pounding the new one in?

thanks in advance.

[Patrick W. Brooks]

Good Morning: Within the last year I did an article in the Bugle on how to do this, complete with pictures. Find it in the Bugle. The only thing I might add is to be sure the freeze plugs are not bronze as it is not magnetic. Otherwise, read the article and do it. Let us know how it went by posting your results. Patrick W. Brooks

[chub chub]

how do i access the bugle?

[chub chub]

i am hoping to do this project on friday, so if someone can tell me how to access this article in the bugle or just awnser my question i would appriciate it. thanks again.

scott

[Bill Stoneberg]

To access Pat's article, you need to be a Member of BCA. It is only in the magazine, not online.

Pat, why cant they be Bronze or Brass ? I see Brass plugs advertised all the time.

Check out this article about an off brand motor, it gives pretty good details.

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/techarticles/83818/

[Patrick W. Brooks]

Good Morning All: My method of replacing freeze plugs is to take a large round driver and simply drive them into the water jacket (they drop an inch or two out of sight) and retrieve them with an extendable magnet. I then seize them with a pair of pliers or channel locks and they pull out very easily. This is very fast and does not ding up the hole. However, if they are brass you either have to be able to retrieve them some other way or punch a hole in them without driving them out and into the water jacket. With a large enough hole in them you can grip them with the channel locks or pry them out, usually in pieces. I have heard of some people using a slide hammer body tool which has a large screw on the end and a small hole is drilled in the plug and the tool screwed into the hole and then it is removed. This is much to complicated for me when I can remove them in a fraction of the time with my method. I might say that my method is used by many mechanics and works very easily. After removal sand the inside edge of the hole to remove the rust and gunk and then after coating the new plug with lock tite use the large round driver to install the new plug. This is one of the easiest jobs and I would strongly recommend installing new plugs all the way around as they rust out from the inside and even though they look good are probably ready to fail if one has already. Lock tite can be bought at any parts store and acts as a sealant as well gripping the plug. There will be a freeze plug at the very end of the head (next to the firewall) which cannot be reached without removing the engine and if it does not leak just replace the others. Post your results after the job is done. There is a tremendous satisfaction which comes from doing a task on your car yourself. Good luck. Join the BCA and get lots of helpful information in the Buick Bugle. You can get the necessary information off this website about joining. Patrick W. Brooks, President, BCA

[NTX5467]

Great information Pat and Bill. I have observed a little different orientation in a few respects, over the years.

First, instead of knocking the plug squarely into the water jacket, I've seen most mechanics push it in with the driver but THEN knock it more on one side so that it pivots in the hole so that it can then be pulled out with some Vice Grip or Channelock-type pliers. That way, no need to fish it out of the water jacket.

The installation "goop" of choice, by observation, seems to be the Permatex brown/black sealer. There might be something better now, it is probably might relate to local availability and personal prefs of the installer/engine builder. Key thing is that when you're done, you can paint them for the final detail labor operation, if desired.

When you remove the plugs, you'll probably find a variable amount of cooling system "residue" in the water jackets. This is when it would be a GREAT TIME to do a really good cooling system flush! Most of the residue will be toward the back of the block, as it's usually the lowest part of the block's coolant passages due to the installation angle of the engine in the chassis. Yep, it will be one of those messy jobs, but as we've mentioned in this forum in prior times, that's the best way to do it. If one plug is getting thin, then others might not be far behind . . .

Just be cognizant . . . if you use a commercial flush chemical to aid in the flushing process, the rust and scale it removes will very possibly make the things the scale was attached to much thinner in their "wall thicknesses"--things like heater core passages and radiator core passages, plus the other "core plugs" in the engine. Therefore, it might be best to use these chemicals sparingly or just enough to get most of the job done to minimize their affects on these possibly marginal other areas or just use lots of plain water.

When done, use some high quality coolant (but, as we've discussed in here before also, NORMAL coolant and not the Dexcool-type coolants) with some of the GM Cooling System Supplement "pellets" (probably about 2 pellets will be fine) to help with various seeps and, I believe, the ph balance of the mixture as it ages. Dexcool-type coolants are designed to work with later systems that are "closed" and have coolant reservoirs and related radiator caps which ARE always at the correct level. The issues that have occured, by observation and GM field checks, tend to relate to Dexcool equipped "closed" cooling systems that have not been maintained in the "Full" range in the coolant reservoirs for extended periods of time and/or were "contaminated" for various reasons with green coolant. Plus, Dexcool and "open" cooling systems do not seem to work well together. From what I've seen in the Preston website, their new "Prestone Yellow" coolant works with and in the same place as the prior "green" coolant (still with the same 30,000 miles/2 yr change interval) and will work in combination with Dexcool-type coolants (without degrading the existing longer change intervals). The "normal" coolant is still around in many places and in a variety of brands so that's your judgment call.

Whether you do the "knock through" or "knock and turn" procedure, just make sure that you plan the project, budget about twice as much time as you suspect you might need, and have the necessary "implements and supplies" readily at hand. Doing these types of repairs in a time frame where there is no pressing use of the vehicle in the near future can make things "less stressful" should thing not go completely "as planned".

Many like to put the brass plugs back in instead of the normal steel ones. Gets to be something of personal pref again, but the brass ones don't "rust" and cost a little more. Make sure that they are of good quality and "thickness" with either option, though.

Good luck on your project!

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[chub chub]

thanks so much. i hope to get it done this weekend and your info is very helpful. i'll let you know how it goes.

scott

[chub chub]

thanks again to all who responded. i was hesitant to knock the plug fully into the water jacket, so i spent a lot of time trying to pull it out once it was punctured. after much time and frustration, i decided to push it through and spent only 20 seconds retrieving it. lesson learned... trust the experts. i cleaned out as much muck as possible, then installed the new plug (at an angle) and had to remove it. this time it took about two minutes. i got it right the second time with my spare plug. i sealed it with permatex #2. i took it for a test drive and when i returned the replacement plug was solid. however, as true to the nature of chub chub, once i fix one thing, a new problem arises on the test drive. thanks for your help and you can catch the next tale of chub chub in a new post under the topic of "52 electrical storm"