Overheated!
Posted: Sun Aug 16, 2020 5:40 pm
I went out to visit with a friend and have donuts this morning. I drove there in "Rusty", my 1927 L.A.F.D. Mountain Patrol Vehicle, in hopes that it will spur Bill on to finally change out his worn out bands in his '23 touring. BTW, after looking at "Rusty" can you figure out how he earned his nickname? Yes that is correct it is a shortened version of his full name "Russell T. Phored"
After munching and solving all the world's problems we parted ways and I stopped by my Sister-in-law's house to complete a short visit. Since her house is on a bit of a hill and I didn't want to have to hand crank on the steep hill as that can sometimes cause the parking brake to pop forward into neutral... just think of trying to stand there in the street holding the car by the crank and yelling for someone to come and re-set the brake! So Rusty was left with the engine idling while we talked for about 5 minutes. When I returned I jumped into the car with DD (DD, "Deaf Dog", is my deaf Border Collie... she never responds when you call her unless you also use her hand signals) and started up the hill. To my surprise the engine stopped. I got out front on the crank after chocking the front wheel and applied my perfect form to crank starting. To my shock it was too tight to turn and the coils were buzzing. Hey, coils don't buzz on Mag!!! A quick investigation proved that the noise was the head boiling off water, not the coils!
That was so unusual for my car I threw open the hood and found the rubberized Gates fan strip laying on the left hood sill. Hey, that fan strip was a fan belt this morning! The radiator cap proved too hot to handle and so I discovered that the hubcap wrench is perfectly sized to be a radiator cap wrench... an 8 point wrench nicely doubles on a four point bolt head like a radiator cap.
After changing out the radiator fan belt I jumped aboard with DD and drove home with no further turmoil. I had no noticeable head damage as I seem to have caught it at only 1 gallon low so there was still water in the head. Had I not let the car idle with no air going through the radiator I would not have been aware of the belt failure, a Model T doesn't really need a fan or fan belt if it is moving relative to the air.
I have posted a short video of how I now remove a hot cap without burning my hand... please be aware that you can launch a radiator cap high into the air and into the proximate ivy beds if you are not careful. It is also important to stay clear of the radiator neck in case of a boiling geyser occurring!
IMHO, TH
Click here for "Overheated T - cap removal"
After munching and solving all the world's problems we parted ways and I stopped by my Sister-in-law's house to complete a short visit. Since her house is on a bit of a hill and I didn't want to have to hand crank on the steep hill as that can sometimes cause the parking brake to pop forward into neutral... just think of trying to stand there in the street holding the car by the crank and yelling for someone to come and re-set the brake! So Rusty was left with the engine idling while we talked for about 5 minutes. When I returned I jumped into the car with DD (DD, "Deaf Dog", is my deaf Border Collie... she never responds when you call her unless you also use her hand signals) and started up the hill. To my surprise the engine stopped. I got out front on the crank after chocking the front wheel and applied my perfect form to crank starting. To my shock it was too tight to turn and the coils were buzzing. Hey, coils don't buzz on Mag!!! A quick investigation proved that the noise was the head boiling off water, not the coils!
That was so unusual for my car I threw open the hood and found the rubberized Gates fan strip laying on the left hood sill. Hey, that fan strip was a fan belt this morning! The radiator cap proved too hot to handle and so I discovered that the hubcap wrench is perfectly sized to be a radiator cap wrench... an 8 point wrench nicely doubles on a four point bolt head like a radiator cap.
After changing out the radiator fan belt I jumped aboard with DD and drove home with no further turmoil. I had no noticeable head damage as I seem to have caught it at only 1 gallon low so there was still water in the head. Had I not let the car idle with no air going through the radiator I would not have been aware of the belt failure, a Model T doesn't really need a fan or fan belt if it is moving relative to the air.
I have posted a short video of how I now remove a hot cap without burning my hand... please be aware that you can launch a radiator cap high into the air and into the proximate ivy beds if you are not careful. It is also important to stay clear of the radiator neck in case of a boiling geyser occurring!
IMHO, TH
Click here for "Overheated T - cap removal"
