MTFCA Forum

Now I know why my radiator wasn't working, 60% of the tubes are filled with rust and junk. Any tips for getting it out?

Have a professional remove the bottom tank and “rod out” all Tubes. Also, reverse flush the Engine Block several times while the Radiator is being serviced.
Alan in Western Australia

I hope you are able to find a shop that still handles brass radiators, a lot of them have closed now that new cars use aluminum radiators with plastic tanks.

A new flat tube is worth every penny....
A lot of pennies but well spent.

Try a reverse flush yourself. Look in thru the top neck @ the few tubes you can see. Pull the radiator & use a garden hose from the outlet side. When you flush it, do it in an area like a cement driveway to access the junk that comes out.
Decades ago, I was set to buy a new radiator. I figured nothing to loose. I do my best work when there's nothing to loose. I removed the bottom tank & ran various thicknesses of long anodized strips thru.( old flat tube) Resoldered back together. Fixed one leaking tube. Its still on one of my T's.

Before attempting any repairs... take a magnet to the fins. Radiators during the “black car” years had steel fins and copper tubes. Corrosion builds up between the tubes and fins, and so prohibits hear transfer. If this is the case, there is no amount of cleaning, roding, or flushing that will help the radiator cool your motor

What Kevin said. You may clean it out thoroughly, but if the fins have worked loose from the tubes it's toast. If that's the case, before you buy a replacement, ask yourself, "Why is this 90-year-old radiator at the swap meet for sale and no longer on a car?" The correct answer is, "Save up lots of pennies and buy a new Berg's."

Ruxstel24 wrote: ↑

Sun Aug 29, 2021 9:24 pm

A new flat tube is worth every penny....
A lot of pennies but well spent.

AMEN!!, bobt

A soak for a few days with household white vinegar will loosen /remove the scale build-up from minerals left behind over the years by using tap or well water.

Thanks for the advice, I think I left out alittle pertanent info: it is a flat tube radiator, I have reverse flushed it with a very hi volume hose but it still wont clear. Does the bottom tank solder off?

IF you're not in a position to just buy a new radiator, which I also recommend as did Dave I believe, then take it off and take it to a radiator shop first, and have them boil it out. They can put a pressure test for leaks, as well as a "performance test", in otherwords, they will check to see if it has enough "flow". A full radiator should evacuate all the water from the bottom hose connection...(NOT from the petcock) in about 4 seconds. Most rad shops would charge around $50-$75 for this. Cheap try. If it doesn't work, then it's time to buy a new one.

Ok, thanks

If it wont clear out, how much is a new radiator for a 26?

Go back up to the post about vinegar. Vinegar (acetic acid) is wonderful stuff. It eats rust, corrosion, scale, etc without touching the uncorroded base metal. I use it to clean anything rusty, corroded, or scaled: corrosion gone, base metal intact. 50/50 with water is as strong as you will ever need, 25% vinegar is standard. Build a tank (wood with a plastic sheet lining or some such thing) big enough to hold the entire radiator, fill the tank with vinegar and water and immerse the radiator in it, being sure to get the vinegar into the tubes. Leave it there for a week or so, moving the radiator every day to flush out the exhausted vinegar to let unused fluid into the tubes. With some luck the radiator tubes might get free enough that the pressure back flushing will get out the crud. If it doesn't work you are out $10 for vinegar and a week or two of waiting. You could just fill the radiator with vinegar but using the full emersion approach lets the vinegar get at both ends of the blocked tubes at the same time.

Jonah D'Avella wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:09 am

If it wont clear out, how much is a new radiator for a 26?

A new Bergs or Brassworks will run you about $900. I bought one for my car and, even with a freshly babbitted and tight engine, it still won't boil over. Definitely worth the expense if you plan to drive your car.

Zach, I mentioned that to him in a private text. Sadly, as we all remember "those days", he's tight on funds being so young with limited resources. But he'll figure out a way, one way or the other. That's how I did it, oh heck, I still do it!! LOL. Builds character in a young man, and definitely respect for the dollar.

The vinegar to use is cleaning vinegar no salad vinegar. But time is money and trying to get an old radiator "working" again just isn't worth the effort.
Berg's are best and built well http://www.bergsradiator.com/modelt.html

Tim, I still remember days when fun budget is tight. Yesterday!

I had the radiator for my 26 recored for about $600. Has worked flawless. Saved a little $$ also.
Just a thought. Makes driving a T a joy with no leaks and no overheating issues.

Jonah, if you have a flat tube already, I would try the vinegar first.... and flush out the engine.

Jonah D'Avella wrote: ↑

Mon Aug 30, 2021 8:09 am

If it wont clear out, how much is a new radiator for a 26?

Jonah, I just talked to the owner of berg's Radiators, last week. I forgot the exact cost, but I know that he told me a new flat tube, high 24-27 radiator was over $900.00. Once your radiator problem is solved, do as others have recommended and flush your block until its squeaky clean, especially if you run, or have ever run an aluminum head or water pump on it. you'll know if it has, even if there hasn't been one on it since you bought it. If it has, and the inside of the block is dry, it willl have a white chalky goop in the water passages. If the inside is wet, the white goop will be more like white mud.

Something that has not been mentioned but is extremely important. T radiators are designed for 0 (zero) psi pressure. A radiator shop that does NOT know this can/will easily damage a T radiator by over-pressurizing it for leak testing before or after they work on it.

Make sure the radiator shop, specifically the guy doing the work, knows the radiator is designed for use at atmospheric pressure and is NOT designed to run under pressure as most all radiators of today are.

Good Luck,

Budget-wise and time-wise your best bet is to take it to a radiator shop for them to boil it out and test it for leaks and such. They'll tell you if it's serviceable, something you will likely not know if you do it yourself.

If it's serviceable, great! If not, you haven't wasted your time trying to clean it out yourself never knowing if you got it all out, and even of you did whether the fins are able to carry the heat away. Then you start saving your pennies for a new one.

I took mine to a shop here in Joliet. They had it for a week and when they gave it back to me it looked brand new (well, pretty new anyway). Boiled it out, a few solders, fresh coat of paint, cost: $125.

I see on the Google Box there's a place called Bud's Radiator Shop in Johnson City. I don't know anything about them, but that sounds like the kind of outfit that can handle this kind of job.

As a side note, when I was going through this same ordeal I pulled the head and really gave it a flushing out in the slop sink. I could not believe the amount of crap that came out of it. I mean big chunks that I had to fish out of it, big enough that they weren't going to drain anywhere without having pulled the head.

And you'll have time for that while the radiator is in the shop.

I just finished flushing a radiator off an early Buick. I used a plastic kids pool, a swamp cooler pump and 4 bottles of Preston radiator flush. Lay the radiator in the pool and start with a reverse flush for for a couple days, change directions for a couple more and so on.
I had to change water a few times and add more radiator flush. After a couple of weeks it was flowing clean.

Bob

Robert Bente wrote: ↑

Wed Sep 01, 2021 6:20 am

I just finished flushing a radiator off an early Buick. I used a plastic kids pool, a swamp cooler pump and 4 bottles of Preston radiator flush. Lay the radiator in the pool and start with a reverse flush for for a couple days, change directions for a couple more and so on.
I had to change water a few times and add more radiator flush. After a couple of weeks it was flowing clean.

Bob

Kudos to your ingenuity. Love it!

Personally, I would recommend Alton Boyd’s Radiator Shop, 1701 N Ridge Ave, in Kannapolis, NC 28083. Phone number 704-467-2457. This guy knows everything about ALL radiators. If Alton can’t fix it - it can’t be fixed. Does gas tanks too. He’s been in business forever. Highly recommend him for the best work at the best price.

Jonah, Looks like there aren't any radiator repair shops in your area. Google shows Robert's - a reclamation (scrap yard) that may be able to boil it out for a fee but uncertain about their ability to repair. Not sure if I would have them do any more than that without knowing more about them (get references). In nay case before you have anything done get a written estimate - just to boil it out. I'd drive my T to this place and see what interest it causes, there may be some knowledgeable T person around to guide you, and who knows they may even have a "reclaimed" one.

Now if there is a compelling reason for you to keep what you have and/or be original; consider the costs of sending it any of the recommended repair shops: cost of packaging it + insured shipping costs both ways + boiling it out. If okay at this point you saved. If not then the cost to repair at this point your kinda of stuck with deciding not to and being out the costs so far or going ahead with an "estimated" repair.
The option of purchasing a BERG, lets you run around in your T until it arrives, then to sell your old one.

Even though the non water pump Model T’s run a “non pressurised” cooling system it is still subjected to pressure
developed by the weight of the Coolant and if present, steam that can’t pass through the overflow quick enough.
It is my understanding that all Radiator Repair Shops pressure test radiators after repair. A serviceable Radiator should
withstand the 10 or 15 psi pressure test regardless of the duty it normally operates under.
Both my Ts are fitted with new Brassworks flat tube radiators and have never had a overheating issue for more than 20 years
Others may have different views.
Alan in Western Australia