too much water in coolant

M

maunster

New member
Hey, I thought would just get your guys' opinions on how bad my coolant situation is. I realized a couple weeks ago that I've been running probably about 80/20 tap water to coolant for almost a year now. How detrimental is this? I'm going to do a flush today but do you think the water jacket has been adversely affected already? Anything to look out for? Thanks for the help!!!
 
Your first mistake is using tap water.

When you flush use distilled water it contains no mineral to create deposites
 
Yeah, that's what I ended up doing.... I have a stupid question now. The service manual says that the 196 takes 13 and a 1/2 quarts of coolant..after flushing I fill it with 50/50 mix and it only takes 8 quarts. So how is it that there is presumably five and a half quarts still in the heater/ water jacket and if there is...how do I ever get a 50/50 mix. Any thoughts? I must be missing something.
 
Did you start the engine? You have an air lock in the system just runit with the raditor cap off and you should get the rest of the antifreeze in.
 
Did you drain the engine block after you flushed the system?

If not, you still have several quarts of fluid in the block.
 
I'll try running it with the cap off and see if that does anything. I think I drained the block....how do you do that? I pulled the bottom radiator hose off and let in drain from there...would that work?
 
So I tried running it with the cap off....its holding level. Anyone want to clue me in on a sure fire way to drain the block completely? Theres no chance that a 196 only uses 8-9 quarts is there?
 
To drain the engine block, access the small pipe plug on the right side of the engine, near the bottom.
Remove the plug and allow it to drain.
Draining with the lower radiator hose off does not drain the block.
 
There is a smaller pipe plug on the left side of my 345 just behind the oil filter. Does that need to be removed as well to drain the block? I hope not, because I mangled the square drive trying to break it loose.
 
kjc-01 said:
there is a smaller pipe plug on the left side of my 345 just behind the oil filter. Does that need to be removed as well to drain the block? I hope not, because I mangled the square drive trying to break it loose.
Click to expand...

V-8 engine has a drain on each side, you need to drain both to get it all out.

Or

flush with cleaner and clean water until the engine is clean-clean-clean, then flush with straight water to get all the cleaner out. Drain all you can then add the proper amount of antifreeze to make it 50/50 mix. Then top off with water.
 
The coolant drain plugs are known as 1/4" pipe plugs, though they appear to be larger than that in every dimension. There are also some smaller (1/8" maybe) oil gallery plugs. The coolant plugs are up a bit higher on the block and there will only be one per side.
 
Additionally, I personally, don't like to use the 50/50 premix. I like to use the undiluted antifreeze and add my own water. Gives me better control. When draining the block, it is also helpful to stick a screwdriver in the hole to unplug any settlement at the bottom of the water jackets.
 
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