So, I got my old water pump back today which means I will be able to try starting my old 228 this coming week. Question~ When I took the pump off, two years ago, I noticed a bunch of "junk" built up inside the block. I'm pretty sure it didn't jump out of the water pump hole and go running wildly away, so what do I need to do to get rid of that? Also, what suggestions can you throw my way that I need to do before seriously firing this puppy back up? IT REALLY HASN'T RUN FOR 10 YEARS... The valves were adjusted, new oil filter, gaskets... That's about it. I know I probably should replace everything in the carb, right? (please say no. Say everything will be fine since it has only set for 10 years.) I got the old water pump back today, so that is the missing piece to get things flowing. I remember Nate saying something about citrus acid being a good thing to run through the block. Anything else? I remember the last time or two I ran the engine, it tried overheating... Don't need that. Thank you, all. You and your advise are why I only visit this site. (And why I'm not going to run "knock off" wide whites) Thanks for any and all comments.
Zig, You might check to see if any shop in your area can "back flush" an engine. We have the tool but seldom see one in modern shops. It has a garden hose to one fitting and an air line to the other with a separate on/off valve for each. The hoses are disconnected from the radiator and the thermostat is removed. The output from the tool is hooked to the bottom hose, the water valve is opened till the water runs out the top hose and then the water is closed and the air valve is opened. Whatever your compressor pressure is now forces the water BACKWARD through the engine an really knocks crud loose. Repeat till only clear water come out. Lacking this, parts stores sell block cleaner or you can use something like CLR but NOT if anything other than iron is in the system. You DO NOT want whatever come out of the engine to go into the radiator so we just use a 5 gallon plastic bucket in place of the radiator. This is done so the water/cleaner mix can get warm which makes it work much better. Watch the temp gauge and bring it up to 180 or so, let set for half an hour and then flush till water is clear. Remember to remove the thermostat for any type of flush.
When I read the title that Zig put on this thread I was afraid he might have drifted away from the PG rating the forum usually abides by, but no, he did alright.
There is that connection~ My 228 just sits around doing nothing... We're only hot when we're left on too long... Just putting the key in the ignition and turning it doesn't mean anything is gonna start... There's always hope, however, right? blue pill blue pill blue pill HA!!!!! I'll show ya how to make a viagra commercial! The truck gets stuck in the mud? Throw a blue pill in there. That'll solidify things! Camero is overheating? toss in a blue pill and ride a wheelie back to town. The wind ain't making your sailboat go? Toss a blue pill into the sky and watch that stiff breeze blow~~~~ Hey, and thanks for any ideas on getting the motor in my truck to come back to life as well.
Re Awakening IMO , use some thin Dino based engine oil in there , you want it to rapidly get up out of the pan and circulating , lubricating things , once you're able to drive it , you can hot change it to whatever you prefer . One pound of citric acid dissolved into three gallons of distilled water will get your entire cooling system , including the radiator , sparkling clean . I recently did my Brother's new (old , 1987) Mercedes S Klasse sedan with citric acid , the coolant looked nice but the temp. gauge tended to swing wildly on hills , on slow traffic , on hot days etc. . I flushed the coolant out with fresh distilled water then mixed the citric acid with more distilled water , filled it up and took it for a 45 minute long drive to the Desert where I had a nice breakfast then flushed it all out with more distilled water then drove it home and about the third time I flushed it and had him run it hard up the hill for 5 minutes , it suddenly puked out some red/brown rusty , silty crap and I knew it was then good to go ~ one last flush with distilled water then a careful re fill with a 60/40 mix using 40 % coolant and we drove it to Death Valley and back with the AC set to refrigerate and it ran fine , no overheating . This of course takes mucho time and not a few Dollars of gallon bottles of Distilled water because hearabouts we have " hard " pipe water , hard water means high mineral content , great for making Beer but your cooling system will hate it . It's never a bad thing to drill a tiny 3/16" or so size hole on the flange of the thermostat ~ this allows air to escape , preventing air locking of the cooling system . FWIW , AFAIK blah blah blah..... You should prolly go find a real mechanic instead of listening to my babble .
