Woody
Well-Known Member
The heat exchanger, aftercooler, and impellers were all serviced at the beginning of the season. I had even changed the original radiator caps just because. Temps were fine until end of season.
Last weekend I was looking at the big hose from thermostat hosing to heat exchanger. It always had a bit of different shape, kind of flattened out. I was wondering if something simple like a deteriorating hose might be my problem. While pondering this I was squeezing the hose comparing it to the other engine. Along with whooshing of fluid I heard a faint muffled sound like metal bumping on metal. I had thermostats and some new hoses so I took it apart.
What I found was one thermostat had fallen apart. I lifted the one out of the bypass side first it was complete. When I looked in the hole I could see a bit of brass balanced in the hole through the partition between thermostats. Not realizing what it was I stuck a finger in there and knocked it off, kerrrrplop. The one side is deeper and had some antifreeze in it, if the part would have been already in there I might not have thought to probe around. I fished it out with a magnet.
I changed the thermostats, put on a new hose(but the old one was OK) and the engine is running a needle over 160 again. Here's some pics to help figure out what I'm talking about.