Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

JRPackard37,

There are a lot of crackerjack mechanics on this site, a group in which I most definitely do not include myself, but based on 'coolant loss, significant bubbling in your radiator and fresh oil leaking out between the head and block' and I would say you have a pretty fair candidate for a bad head gasket. I would check and verify head gasket status before going much further here. Chris.

You might try warming the engine up and retorquing the head bolts.....

I would not use the sealing tables unless it's an emergency as they can also plug things unexpectedly. Chris' comments were dead-on that replacing the head gasket should be done before anything else. Whether coolant or oil, the gasket is bad and needs replacing!

In an unpressurized system, blocked cooling tubes as seen in your very spiffy photos will cause the top tank to overflow.

A thorough reverse flush will carry most of that stuff out of the mouths of the tubes. Remove your top hose and cap. Pull the lower hose off the water pump and pack it with rag so you can just insert an air nozzle. Fill the radiator with water and blow the air nozzle in several bursts. Vesuvius. Repeat till most of the particles in the tubes are gone.

Long term you will need to pop your freeze plugs and pressure wash out the block, but the simple expedient of a back flush may keep you going for a long time.

Am not dreadfully concerned about a little weeping at your head gasket.

Thanks for all the advice, I am waiting for my mechanic to have time to replace the head gasket but I did flush the block and radiator. I also used a magnet to get the large chunks of scale/rust out of the top tubes of the radiator. I also used 1 round of thermocure to get ride of the rust followed by large amounts of flushing. I followed that up with liquidmoly radiator cleaner and then another round of evaporust. I didn't pull the freeze plugs as I was going to let my mechanic do that but this is the picture from the blocks drain plug by the starter. The flushes are running clear now no additional rust or lime/scale coming out. My question does it need more work or should I still remove the frost plugs. Thanks. James

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One definitive way to get an answer to your question is to fill the system with coolant and drive the car in circumstances like those that previously produced the problem.

Thanks all for advice I was going to update all, I cleaned out so much crud from the engine block by flushing water in and draining it out from the lower block drain plug above the starter. After that I took it to the mechanic and he replaced the head gasket and lightly flat bar sanded the head and block. Valves looked good so put it went all back together and no more foam and bubbling in the radiator. I attached pictures for others that might be trying to troubleshoot in the future. The radiator shows car running with no bubbles or foam, other picture shows some of the large chunks of crud that came out of the engine block. The other picture shows finer debris that came out of the block.

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Good afternoon...Just a short note of caution regarding your new head gasket...Those things need to be torqued down several times before they settle into a long term position. Re-torque at 50 miles, 100 miles, 200 miles...until you re-torque and nothing moves...then once a year until the cows come home and even if they don't! Enjoy! Ernie in Arizona

Thanks will do, great suggestion to all

James,
for including your '37 Six Convertible Coupe in the Packard Owner's Registry. Looks lovely.