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Greetings,

I have a '30 733 open car and am having problems with the antifreeze foaming and coming out the top of the radiator.

The owners manual says the car should have 5 gallons in the cooling system and the most I can get in is 4 which goes to the top of the radiator. Did the closed cars have a heater inside that would account for the extra gallon or might I have a blockage somewhere?

Thanks for your help.

Gene Wescott

I can't answer your question about the capacity of the system. I had similar problems with the foam on my 38 su8. I flushed the engine & radiator with oxalic acid and it took a lot of junk out but the foam problem didn't get solved. Someone with a 6 cylinder had the same problem and his head gasket was leaking and caused the problem.

The story about the 6 cylinder engine :
packardclub.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3044

Heaters were not standard equipment so it's unlikely that whatever coolant they might hold would have been included in the capacity of the cooling system. And generally a typical hot water heater would not hold as much as a gallon. But the "foaming" suggests other possible issues such as a blown head gasket or a cracked cylinder block or cylinder heat, even possibly a bad water pump seal allowing air to be sucked in. I suggest you start with a compression test of the cylinders.

Also, any evidence that the original radiator was replaced with one of a smaller capacity?

You made no mention of whether the car is overheating but that's my assumption. If your compression test shows no problems, I'd start by removing the water jacket plate and doing a thorough scraping and cleaning of the water jackets and the manifold within the plate itself. That done, I'd then give the radiator a vigorous back flush followed by a flow rate test. Then I'd subject the entire cooling system to the standard oxalic acid (followed by a neutralizer) chemical cleaning. While you're at it, remove and check the water pump for such things as a corroded or slipping impeller and leaking seal (just repack with graphite cord if needed).

Thanks, I'll check the compression.

Compression was good in all cylinders 70-80 psi. Will flush system again, but will need to find the oxalic acid locally.

Thanks