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

Us back yard boys test for exhaust in the coolant by shining a flashlight in the rad with the cap off and looking for bubbles, all the easier in a non-pressurized system like these.
Bob J.

Bubbles in coolant may definitely indicate a head gasket leak. But make sure the water pump is not leaking air in at the seal. Especially with a partly clogged radiator, there is an increased tendency to pull air into the system at the water pump seal or any possible leak in the radiator core or lower hose/pipe connections.
I've seen head gasket leak cases where the coolant looked fizzy with tiny bubbles, almost like beer. Rusty coolant often indicates a head gasket leak.

Thanks - The car belongs to a friend who lives a distance from me. So I'm not working on the car, but providing him some guidance. One of the first things I had him do was to get a HF infrared thermometer.

I've had one for years. One of the best tool investments I've made.

Wishing my PackardInfo friends a

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

I should have posted this earlier. The problem was traced to a bad thermostat. The shop that had worked on the car a few months before said that they had replaced the it, but they hadn't.

It's usually a small problem but takes time to figure out. Glad you got it fixed.

My 35-893 would overheat during high speed runs. When we decided to restore the car and rebuild the engine, we discovered no matter what we did the cooling distribution tube would not come out. So, we did the pressure washer thing at every opening. We had the radiator rebuilt, and since the car would be getting A/C I installed a ‘54 water pump and a 7 blade fan from a later model Mopar v8. Had to cut it to 16 inches diameter as I remember but a simple job on a radial arm saw with a cut off wheel.

You wil have to probably machine the hub a bit to fit the water pump pulley and redrill the hole pattern to match. Not too difficult.

It made a great difference.

Mike

I have some of the stock A/C fans but for 1953 and 1954, they were still 4-blade but larger than the non-A/C type - 20" as I recall.