A Case For Replacing the Freeze Plugs

[13jeff13]

Although these freeze plugs are hardy enough to out live these engines, and myself,, Getting to the crud behind them is worth the price of new ones. I spent a good hour digging around in the exhaust manifold with a coat hanger and rinsing in the sink with water and thought I had made some real progress. Then I removed the drain plug and it was solid with crud. SO,, I decided to take out the Freeze Plugs and here is what I found.

[13jeff13]

Cleaning out the exhaust manifold...

I'm currently soaking the inside with vinegar, as I head out to get some Calcium and Lime remover from the dollar store,, Generic CLR.

The plugs in the Engine and head seem to be just as solid as these,,, so I don't plan on removing them, as they were no where near as packed with crud as the exhaust manifold.

[sastanley]

Jeff...great pics.

[hanleyclifford]

Good find. Now take it a step further and replace the freeze plugs with 3/4" NPT brass plugs.

[ILikeRust]

Although these freeze plugs are hardy enough to out live these engines, and myself,, Getting to the crud behind them is worth the price of new ones. I spent a good hour digging around in the exhaust manifold with a coat hanger and rinsing in the sink with water and thought I had made some real progress. Then I removed the drain plug and it was solid with crud. SO,, I decided to take out the Freeze Plugs and here is what I found.

Oh s#!&. I really wish you hadn't shown me that.

I spent a bunch of time flushing out my manifold and digging around with a coat hanger. I also filled it with muriatic acid and let it sit for a while and flushed it out. I got a fair amount of stuff out, and had a good flow of water through it, but did not remove the freeze plugs. And then I painted it all pretty. The last thing I want to do now is tear out those plugs. I would have to clean it all up and re-paint it again...

[13jeff13]

Good find. Now take it a step further and replace the freeze plugs with 3/4" NPT brass plugs.

Great Idea,, I believe I will.

[13jeff13]

Oh s#!&. I really wish you hadn't shown me that.

I spent a bunch of time flushing out my manifold and digging around with a coat hanger. I also filled it with muriatic acid and let it sit for a while and flushed it out. I got a fair amount of stuff out, and had a good flow of water through it, but did not remove the freeze plugs. And then I painted it all pretty. The last thing I want to do now is tear out those plugs. I would have to clean it all up and re-paint it again...

I think my engine had a hard life. The PO had tried to do some upgrades,, but I don't think they ever dug in elbow deep,, and since I"M HERE<< You know,,, Why Not. I almost quit with just the hangar method,,But since I got the plugs out, I just keep getting more and more crud,, Thick chunky stuff too,, I Now Plan a MAJOR clean up of the whole exhaust system,, No Telling how packed it will be. It looks new though,, perhaps a failed attempt at a mystery overheating problem. ,, I believe I found that cause. Poor Water Flow.

[BryanLee]

Odd thought.. how possible would it be to gauge the amount of crud inside by the volume of water it will hold? IE, once it is nice and clean, fill it with water, poor out the water and measure it. Then others could do the same, and if the amount of water it will hold is much less, they will know it is still full of crud and they should pull the freeze plugs??

I'm not sure if it would be accurate enough, or if the variations in the casting process would make them all to different for this to be of use, I'm just thinking through the keyboard here as I do not want to pull the freeze plugs in the manifold, but now I am wondering if I should, or if there is a way to tell beforehand if I should...

[ndutton]

Wouldn't one of those IR thermometers indicate obstructed flow? Totally non-contact and non-destructive.

[Mo]

Hi Jeff.

Look at pressure testing the manifold following installation of the new frost plugs as well.

I realize you removed them as a precaution and their replacement is not the result of inadequate winterization. That said, I do believe that there are numerous fractured / ruptured manifolds every spring due to using R/V antifreeze to winterize the engine. Rust corrodes the inner wall over the years and it may not withstand any expansion / pressure.

It is my sincere belief that come fall we should be advising afourians to winterize those engines with 50/50 automotive antifreeze...anything less, in my humble opinion, is just playing Russian Roulette.

Everyone have a great weekend.

[ILikeRust]

I think my engine had a hard life. The PO had tried to do some upgrades,, but I don't think they ever dug in elbow deep,, and since I"M HERE<< You know,,, Why Not. I almost quit with just the hangar method,,But since I got the plugs out, I just keep getting more and more crud,, Thick chunky stuff too

If it was in your manifold, it's likely in yer block, too...

I got a bunch of greasy, gooey, gritty crud out of the block - a lot of stuff - and also a bunch out of the head. Not as much out of the manifold.

I feel pretty confident I got everything out now and all the water passages are as clear as they possibly can get at this point.

[13jeff13]

Odd thought.. how possible would it be to gauge the amount of crud inside by the volume of water it will hold? IE, once it is nice and clean, fill it with water, poor out the water and measure it. Then others could do the same, and if the amount of water it will hold is much less, they will know it is still full of crud and they should pull the freeze plugs??

I'm not sure if it would be accurate enough, or if the variations in the casting process would make them all to different for this to be of use, I'm just thinking through the keyboard here as I do not want to pull the freeze plugs in the manifold, but now I am wondering if I should, or if there is a way to tell beforehand if I should...

Great Idea,, a little too late for before Volume,, BUT I will take a measurement of the After Volume for any who may want to check theirs out.

[13jeff13]

Roto Rooter

After letting her sit the day away with CLR, a calcium, lime and rust remover product, I devised a home made Roto Rooter device I will be attaching to my drill to see if I can get any extra junk out. It is actually a drain cleaner, tightly coiled spring,, that will spin around inside there. It would be nice to see a cross section view of what exactly is suppose to be open inside there.

Anyone Ever Cut One Open?

[13jeff13]

If it was in your manifold, it's likely in yer block, too...

I got a bunch of greasy, gooey, gritty crud out of the block - a lot of stuff - and also a bunch out of the head. Not as much out of the manifold.

I feel pretty confident I got everything out now and all the water passages are as clear as they possibly can get at this point.

Yep,, I took the Block and Head to the car wash and gave it a good flushing out. They are visible enough to see they are clear, the manifold though, just has too small of openings to be certain.

[jpian0923]

We have now discovered a "6th" spark plug on Hanley's engine!