I removed the thermostat housing in order to change the thermostat & found an awful lot of rust on the front side (where water would sit when the thermostat is closed). The housing needs to be media blasted, cleaned & the outside repainted. I pulled the rad hoses & the heater hoses & only a slight bit of rust at the upper rad hose at the radiator. When I drained the radiator and block at the 2 petcocks, I only had green come out with no particles of rust floating. Any suggestions? Flush out the system; if so, how?

Thanks

I didn't read that you were having any over-heating problems, so I would just leave the petcocks open and put a hose into the radiator with the engine running and flush it our that way. Just open the valve to the hose big enough to keep up with the water draining. Then let her drain down, close the petcocks and put in the a/f mix.

Ol'ford nutCentral Iowa

56 Vic w/292 & 4 spd.

If you decide to go with a major flush, try white vinegar. Full the cooling system with it run the car around a couple of days and flush it out it. Rinse it it good as the vinegar is a mild acid. I would remove the thermostat when you do this. I would wait till mild weather to do it , you don't want anything to freeze while running it.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

Hummm, I've done this once, before rebuilding my engine, but used Abro radiator flush. Worked good, but my radiator ended up looking like a swiss chease. A total of four leaks appeared on it. maybe is really best to use vinegar, since the specific stuff like Abro, STP, or Bardahl appear to be too strong for a old rad. When my engine was being rebuild, I had to change the entire radiator core. Used a three row setup from a Mercedes 608 light truck, that's the exact same size (the Mercedes radiator is made by the same guys that produced the rads for the Galaxies, and still do for the Ford trucks as well).

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec

Thanks to all, however...

Since I have removed the 1. rad hoses, 2. heater hoses, & 3 thermostat housing already, Can I flush out the rad, heater, & engine without putting it all back together?

Thanks

Not really. I mean, you could stand there and fill your rad while the petcock is open at the bottom and let it trickle out, etc., but IMO it's much more efficient to do a flush while your water pump is driving the fluid throughout your entire system.

Agreed, doing a flush is way more efficient with the engine's water pump driving the fluid all over the system. Not to mention, that the engine heat will help loosing a lot of the stuff.

Túlio Lazzaroni "FORD", Florianópolis SC Brasil.

'74 Ford Galaxie 500 292 V8

'82 Ford Galaxie Landau 302 V8

'98 Chevrolet S10 4.3 V6

'01 Ford Focus 1.8 Zetec