cooling system problem question

For what it's worth...

I built a 350 Chevy once upon a time. I moved to a new home where it sat until I could get to it. We had a once every 100 year freeze . Cracked block, about 8 inches long. Sold it to a friend for $250. We both "knew" he would be lucky to make it home. He did, and install some stop leak. He drove that truck for 10 YEARS !

It might not be " right" but it worked for him.

I read in one of the old Cat advertising brochures I have about the 22 where they claim it was only a 4 hour job for a Cat Mechanic to come out and replace the piston rings when they got worn so with that info you shouldn't be scared to pull the head and investigate, you can even give them a quick valve grind while you are at it, those old head gaskets were generally re-used if in good condition, a slap of some Aviation Gasket Sealant or some Copper Head Gasket spray will help seal it all up.

The Owners Book for the 2 Ton suggested belting the head with a good solid piece of lumber to re-seat the re-used head gasket if you ever had to work on it, in fact they said if the tractor was overheating to drive it to the nearest pond or creek to pull the radiator top tank off and the head if necessary to investigate blockages to the cooling system, makes sense to me!
Good luck
Mike

Pete--i have had good experience with alumaseal on radiator leaks and head gasket leaks
Dan

The CAT 22 with bubbles in the radiator: Re torque the Cylinder head as these are thick gaskets and will compress. The CAT 22 with water in the oil: Drain the crankcase and suck out the oil in the front oil pan camber through the oil fill spot. I use a boat oil changing pump. Then fill rad. with water and see if water drips out the drain plug. This will save wasting new oil. Also the CAT 22 is not a pressurized cooling system and I have found stop leak products work best with pressurize systems. Both tractors: Take off the valve covers and check the freeze plug under the rocker arm. Hope this helps. Bill

I like the sodium Silicate method, or waterglas.

Granma used to keep eggs in it. A large crack sealed with this looks like glass is in the crack. Some of the coolant flowing through the crack gets converted into steam upon coming out of the block, leaving behind molecules of liquid glass in the crack. The heat inside that crack melts the liquid glass molecules, helping any subsequent molecules stick together and form a solid sheet of glass.

I have used it successfully for large cracks. I prefer to heat up the engine to boiling under load with a covered rad, as the evaporating water in the crack helps deposit this. Waterglas will stay solid and in place until heated to well above the temperature of deposit (boiling) in the #6 note below.
Here's the process:

1. Remove the anti-freeze

. Calculate the amount of sodium silicate you need based on the coolant capacity of the car. The cooling system of a modern car has 10 to 20 quart coolant capacity. The amount of sodium silicate you need is about 2.5% up to 5% of the total amount of coolant. For example if the coolant capacity is 20 quarts, you only need 1/2 quarts up to 1 quart of sodium silicate.

2. Empty (and save) the entire antifreeze/coolant liquid from the radiator/cooling system.

3. Disconnect the heater.

4. Fill up the radiator/cooling system up to about 90% with regular water.

5. Start the engine and let it warm up before the sodium silicate is added. Then remove the radiator cap and add the amount of liquid sodium silicate you have calculated. The engine continues to run until the leak is sealed.

6. Let the engine run an additional 1 to 4 hours. Then drive it at high speed for another 30 minutes.

7. Empty the water/sodium silicate solution from the entire cooling system and re-fill the cooling system with anti-freeze you removed in step 2.

8. After about 200 miles driving, replace the anti-freeze with new anti-freeze.

Standing around waiting for your parts at the local Auto Parts store scanning the shelves I saw a can of "Modern Liqui-Seal" for stubborn engine leaks. Read the back of the can and it pretty much follows as previously described. Touted as a "Miracle" over old ways of sealing leaking engines!

Some Antifreeze has sodium silicate in it.