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Gano Radiator Hose Cleanout
1205 Sandalwood Lane Los Altos, California 94024 +1 (650) 968-7017
151 Bushmead Road Hazelmere WA 6055 Gano also offers a smaller filter assembly for a heater hose. This is a good idea, since such a filter could get totally plugged up and the only result would be a loss of heat, but it might be very effective at removing suspended particles from the entire system. It might even serve many owner's interests to have only a heater hose filter, thereby not positively preventing radiator clogging but still keeping the number of suspended solids in the cooling system to a minimum. Unfortunately, Gano's heater hose filters are brass rather than clear so you cannot readily see when they are full of crud. Hence, rather than buying the Gano item, Palm opted to save money and simply purchased a set of solid brass 5/8" garden hose fittings and a screened washer at the local hardware store. The screened washers are commonly used in the hoses that connect to a washing machine, and the careful shopper will note that they can actually be purchased in a variety of screen grids. What's more, the XJ-S owner is thereby provided one more option: he can use a screened washer in the summer when a loss of heat would be no big deal, and then he could install a normal garden hose washer in the winter to allow full coolant flow to the heater. Palm also revised his radiator drain scheme, since he would need to use it regularly to keep these screens clean. The '83 XJ-S comes with an overdesigned valve that dumps coolant all over the front suspension when opened. He replaced this with a simple fitting (not easy to find, since it is BSPP thread -- see the book), connected a short length of hose and plugged the end of the hose. When draining coolant, he just unwraps this length of hose out the bottom of the car, pinches it with a pair of Vice Grips, removes the plug, puts the hose into a suitable container, and releases the Vice Grips. After the rebuild, the car was driven once and the Gano filters were clearly already in need of cleaning, as expected. The heater hose filter was found to be 100% plugged as well. All three were cleaned and reinstalled, and a report was made to the list -- whereupon someone asked the obvious question: What the crud that came out look like? Too late, the crud had been hosed out into the yard somewhere. Now, a few hundred miles later, and time to clean the Gano filters a second time. This time the crud was collected. Despite many more hours of operation, the filters were nowhere near as fouled as they had been after the first few minutes after rebuild. Hence, as long as no new crud is being introduced into the system (being refilled with long life coolant mixed with distilled water only, etc.), perhaps it would be acceptable to remove the filters after a while. The larger chucks were all in the left side filter; the right side filter contained only small particles. This is in contrast to the first cleanout after rebuild, when both filters were pretty well choked up. The large solid black chunks appear to be a dried, crumbling seal --
possibly the old "top hat" seal (C37990) on the water
The large brown chunks appear to be pieces of wood. No idea how those got in there. The smaller particles appear to be large grains of sand or tiny pebbles. The only apparent source would seem to be leftover stuff from the original sand casting of the engine block. This engine has over 90,000 miles on it, so one might question that such grains would still be in there from casting; however, when the heads are off, you can see some excellent little pockets in the block around the liners that hold heavy stuff like this indefinitely. During this rebuild, Palm endeavored to clean these pockets out, and it's understandable that a few grains were left behind but loosened enough to start circulating around. There was one other thing of note that doesn't appear in this photo. The filters also seemed to have collected some "goo" that was circulating around in the system. Best guess: excess Hylomar that squeezed out of joints as the bolts were tightened down. It's not clear if this stuff does any harm in the cooling system -- it washes off the filters fairly easily -- but it certainly doesn't do any good. It might be expected to coat surfaces inside the radiator and impede heat flow, and it might even crud up tubes and impede coolant flow. Mechanics might want to note that being generous with this gasket sealant may not be a good idea. It should be noted that neither of the Gano filters were significantly plugged this time. Despite the collection of large chunks in the left side filter, the car was running cool. This is because large chunks don't plug the screens very effectively. The screens are more likely to be seriously obstructed by smaller particles, just the right size to get stuck in each opening in the screen. The heater hose filter was only about 50% plugged this time. While it caught a couple of large pieces as well, this screen had a collection of "mud" in it; the small grit shown is merely what is left after the mud dries up and the remains are scraped together for the picture. The screen in the heater hose is considerably finer than the screens in the Gano filters; this mud would have gone right through the Gano filters. After reassembly, Palm drove the car only a couple of times and large chunks were visible in the left side Gano filter again. So, that filter was cleaned out once again. This time, not only wasn't the heater hose filter opened up, but the right side Gano filter was not disturbed. This time, the Gano filter itself was disassembled for the picture. The second screen at the right, with the big gaping hole in it, is intended to allow junk to get into the filter assembly but to prevent it from falling back into the thermostat housing at shutdown. The two large chunks appear to be more of the old top hat seal. Hopefully, there can't be much more of that stuff in there! Some of those smaller particles actually look like thin flakes. Perhaps some of the scale from years of refilling with bad water is coming loose. Again, the car was keeping its cool just fine; these particles did not impede coolant flow through the filter significantly. One bit of bad news to report: The clear plastic housings on the
Gano filters are showing signs of stress fracture. This might be
due to overtightening of the hose clamps, or it might be due to dynamic
stresses caused by the engine moving around on its rubber mounts and pulling
on the radiator hoses. In either case, it provides one good reason
not
to leave these filters in place permanently. Tentative plan is to
buy a pair of 1" copper piping couplings (1-1/4" OD) and reconnect the
radiator hoses with these tubes and the screen assemblies from the
Gano filters. Won't be able to see the crud collecting in the screens,
but once the system is largely clean and the rate of collection falls off
this shouldn't be a big deal -- just check the screens whenever the coolant
is changed. Gano sells replacement plastic tubes, which might be
a good idea if the engine is rebuilt again -- or perhaps find some Pyrex
glass tubes. Or maybe just continue to use the copper and check regularly.
Of course, Gano also offers solid brass housings.
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