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Gano Filter Cleanout

Gano Radiator Hose Cleanout

Having suffered the effects of a blocked radiator (overheating, dropped valve seat), Kirby Palm was understandably interested in avoiding a repeat.  While his engine was apart, he posted a message to the xj-s@jag-lovers.org discussion list suggesting that it might be a good idea to put some temporary filter screens in the upper radiator hoses somehow to stop any leftover crud from the rebuild from getting into his freshly-rodded radiator and plugging it up again.  Lo and behold, Brian Schultetus pointed out that such filters already exist.  One source is:
    Gano Filter Company
    1205 Sandalwood Lane
    Los Altos, California  94024
    +1 (650) 968-7017
And Peter Smith says there’s a similar product in Australia made by:
    Coolfilter Australia
    151 Bushmead Road
    Hazelmere WA 6055
So, Palm purchased a pair (the Jaguar XJ-S V12 has two upper radiator hoses) of filters with clear plastic housings from Gano and installed them.  Meanwhile, a discussion ensued on the list about whether the filters should be removed shortly after the rebuild and most of the debris has been removed, or whether they should be left in the system permanently.  Gano apparently intends for its filters to be left in place permanently, and if they are not plugged up it's not immediately apparent what benefit would result from removing them.

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
rail connecting pipe.  This would make sense, since Palm had rebuilt the right bank some time ago with new seals, but this was the first time the left bank had come apart -- and these seals were correspondingly dry and crumbly on the left side only.  Sure, every attempt was made to get all the chunks out while apart, but when you're actually doing this kind of rebuild it becomes all too apparent that leaving pieces like this inside is only too likely.

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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