Vulture

Steve Had planned to spend an hour or so on the truck today, but pressure or work and my boy being laid up with some lousy vomiting bug he picked up from school scuppered my plans sadly.... Not sure if I'll get time tomorrow to doing anything, plus the weather forecast for this part of the country is heavy rain . If I can I'll drop by Rex Ward on Friday and pick up a bottom hose on my way home, and have a go at the truck at the weekend. Yes, it looked a bit tired and unloved when I first picked it up at Hunmanby with its six different shades of grey, but a bit of TLC, a repaint, six new tyres, new canvas doors and cab canvas and its looking quite a bit smarter. The seats are really really tired so I'm getting some new ones made by Allied Forces, which I pick up middle of next month. Main expenditure after that will be me new canvas for the cargo body, but I'm pretty much out of funds now, so I'll have to save up for a bit for that ! LOL Lots of servicing projects I want to potter on with. Can't wait for the better weather and longer days to come back Kind regards Ian

This bit could be the hardest part of all ! LOL Best of luck

I'm taking my car the local garage for some work tomorrow' I'll see what they have to hand. I could always opt for Bars Flush Cooling System Cleaner from my local Halfords, although from what you say, a harsher clean might be a better long-term solution. A grey cast iron look to the insides, is certainly something to aspire to. I'm with a recovery company called Flux Recovery. For the annual sum of £32 they provide home start and road-side assistance and recovery on the truck. Admittedly there is a £3,000 limit on the costs they will swallow in a year, but that is a lot of recovery activity ! :-) Given that I've already been recovered once this year when an oil pipe failed, I've already had value for money ! Kind regards

Journeyman :thanx:for your thoughts, much appreciated . Good to have a clear steer on the gasket question

Wow ! Best of luck with that, what a great vehicle

Thanks for that Degsy :-)

Hi Cubed The penny has dropped for me, after a posting on the other thread. The gasket sits in the neck of the rad, not on the cap it self, which is why of course I couldn't see anything (chuckle). :blush: :n00b:

Okay guys I'm picking up the vibes here that a flush of the cooling system might be in order before putting the Thermostat in. I'll pick up some suitable flushing agent from the local garage tomorrow. Have to say though that on the previous drain down I did, and again today, the water/anti-freeze mix was very clean. Like I say I'm not adverse to giving it a flush. I'll follow the advise several of you have kindly given. I'll also get a new bottom hose of Rex this week, to compliment the new top one. But guys, what about the Thermostat gasket question ???? When I get round to re-fitting it (after the flush), do I fit it on top of the Thermostat or below ? Looking at the old gasket I reckon it was under the Thermostat... (when it had one fitted) Question: When the housing is bolted down does it very slightly 'crush' down the raised Thermostat lip ? Kind regards to all

Ahhh, the penny drops ! When I spoke with Rex Ward last week we talked very briefly about a new Rad cap and seal, but he said he didn't have either in stock at the moment, so I assumed incorrectly that the red seal must be to do with the Thermostat. He must have found one, and thrown into into the box for me . The picture makes the condition of the cooling system look worse than it is, it has to be said.

Gentlemen An update for those kind souls who have taken an interest in this thread and the connected one about an expansion bottle question I raised. The Thermostat and gasket (s?) and top hose came in the post during the week, and with a break in the rubbish weather this morning was as good an opportunity as any to (attempt to) sort this snag out. Here's the new bits: I've been sent two gaskets, I expected just one, so a bit of a puzzle straight away for the NOOB here as the manual only mentions one. To help us consider the scenario, here's a couple of gratuitous engine shots of the offending area With the cap off here's what I see. And here's the cap, not a fibre washer that some have mentioned in sight. Should be one there on this type ? Anyway, the top hose comes off after a short fight, and the top housing unbolts without difficulty. This is what we find......... WTF ? No Thermostat... So I look to fit the new one, and have an immediate question for the more knowledgeable souls. Does the gasket sit underneath the Thermostat, or on top of it. Either way when I put the housing back on top, it is not a snug fit, and there is a gap all the way round... Is that normal ? I think the Thermostat is meant to sit on top of the gasket, but I wait your wise guidance before I try bolt it back in place. Also what is the small gasket for ? Is that mean to sit on top of the thermostat (it definitely won't fit underneath) ? Kind regards to Ian

Big Ray I've did the tick over check for blown headgasket, a month or so back, when I started to become suspicious of something amiss... Nothing too see. As for my troubles being minor, time will tell...

Deadline Looking at the existing cap I can't see any gasket... I'll post a photo on the Temperament gauge puzzle thread

Degsy, brace yourself ! One will be appearing on the Temperament gauge puzzle thread very shortly (just need to upload some photos)

Hi Julian. Firstly welcome along, and secondly thanks for sharing that great story about your father :)Kind regards Ian

Mike I hesitate to answer for the fear of bringing the wrath of the purists down upon me, but there are three reasons: 1. I've had bad experinces in the past with coolant levels when I was running some of my older cars. 2. I find it very annoying that I can't check the collant level without having to top-up. In doing so of course you end up wasting anti-freeze solution when it blows it out, plus you can't monitor it journey to journey, if you have a problem. 3. I do have some concerns with the truck, although these might be explained by the Thermostat playing up over these last months, and now stopping working all together. Kind regards Ian

Gordon and Deadline Thanks for that info, great stuff. Next time I'm talking to Rex Ward I'll ask him if he has the right bits in stock Kind regards Ian

I know the purist may be offended by the suggestion (so if you are please don't reply), but does anyone have, heard of, or seen a (presumably post war) mod to a CCKW to fit a radiator expansion tank bottle ? Kind regards Ian

LOL ! I know what you mean

It would be if it wasn't for the fact that I changed it all over about 6 weeks ago ! LOL Hey ho, its going to be out with a bucket collecting it from the drain on the rad front

Thanks for that Clive

Yes this was a good first meeting . Including myself there were 26 attendees with (as you would expect) a broad ownership spectrum ranging from not owning any vehicle, up to having about 8. For the moment we are going to continue meeting in the Montague Club in Huntingdon, every 2nd Thursday of the month at 20:00. We worked our way through the sample MVT Area constitution, appointed a Deputy Area Sec, agreed to use a Yahoo Group to disseminate info (and files) and amongst other things agreed to try and have a 'Spring Run' sometime in the Easter break. All went well, already looking forward to next months meeting

A short update guys. Rang up Rex Ward, got chatting with him, and his immediate reaction was (like many of) that what I was seeing were the classic symptoms on a CCKW of the Thermostat being stuck wide open. I've ordered a new Thermostat, gasket, and top hose off him, all of which will hopefully arrive for the weekend. I've decided to leave the truck as it is for the moment, and attack it at the weekend. Kind regards to all Ian

Andy Up until this last journey everything was behaving normally. (I take the truck out, the engine gets warm, the temp gauge goes up after a while and I get warm air blasted up my right leg through the hole in the floor where the winch lever is ! :laugh:) That said it has never been a truck (in the 6 months I've had it) that has gotten really hot, normally the temp gauge reads around 140 to 150 when your travelling along. This was out of character.... although the engine seemed to be running fine on the trip. There wasn't the normal heat coming up through the floor, but I put that down to the cold day. What I still struggle with is the speed with which the temp gauge dropped back down to 100, I mean it seemed to happen with a second or so of turning the engine back on :confused:. I intend to try and replicate things tomorrow and take photos/vid as it happens. I fully expect the engine to throw out the excess water in the rad, but filling it to the top, was the only way to find out at what level the water had been at when this snag happened. Kind regards Ian

Guys, thanks for your thoughts :-). Lots of good ideas :idea: on how to try and tackle this puzzle. Weather permitting I'm going to fire the old girl up in the morning. I'll block off half the radiator with cardboard and see how things go. Excuse the NOOB question :n00b: but I'm assuming I block the front of the rad off ? (i.e. not the side with the fan). I think a call into Rex Ward to get a spare thermostat is also required tommorrrow. I'm curious as to how many people get their engine up to working temperature before driving off. I know the manual says to do so, but I thought that the 'modern' thinking was get vehicles up to working temp as quick as possible (by driving them) but not to work the engine too hard in the process. Kind regards to all Ian

It was a beautiful winters day here yesterday, so I cranked up the truck and used it for the school run to pick my lad up, a 12 mile round trip. Its pretty cold, about 5 degrees, so I'm expecting it will take a while to get up to operating temp, but the temp gauge stays stubbornly unmoved throughout the entire journey. On getting back straightaway I'm out crawling over the engine and checking the manual. I can't find anything wrong, i.e. no leaks from the tube. I look back in the cab and notice then that with the engine off that temperature is now showing on the gauge. I then start the truck up, and immediately the temperate falls back to bottom. On stopping the engine, it rises again ! I wondered if there was an issue with the water-coolant level, but 1.5 litres of water and anti-freeze brought it up to the rim. Any ideas guys ? Kind regards to all Ian