Will this work?

[In The Ten Ring]

I want to get anti-freeze into my engine's water jacket this weekend. I have everything back together cooling and engine-wise BUT I'm missing a tight-fitting gasket where the fuel line screws into the carb. No one seems to carry it and I don't want to buy a whole roll of gasket-making material to make my own.

I'm afraid to start the engine without that gasket, in case it leaked and fuel dripped down to find an ignition source and burn my truck and garage to the ground.

Would it work to fill the radiator and use the starter motor to turn the engine over and with it the water pump?

I have no fuel the system at all: gas tank, lines, pump, carb are all empty. I have the original-style mechanical fuel pump. Would it damage anything to use the starter motor to try and circulate coolant fluid?

[Grumpy old man]

Just fill the radiator with anti freeze and water ,You don't need to start it. or turn over the engine .

[Jcfcamaro]

You don't need the engine running to fill it. Either take the top radiator hose at the thermostat off or your heater core hose off at the intake and fill it slow to let the air out. When you start to see it put the hose on and continue to fill the rest of the way up slow. Let it sit for an hour and look at it again to see if it went down any.

[Steeveedee]

You can also spin the fan by hand to circulate water, if you want. But it should burp out all by itself. If you are concerned about freezing weather, don't put any liquids at all in the engine until you go to start it in the spring.

You don't want to crank the starter like that. It can be damaged from heat.

[In The Ten Ring]

Thanks guys.

I think I vacuumed all the water out anyway when I stuck the vacuum hose back in through the bottom (big) opening. I was putting the hose on and saw some build up on the inside of the wall. I scraped that off and thought "hey I'll just vacuum it out." Well I didn't think about it until I saw water leaking out of the vacuum.

I have all the hoses fit now and hooked up......I really want to get it running as my last "goal" of this year. I bought 2 gallons of concentrated Prestone and two gallons of distilled water. That gives me 4 gallons of 50/50 mixed. Do I just fill up the radiator and try to start or do I need to put some into the engine like suggested above?

[Steeveedee]

Just pour it into the radiator. It should flow into everywhere. If it doesn't burp off before freezing weather, you will be OK if you pour a gallon of antifreeze in before you add the water. That is if you expect freezing weather.

[davepl]

Originally Posted by Grumpy old man

Just fill the radiator with anti freeze and water ,You don't need to start it. or turn over the engine .

It's not clear to me that the engine is EMPTY right now. If it is, then this is true.

If the engine already has water in it though, then the OP's concerns are valid, and he'd have to circulate the system to get the pure water mixed with the antifreeze.

If you cannot run it, you could likely do this with a drill on the water pump (belt off of course) if worse came to worst, though I've never tried it myself! But like I said, if it's dry/empty now, then the advice above is fine.

[In The Ten Ring]

Originally Posted by davepl

It's not clear to me that the engine is EMPTY right now. If it is, then this is true.

If the engine already has water in it though, then the OP's concerns are valid, and he'd have to circulate the system to get the pure water mixed with the antifreeze.

If you cannot run it, you could likely do this with a drill on the water pump (belt off of course) if worse came to worst, though I've never tried it myself! But like I said, if it's dry/empty now, then the advice above is fine.

There may be some tap water in the block. I know this because my father and I used water hose and a valve to force water through the engine to flush out any crud. The radiator and heater core were not hooked up.

Later I (accidentally but perhaps fortunately) vacuumed out most if not all of the water from the bottom of the engine.

I have decided to try and start the engine once I get hold of ethanol-free gasoline tomorrow. I have the radiator completely hooked up and the heater core bypassed.

Thanks for all the help you guys.