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84 coolant system

muskiemike

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
110
Location
Dallas
Corvette
1984 Gunmetal Met
84 Stock 350 4/3 manual Vet

Just drained the coolant by removing the lower hose (passenger side) which is about 2.5" from the bottom of the rad. I flushed water from the top of the rad through the bottom radiator outlet, did not do a complete engine/rad flush. I did not start the engine during the above procedure. Reconnected the bottom rad hose and tightened it up.

The specs says the coolant system takes 14 quarts.

I added 4 qts of fresh 100% coolant, and then filled the 4qt coolant container with fresh water, began adding fresh water, then turned on the car to let the engine normalize and cycle the fresh coolant / water throughout the system.

I was only able to add 1 QT of fresh water, to top off the fresh 4 qts of 100% coolant in the rad - no coolant mix overflowed into the coolant reservoire.

A 50 / 50 mixture should have allowed me to 4+ qts of water, but I was only able to add 1 qt - however since the lower rad hose is about 2" from the bottom of the rad, there must have been some fresh water in the bottom of it, when I flushed the rad.

My ? is, how many coolant qts does the engine take? Perhaps there was old coolant still in the engine when I drained the old coolant from the radiator?

How many coolant qts does the rad take?

I am concerned that the system did not take more pure water when I performed the above procedures allowing the coolant mix to be 50/50%?

All comments welcomed . ..

In advance thanks.
 
I'm not surprised that the system did not take the "full amount" of coolant.

Is there not a drain valve on the bottom of the radiator?
I don't have the original radiator (never did), so i'm not sure if the stock one did.

The heater core and hoses would have held on to some old coolant.
You also may have had some stuck in the upper radiator hose and manifold.

Also, you should only use distilled water.
Tap water contains proteins and minerals that will corrode aluminum.

I also mix the distilled water and anti-freeze before I put them in the engine. That way I can just fill the radiator and not worry about how much the system held.
 
Minifridge . . .

You make some excellent suggestions.

I followed the Haynes manual, but your suggestions are excellent.

The car has 34K miles, and I had the radiator replaced about 5K miles ago (10 years ago), as you can see, I do not drive it much, but do warm it on a monthly basis and replace all fluids accordingly.

The new radiator was a Heavy Duty, I looked all over for a drain valve but could not find one, so I removed the lower rad hose.
 
How many ounces of coolant is in the engine block ?
 
Ohh don't know exactly, never measured it! Whatever that 14qt spec minus how much it took to top off the radiator...that would be approximately how much is in the block.

Usually the radiator volume and engine block volume are specified individually...well sometimes anyway.
 
Good assessement, that would imply 2 quarts of coolant in the engine / hoses.

Tell me, you have 200K miles on your 84, I am impressed.

What kind of problems have you encountered?


I have an 84, stock, 4/3 manual, with the Z51 package with 34K original miles.
 
I think it would hold more than two quarts...ehh I dunno.

What kind of problems? ;LOL Every kind you could possibly imagine!

Mine was about to be parted out when I bought it...to say it was in bad shape would be a gross understatement!
 
Ohhhh yes I have fixed repaired replaced rebuilt 80% of this car!

However...this one is NOT a good example as it was horribly abused prior to ending up in my garage. You would not believe some of the stuff bubba got his hands on with this one!
 
No need to post pics of your refurb was mechanical only.

I was told these 5.7 liter 350 vet engines, while not 'high' performance, do provide high mileage without much maintenance if well maintained . ..
 
Tell me, you have 200K miles on your 84, I am impressed.

What kind of problems have you encountered?

I have an 84, stock, 4/3 manual, with the Z51 package with 34K original miles.

If you've got an '84 with only 34K miles, don't worry about potential problems. Take good care of it and enjoy the car! I've got 240K on my '84, and it's just plain fun to drive. (Obviously!) If something happens, just fix it and get back to the fun!

Maybe you're saving it for someone else to enjoy?
 
That's what I like to hear, 240K miles on an 84 vet . ..

For us 84' vet owners, we know it's not the most high performance vet made, but apparently the 5.7 liter engine is a good one.
 

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