Hmmmmmm...I would say that the cars that you are speaking of may have had
unmaintained cooling systems. Also, in addition to overflowing, those cars
could also have had low coolant levels due to a minor leak someplace in the
system. An overflow kit would not help that problem. Aside from that, water
levels are suppose to be checked regularly.
My old Imperials don't lose coolant, and don't have overflow kits. I check them
often, and they never seem to be low, but they also get serviced once a year. I
keep the level at about one inch below the top filler neck of the expansion
tank. This means that the top tank is about half full when it is cold. Service
stations always want to add to fill it up, but that is what the old manual
refered to as "overfilling".
My dad's '60 lost coolant out the overflow when we first moved here from
Southern California in 1968. Everytime we went someplace more then 10 miles,
the coolant would overflow after the car was shut off.
I later found out that because the car was overheating, the water would tend to
boil after it was first shut off (since the engine was still hot, and the water
wasn't circulating). My father put an overflow kit on it and managed to keep it
from overflowing in the driveway, but it still seemed like the car was
gurgeling after it was shut off. When the car was turned over to me in 1985 the
radiator began to leak. I removed it and took it in for repair. The shop found
that it was plugged up with minerals (apparently from the water down in
Southern California and my father's lack of maintenance) and had to have a new
core.
After the radiator was repaired correctly, the car no longer overflowed after
it was shut off. My father's unsightly home made over flow kit (plastic milk
containers linked together with rubber hoses)was removed and put in a box in my
garage. Ever since then he has been telling me that the overflow kit needs to
go back on the car, but I have yet to see why.
My '65 Imperial use to overflow in the driveway after it was shut off and my
dad told me that it was because it didn't have an overflow kit. I later found
that it was also over heating. This was because the heat riser valve was stuck
closed and causing the engine to over heat. After I repaired the heat riser,
the engine ran cooler, and the the radiator did not overflow.
I had a friend with a '47 Chrysler New Yorker. When ever he took it on the
freeway it would overflow at stop lights. Several mechanical friends told him
that it needed an overflow kit. It turned out that the internal water
distrubution tube had rotted, and was no longer functioning. Once it was
replaced it no longer overflowed when it came off the freeway at stop lights.
Newer cars have much smaller radiators than the old Imperials did. They are
made out of weaker material to save on cost and weight. They do not have large
top tanks like the old Imperials did. For these and other reasons, they must
have overflow kits. Their cooling systems were designed to be set up that way.
The old ones were not. Like I stated before, adding an overflow kit is a fine
idea, but it really should not be necessary. If it is, nine times out of ten,
there is something else wrong with the car that is causing it to overflow.
If you refer to the old shop and owners manuals, they state the proper coolant
level. They also state that if the correct level isn't "maintained", the car
will either overheat or the radiator will overflow.
Most Americans have never maintained their cars as they were supposed to be
maintained according to the shop manual. By not maintaining the cooling systems
many cars have clogged radiators when they are only a few years old. I would
not hesitate to say that if you saw a lot of cars with overflowing radiators
during the '50s you were probably looking at cars that needed work.
As well as I maintain my cooling systems, I have found that it has nearly
become a matter of routine to replace the raditators on my newer cars. They
seem to fail after a few years no matter whether they have been maintained or
not. This has not been true of my Imperials, however. I have even purchased
used radiators and found them to be completely servicible without any repair.
That speakes very highly of the original quality of those older parts.
Paul
In a message dated 11/9/2003 8:50:05 PM Eastern Standard Time,
DONALDDICKINSOND@xxxxxx writes:
> Very interesting Paul, but I vividly remember cars in the fifties and how
>they were constantly low on coolant as it apparently went out the overflow
>tube to the ground. I also remember how neat I thought it was when a simple
>thing like the
> overflow reservoir was added to solve this problem....
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