Radiators

[Roger Hulett]

My Scott has been languishing in the garage for nearly a year.I have posted on the forum for advice re the severe overheating,but to no avail. The engine starts very easily,one or two kicks at most. The engine runs very smoothly and ticks over easily, but after two or three minutes it is boiling like Vesuvius. I recently read an article re radiators made up of small copper tubes soldered together and the writer made the point that if,at some time in the past the radiator had become corroded,a “repairer” may just have soldered up all the tubes.Could it be that my radiator has had the same treatment ?. Anyways up,the purpose of this post is to find out what the water volume of the barrels and head should be and what should be the water volume of a honeycomb radiator in good condition. This should give me a clearer indication of the problem. Thanks.

[Barrie]

Why not try a descaling solution, historically these machines have been run on water,
the cooling action is not controlled by the volume of coolant ,but by the flow rate and open waterway are essential for a good thermo syphon action.
The other thing you could try is blowing cold air through the radiator core with the engine idling and placing your hand on the other side of the core to detect the temperature change

[Tman]

Why not measure the length breadth and height of the rad in cms to work out the overall volume, then divide by say 2 to get the actual water capacity then try adding that much to an empty rad? To boil up in a couple of minutes sounds like there’s something drastically wrong somewhere.

[Kevin N Bayliss]

Roger, simple answer to your question, 5.5 pints of water combined capacity, that was measured from my bike that is in bits at the moment. 1929 500cc flyer delux with water dome not separate head. Hope that helps cheers Kev

[Kevin N Bayliss]

Roger, if you have water dome remove rad hoses and fill Barrell and dome with water, start engine on tickover, check for bubbles, if you have bubbles you have one or both ferrells leaking. Kev

[Colin Butler]

Hi All
A good tip for rad cleaning is bung the hose holes and pop a dishwasher tablet in the top.
1/2 fill with boiling water, fit cap and give a good shake and turn.
Do not block breather tube, allow the water to flow out this will also clean the breather
Leave water in for 10 mins or so and then flush rad with fresh water.
Its amazing the crap that comes out.

Hope this is of help
Colin

[Roger Hulett]

The cleanliness of the radiator and the barrels is not the problem. After I had finished rebuilding the bike the problem manifested itself,I posed the question on the forum and a bunged up rad and barrels was the general consensus of the problem. I followed all the instructions and I think I have he cleanest rad and barrels in the club. That is why I am following the excess solder possibility. The Scott is 1936 600cc FS with detachable heads

[Kevin N Bayliss]

Hi Roger being as you have a detachable head I would still check you have no bubbles coming into the water system as your description is symptomatic with a leaking head gasket or cracked head. Kev

[Orgasmatron]

I would suggest that you send your radiator to Graham Moag (you will find his address at the back of Yowl). He will rectify any problems that it may have.
Chris.

[scott596]

Hi Roger, running your Scott for 4 or 5 minutes will not bring it up to boiling temperature your problem is almost definately leakage from the cylinder compression, I repair quite a few heads now that are suffering from perforation of the combustion chamber, the corrosion that causes this is within the waterjacket and cannot be seen visually. Alan Noakes. scottworkshop@hotmail.co.uk

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