heat exchanger tube stack leaking after cleaning

egantsea · Veteran Member

heat exchanger tube stack leaking after cleaning

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,

Sorry but we made a mistake in the last eamil. The slit is on the back side of the enge and we lined it up with the flange that has the zinc in it accross the beam of the motor.

Thanks again.

Chip

Farron · Senior Member

Hello Chip,

There is no trick to reassembly it is pretty straight forward.

As you noted, the slot in the tube stack that accepts the divider is located at the transmission end of the engine. These must be aligned or you will see a leakage.

I would suggest going back through the assembly.

Make sure the o-rings are new and lubricated with grease.

Make sure the sealing surface for the o-rings is clean.

Make sure the slot is aligned with the divider.

You should not have to over tighten the bolts to make the seal.

I suspect that you will find the sealing surfaces are not clean.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,

We will take the heat exchanger tube stack out and re-clean the whole area and try again.

We are thinking that we should try tighten the aft end first, then the forward end of the heat exchanger tube stack.

Does this sound right our should both bolts be tightend together?

What is leaking is antifreeze. We have not started the motor yet.

The antifreeze leaks out of the aft O ring area and the forward O ring area.

Thank you,

Chip

Farron · Senior Member

Hello Chip,

I usually tighten the exhaust end first. I do this in order to align the water inlet correctly.

Then snug up the other end.

egantsea · Veteran Member

Hi,

This time we tighten the exhaust end first to make sure the heat exchanger tube stack is aligned with the flange and that is what we had been thinking. We tore it all apart again and cleaned the flanges and the heat exchanger tube stack again and really good. We put in the heat exchanger tube stack and then the stern O ring (both o-rings got some silicone grease). Tightened the flange down and it was aligned correctly. So far so good, no leaks!

We did the best we could cleaning out the tube stack. We have no tools like and air compressor or metal rods to run through the tubes. No access to a radiator shop. They looked pretty clean but there was some growth. We blew through the tubes and washed them out in fresh water. Best we could do.

Also perhaps you could add to the manual:
1. When removing the tube stack you may need to use a piece of wood and a hammer to nudge the tube stack out by tapping it the forward end. The tube stack is removed and installed from the exhaust end.
2. When installing make sure the slot on the tube stack is aligned with the flange on the exhaust end.
3. Tighten the exhaust end first could be a help in keeping the alignment straight.
4. After tighten the exhaust end the flange may move a bit but that is fine because when the forward flange is tightened the it will not move.
Also when removing the flange it may be easier to remove the tube at the point behind the air cleaner.
That is what we did and it was easier.
Thanks for the help,
Chip