The plastic petcock in my radiator was stripped and not working so I bought a new one. When I went to remove the old one, it broke and the interior piece of plastic is inside the radiator and I have no way to remove it. I could take the radiator out and try to jossle the plastic piece to a place where I would be able to grab ahold of it with a needle-nose pliers, or....what is the worst case if I leave it in?

Will it make it's way to the pump and if so will a small piece of plastic destroy a water pump?

Thanks in advance!!

 

That plastic petcock has been a pain for nearly every Dodge/Cummins owner.

Most don't realize that you have to pull and twist at the same time to get it open.
Simply twisting won't get it open.

Maybe threading a screw into it will help in removing the left-behind part.

 

The problem is the piece that is broken and inside has moved away from the hole. There is no way to get ahold of it.

 

Hi Bozy!

I take it that you tried to remove the plug and the tail end of the threaded shaft broke off inside the radiator? Here is a suggestion:

Remove the upper and lower hoses from the radiator. Seal off the upper radiator hose connection with someting available such as duct tape. Run a garden hose into the top of the radiator in order to get the piece of plastic to work it's way out through the lower hose connection. You mat have to place your hand over the lower hose connection to accomplish this.

 

Good idea except the lower hose is approx. 1/4 of the way up the side of the radiator and the piece of plastic does not float and the lower hose hole is on the opposite side of the radiator.

I thought about putting one side of the truck up on a stand and flush the piece of plastic back to the drain hole so i can grab it.

My real question is what would happen to the pump if it worked it's way into the pump?

 

No telling what could happen to the pump;however, I would be concerned that the plastic could get broken up by the pump impellers. Small particles of plastic in the cooling system could lead to a clog and eventually overheating.

 

I'm guessing that the reason that the lower hose location on the radiator is 1/4 or 1/3 up the side of the radiator is so that any sediment that does settle won't get sucked up by the pump.

like you said, I thought about the plastic getting chewed up and running throughout the cooling system and the problems that would cause.

In order for this to happen that piece of plastic would have to float up to that hose outlet location and i'm not so sure that piece of plastic would do that.

 

just leave it! after a while you'll forget it's there

 

If it were me, and the flush did not work, I would pull the radiator. You know as well as I do that it wont be a problem until you are in the middle of nowhere. Of course I live in the middle of nowhere so when it does mess up, just give me a call!!!

Edit - If you do pull the radiator, take a minute and a few bucks and install a flush port in your rad hose, next time you flush your radiator, it will be a breeze!!!

 

Good news!! Got-er fixed. Jacked up the passenger side of the truck. Used a garden hose down the radiator cap hole to flush the piece of plastic to the drivers side of the radiator. Had a hard time gettin hold of the dang thing with a needle-nose vise-grips so I took a dental pick from my gun cleaning kit and cut the handle down so that it was 3-4 inches in length. Used the dental pick and grabbed ahold of the piece of plastic from the rear and pulled it out the hole far enough to grab ahold of it with the pliers and out she came.

Put the new NAPA Radiator Drain **** (p/n BK 6051278) $5.07 w/tax and filled with Zerex G-05 50/50%. Remember, there will be a large air pocket in the system that you will have to fill.

What I learned; when you plan on changing your radiator fluid, buy the new petcock when you buy the fluid. NAPA is the only parts store down here that carries Zerex G-05 anyway.

Thanks for all of your help guys. I was on the fence as to leave it in there or go through the trouble to get it out. Now that it's out, I have piece of mind that my water pump is not gonna get jacked up or one of the water jackets would be possibly become plugged...we all know where that could lead.

Thanks again guys,

CW

 

I'm glad you got it out for you're own peace of mind. However, if it's the same as my trucks, the drain is on the left side, the same as the inlet side of the radiator. There would have been no way for it to pass through the core to the right side, where the outlet side to the pump is located.