Kerosene in radiator??? Ever of heard of it??

ryanwheelock · Jul 15, 2010

I have a Ford 2N in my shop that I'm doing some work on for a guy and he said his dad always ran kerosene in the radiator instead of coolant/anitfreeze. Anyone ever heard of this before. I'm only 29 and never heard of it before.
Ryan

lucas boy · Jul 15, 2010

No,never heard of that one.Interesting..But once i put coors beer and pepper in my car radiator to make it home

Coloken · Jul 15, 2010

Neighbor all ways used distillate in his model A car radiator when I was a kid.

pete 23 · Jul 15, 2010

I have heard of that being done, I guess mostly during the rationing era of the world war.

bradk · Jul 15, 2010

Very common back in the day.

Jon Hagen · Jul 15, 2010

Dad talked about it in cars / tractors in the early years before antifreeze was avalible, He said you needed to remove the thermostat to keep the engine as cool as possible, as a boilover on the hot engine exhaust usually resulted in a fire.
Also , keroscene / distilate would destroy the rubber radiator hoses in a few months.

Some of the early tractors, (Oil Pull ??) used oil as coolant.

Bob · Jul 15, 2010

As you probably know, the Rumely Oil Pull tractors used oil for coolant, not too far of a leap from kero.

Can you IMAGINE the fire if a rad hose blew on that little 2N and spewed kero on the hot engine/exhaust!

bradk · Jul 15, 2010

Very common back in the day.

John in Nebraska · Jul 15, 2010

Kerosene will destroy the radiator hoses in time.

Bspauld · Jul 15, 2010

We used to use menthol in our older tractors,If it leaked into the crankcase it didnt hurt the bearings,but it boiled easy in the summerNever heard of kerosene used

Anonymous-0 · Jul 15, 2010

I have a Farmall 230, 1957 that I pull in antique tractor pulls. My husband put oil in the radiator 5 years ago and it runs and pulls fine.

Anonymous-0 · Jul 15, 2010

heard of it, never done it, was told this was a good way to get a few more months or years out of an engine with a cracked block. was told to replace hoses frequently as it would eat them up. also no thermostat so kero wouldn't vaporize.

John Harmon · Jul 15, 2010

Back in the day ,1930's thru the 1940's or War years as I call them,my dad put Kerosene in most every thing on the farm that had a radiator.I also remember him draining the radiator on the old Hart-Parr for overnight and putting hot water in it the next morning to help get it started. I seem to remember Prestone anti-freeze on the shelf at the service station about middle 1950's and from then on Anti Freeze seemed to be every ones choice for their radiator year around.

Two Banger · Jul 15, 2010

I've never heard of that, its very interesting.

36 Coupe · Jul 15, 2010

An old friend used kerosene in his Chevy.It blew a hose pulling a long hill.Lots of smoke, no fire.Kerosene was 10 cents a gallon,alcohol was 1.00 a gallon.I put a bottle of Bay Rum in my 38 Dodge when the radiators froze on a cold morning.Smelled nice when hot.We bought a case of canned beer for 4.00 Never thought we we poor.When the Dodge broke a piston I bought a 36 Ford for 60 bucks, still have it.

Nebraska Cowman · Jul 15, 2010

Yeah, in the early days Prestone was several dollars (hard earned dollars) and kerosene was pennies. What would you use?

msb · Jul 15, 2010

Yep,very common in depression days of the 30s.

jm. · Jul 15, 2010

Had a pulling tractor with high compresion and copper head gasket. Never could get perfect seal so ran kerosen in the radiator what went in oil or combustion chambers was burned or caused no harm..Ran for several years.. Does not cool as good (or give up heat ) as well as water but worked in my case very good.

52 M37 · Jul 16, 2010

My 40' "H" had a mixture of kerosene and antifreeze for most of it's working life. My father only topped it off with antifreeze once in a while. The mixture was never drained or changed that my father ever recalled.
Just replaced the original hoses two years ago with the radiator replacement.

Bus Driver · Jul 16, 2010

Permanent antifreeze was rare and very expensive. Methanol was very effective as antifreeze but would evaporate and gradually the mixture would become to weak to be effective. Constant testing and adding methanol was required. Kerosene was typically used in the Winter only when overheating was not so likely. The fire danger was very great.

supergrumpy · Jul 16, 2010

$4/case - you were drinking the good stuff

by pure coincidence on the first day I could legally buy beer, those little Genesee Jr's were 79 cents for the 8 pack, just happened to be a special that week

every time I twist the cap off a LaBatts Blue I mention the outrageous price of beer today especially for those short-filled bottles, everybody groans

SCHMUCK 1 · Jul 16, 2010

I could understand why it was done years ago, but at $8/gallon (or at least, that's what it was the last time I noticed), why would you do it now?

Kerosene in radiator??? Ever of heard of it??

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