Originally Posted By: boostedtsiawd
Do i have to drain the engine block to when changing the coolant or its fine to do the flush without?
There are a few ways... Some maybe sound "better" to some.
The "OFFICIAL" way:
1. Remove the radiator "drain petcock." It is a bolt..
2. Fill up with water, and flushing solution.
3. Let it run through for either 20-30 minutes, or, weather permitting, drive around with it like that for a day or so. *You can only see what comes out of the radiator, but this "flushes the block," as you say. Yes, that is important.. it is all in the method, as the coolant circulates through the block, ..like I said, there are a few methods to achieve the same result. Some may be more "thorough." To me, it is all about when the drained water looks clear.
4. Repeat, until water runs clear.
5. Refill, 50/50.
Now.. an alternate, something we Shadetrees would do.. Got access to a garden hose?
1. Remove the LOWER hose, from where it attaches to the BLOCK/water pump.
2. Take off the UPPER hose, at the other end.
3. Let the garden hose run THROUGH the radiator. (On a car I had, the water was dirty for a few MINUTES before it ran through clear, and not brownish-dirty.)
4. Now.. Is the engine COLD? If so.. Remove the Thermostat, and let that garden hose flush through the engine, coming out the OTHER side of the lower hose, going in through the other side of the upper. Same way, with the dirty. (Some may not approve of that, but you are flushing the "block" that way...")
5. Maybe refill with water/flushing solution.. maybe not..
6. Drain, refill 50/50.
Posters are correct, no harm will come from flushing a COOLING system! It is some applications of an (automatic) transmission "flush" that CAN, and have in more instances than some would care to admit, bongle an otherwise working AT into either 1. Not working right, or 2. No Pull.
I am also not familiar with how to use a flushing "T," and I have never flushed a cooling system by using the drain petcock. Always took hoses off, and left the petcock alone.