Prestone radiator flusher...

[SteveD2]

I'm thinking about putting one of those Prestone radiator flusher things that attaches to a hose on my Jeep. Seems like something that could cause leaks. What do you guys think? Anybody ever have any problems with one of those?

 

[JohnBrowning]

I have on on a vechile that is from 1986 or so. It is still leak free. The person installing it is more the cause of leaks or lack their of. The cooling system is usualy beteen 13 and 20 PSI system. THis is not what you would call a high pressure sytem at all. They work great!

 

[XS650]

quote:

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Originally posted by JohnBrowning:
I have on on a vechile that is from 1986 or so.

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I've had them on a a couple of vehicles for over 15 years too. No problems.

 

[rbraughn]

Do you use a garden hose and tap water?

If so, how do you flush out all of the tapwater before you fill it back up with Distilled/antifreeze?

 

[Jelly]

This From Me:

Here's what I do for a first time flush in a vehicle with a few miles on the clock...

Buy many gallons of distilled water.
Buy two little jugs of Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner (NOT THE FLUSH!).

Basically, drain all the coolant from the radiator (using the tap on the bottom of the radiator) and fill it back up with distilled water. Run the engine until you fill the upper hose turn hot, and then drain the radiator again, and again fill up with distilled water. Continue to do this until the liquid flowing out of the radiator drain is clear.

BTW, make sure when your doing the routine that you have your heater on so you get the stuff out of the heater core as well.

Anyways, once the system is full of clean, distilled water, add the jugs of the cleaner and drive it around for several days (Instructions are on the cleaner bottle).

After the period of time, do the same routine again. Drain radiator and fill with clean, distilled water. Do this until the drain runs clear.

After this, fill radiator with new antifreeze/coolant (pre-mixed stuff is easier to use)...cycle system again, and keep filling and draining until you've put in enough antifreeze to equal the capacity of the system (whatever your manual says).

*This might sound complicated (or confusing), but it's very simple, and will leave you with a spotless coolant system.

This From TheTanSedan:

See thread on coolant flush posted by Oldwagon (page one or so); see first post by Jelly.

I hadn't tried this method since before the fall of Saigon . . . cause it takes forever, but boy does it work!

We have a Jeep Cherokee (XJ; 242 cid 6-cylinder) with its little bitty capacity system that -- even with [2] changes prior to the last (at about 58k) -- the outlined method got stuff out even up to the end of the final flush. Much more than the usual tee and garden hose OR the dealers powered machine. Think I used about 13-14 gallons of distilled water, or 3 to 4-gls per gallon of capacity, total; drove several hundred miles in about four days to allow system to cycle cold::hot quite a few times. (Normal business days).

Did this in winter. Heater core warmed noticeably faster than before (just like new).

 

[Matt_S]

...then there are those of use that just use the tap water and don't worry about it. Perhaps distilled is better. If Detroit's water was hard at all or if I had a well, I would use distilled, but my experience tells me that my tap water will do just fine. I think the most important thing is making sure the system is clean and there is good, viable coolant in the system.

 

[SteveD2]

Alright, I installed one. Now after flushing I'm having a bit of a leak from the radiator drain. I was thinking, could I rig up a thing for my air compressor that would hook into the flusher, and make my own pressure tester?

 

[Matt_S]

Interesting question.

Normal air hose is 1/8" NPT thread. If you got an adapter from that to a female hose thread, then installed an air gauge and female quick connect, you could plug in an air hose, pressurize the system, disconnect it, then see how long it takes to bleed off. You'd have to be careful about air leakage around that tee fitting, though. I would expect that to be the weak link.

 

[MarkC]

quote:

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Originally posted by Jelly:
This From Me:

Here's what I do for a first time flush in a vehicle with a few miles on the clock...

Buy many gallons of distilled water.
Buy two little jugs of Prestone Super Radiator Cleaner (NOT THE FLUSH!).

Basically, drain all the coolant from the radiator (using the tap on the bottom of the radiator) and fill it back up with distilled water. Run the engine until you fill the upper hose turn hot, and then drain the radiator again, and again fill up with distilled water. Continue to do this until the liquid flowing out of the radiator drain is clear.

BTW, make sure when your doing the routine that you have your heater on so you get the stuff out of the heater core as well.

Anyways, once the system is full of clean, distilled water, add the jugs of the cleaner and drive it around for several days (Instructions are on the cleaner bottle).

After the period of time, do the same routine again. Drain radiator and fill with clean, distilled water. Do this until the drain runs clear.

After this, fill radiator with new antifreeze/coolant (pre-mixed stuff is easier to use)...cycle system again, and keep filling and draining until you've put in enough antifreeze to equal the capacity of the system (whatever your manual says).

*This might sound complicated (or confusing), but it's very simple, and will leave you with a spotless coolant system.

This From TheTanSedan:

See thread on coolant flush posted by Oldwagon (page one or so); see first post by Jelly.

I hadn't tried this method since before the fall of Saigon . . . cause it takes forever, but boy does it work!

We have a Jeep Cherokee (XJ; 242 cid 6-cylinder) with its little bitty capacity system that -- even with [2] changes prior to the last (at about 58k) -- the outlined method got stuff out even up to the end of the final flush. Much more than the usual tee and garden hose OR the dealers powered machine. Think I used about 13-14 gallons of distilled water, or 3 to 4-gls per gallon of capacity, total; drove several hundred miles in about four days to allow system to cycle cold::hot quite a few times. (Normal business days).

Did this in winter. Heater core warmed noticeably faster than before (just like new).

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Remember, unles you know you drained everything out of the engine block, you've still got a block full of plai water, so adding pre-mixed coolant to the radiator will not give you a good ratio. Just remember how much water you had to add to fill the radiator, and if you knwo the capacity of your system, add straight coolant to the radiator to give you the right amount.
Ex: if your system is a 10 quart one, and you added 5 quarts of water to fill it up, after draining the radiator again, adding 5 quatrs of coolant will give you 50%.

 

[Jelly]

quote:

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Originally posted by MarkC:
Remember, unles you know you drained everything out of the engine block, you've still got a block full of plai water, so adding pre-mixed coolant to the radiator will not give you a good ratio.

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After you've ran the period of time with the "cleaner mix", you'll do a complete system flush by:

Completely drain radiator
Fill with distilled water
Let cycle (vehicle must be hot enough for thermostat to be open) for a minute or so.
Drain radiator
Fill with distilled water
Let cycle
Drain
Repeat, repeat, repeat...

Eventually, the liquid drained from the radiator will come out crystal clear, letting you know that the system is full of clean, clear distilled water and none of the cleaning solution is left in the system.

At this point, you'll do the same routine (but waiting until discharge from radiator comes out same color as stuff in bottle), but instead of putting distilled water in the system, you'll be putting a 50/50 coolant mix in.

Yes, you'll use a good deal more coolant than the actual volume of your system (figure twice as much)...but this is what I do.