Sorry, folks, possible dumb question time. How hard would it be, really, for me to flush my own coolant? It's for the Monte Carlo, 2004, and I would be sticking with the Dex. I had it done once at the dealer at about 50,000 miles, who charged me something like $150 for the pleasure. I'm at a little over 102,000 miles now, so I figure it's about due again. I'm flipping through the Haynes and stroking my ego, and I think armed with some distilled water, Dex, GM sealant pellets and a bottle of wine, I could just do this myself and save the change for a Scangauge, since my awesome stock gauge cluster is tanking for the second time. The LIMs are still original. So, what say you, BITOG? Easy peasy, or let someone who knows what they're doing at it?
Home Coolant Flush?
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Easy. Pop the thermostat out (2 bolts), undo the top hose from the radiator end, stick a hose in the radiator (rag on the hose end to lower the water pressure a hair) and make sure you have enough buckets to catch the Dex.
Then drain, flush with distilled water, drain the radiator and start topping with coolant.
Or some variant on that.
Then drain, flush with distilled water, drain the radiator and start topping with coolant.
Or some variant on that.
I just did this on my 2003 4.3 S-10, and wasn't too bad except that I replaced all the radiator hoses as well. All the hoses plus shipping was about 50 bucks for AC Delco's.
So basically you flush the system with a flush like they sell from prestone available most anywhere. Just follow the instructions and it works somewhat well. I did it all except pulling the drain plug since I was going to pull the lower hose anyway. Just a caution though the adapater has pressure releif thing built in that is POS and dripped all over the exhaust manifolds which warm up when you start the engine. I dont know if you want to trust that fitting in your coolant system they make you install, me personally if your not going to replace the hoses at least replace that one rather than leaving the tee installed.
Just flushing the system and refilling should take about an hour. I also had to dispose of 15 gallons of flushing water mixed with dex during this process.
Took me 3 hours to flush replaces all hoses and refill.
You'll also find out that you dont really need the bottled water if you use the hose since that water stays in your system even with the hoses pulled and you will have about just enough room to poor the STRAIGHT Dex-cool into the radiator (based on system capacity for 50-70%)
Theres other ways of flush like draining your radiator of bunch of times but that can also be a pain depending of where your plug is.
Btw my cooling system was prestine with no sludge or residue, I was going to take pictures and post them but my wife was rushing me to finish up.
So basically you flush the system with a flush like they sell from prestone available most anywhere. Just follow the instructions and it works somewhat well. I did it all except pulling the drain plug since I was going to pull the lower hose anyway. Just a caution though the adapater has pressure releif thing built in that is POS and dripped all over the exhaust manifolds which warm up when you start the engine. I dont know if you want to trust that fitting in your coolant system they make you install, me personally if your not going to replace the hoses at least replace that one rather than leaving the tee installed.
Just flushing the system and refilling should take about an hour. I also had to dispose of 15 gallons of flushing water mixed with dex during this process.
Took me 3 hours to flush replaces all hoses and refill.
You'll also find out that you dont really need the bottled water if you use the hose since that water stays in your system even with the hoses pulled and you will have about just enough room to poor the STRAIGHT Dex-cool into the radiator (based on system capacity for 50-70%)
Theres other ways of flush like draining your radiator of bunch of times but that can also be a pain depending of where your plug is.
Btw my cooling system was prestine with no sludge or residue, I was going to take pictures and post them but my wife was rushing me to finish up.
i used a prestone flush and fill kit to do my S-10, i drained the radiator into a five gallon bucket. then hooked up a garden hose to the flush part of the kit.
i had four five gallon buckets handy and used a large hose over the part that you put in the radiator and then had a buddy turn on the garden hose.
caught the first five gallons in the buckets so i could recycle it, then let the rest of the clear water run for a few minutes.
unhooked the garden hose, and refill the radiator.
pour the old antifreeze into the toilet.
away ya go.
i had four five gallon buckets handy and used a large hose over the part that you put in the radiator and then had a buddy turn on the garden hose.
caught the first five gallons in the buckets so i could recycle it, then let the rest of the clear water run for a few minutes.
unhooked the garden hose, and refill the radiator.
pour the old antifreeze into the toilet.
away ya go.
Originally Posted By: JADED
I just did this on my 2003 4.3 S-10, and wasn't too bad except that I replaced all the radiator hoses as well. All the hoses plus shipping was about 50 bucks for AC Delco's.
So basically you flush the system with a flush like they sell from prestone available most anywhere. Just follow the instructions and it works somewhat well. I did it all except pulling the drain plug since I was going to pull the lower hose anyway. Just a caution though the adapater has pressure releif thing built in that is POS and dripped all over the exhaust manifolds which warm up when you start the engine. I dont know if you want to trust that fitting in your coolant system they make you install, me personally if your not going to replace the hoses at least replace that one rather than leaving the tee installed.
Just flushing the system and refilling should take about an hour. I also had to dispose of 15 gallons of flushing water mixed with dex during this process.
Took me 3 hours to flush replaces all hoses and refill.
You'll also find out that you dont really need the bottled water if you use the hose since that water stays in your system even with the hoses pulled and you will have about just enough room to poor the STRAIGHT Dex-cool into the radiator (based on system capacity for 50-70%)
Theres other ways of flush like draining your radiator of bunch of times but that can also be a pain depending of where your plug is.
Btw my cooling system was prestine with no sludge or residue, I was going to take pictures and post them but my wife was rushing me to finish up.
You need to do this on a day dedicated to wrenching.
I just did this on my 2003 4.3 S-10, and wasn't too bad except that I replaced all the radiator hoses as well. All the hoses plus shipping was about 50 bucks for AC Delco's.
So basically you flush the system with a flush like they sell from prestone available most anywhere. Just follow the instructions and it works somewhat well. I did it all except pulling the drain plug since I was going to pull the lower hose anyway. Just a caution though the adapater has pressure releif thing built in that is POS and dripped all over the exhaust manifolds which warm up when you start the engine. I dont know if you want to trust that fitting in your coolant system they make you install, me personally if your not going to replace the hoses at least replace that one rather than leaving the tee installed.
Just flushing the system and refilling should take about an hour. I also had to dispose of 15 gallons of flushing water mixed with dex during this process.
Took me 3 hours to flush replaces all hoses and refill.
You'll also find out that you dont really need the bottled water if you use the hose since that water stays in your system even with the hoses pulled and you will have about just enough room to poor the STRAIGHT Dex-cool into the radiator (based on system capacity for 50-70%)
Theres other ways of flush like draining your radiator of bunch of times but that can also be a pain depending of where your plug is.
Btw my cooling system was prestine with no sludge or residue, I was going to take pictures and post them but my wife was rushing me to finish up.
You need to do this on a day dedicated to wrenching.
The only problem I found with the T-kit was you end up flushing with tap water, and then the block is now filled with tap water. On older cars I never worried about mixing AF with tap water, I did it for years w/o a problem. But if you wanted to use distilled water in the engine you have to drain the block. Taking the drain plug out of an old block could be a problem. You could simply fill the system with Anti-Freeze and leave the tap water, but its not ideal.
What I plan on doing with my new Jeep is just draining the raditaor and filling with the proper mix ratio once a year and skip the flush.
Frank D
What I plan on doing with my new Jeep is just draining the raditaor and filling with the proper mix ratio once a year and skip the flush.
Frank D
What I plan on doing with my new Jeep is just draining the raditaor and filling with the proper mix ratio once a year and skip the flush.
Frank D [/quote]
That's what i do on my Mazda. Keeps the fluid fresh.
Frank D [/quote]
That's what i do on my Mazda. Keeps the fluid fresh.
It all boils down to whether you want to spend time or money on your car. I assume you have the tools and place for handling the mess? I assume your system is very clean since you changed it once already....good for you. When maintained, today's cooling systems seem to stay pristine compared to the old high silicate coolant days. Disregard my advice if you have a dirty coolant system.
The simplest, but most time consuming method is to do 3 to 5 radiator drain/fills with distilled water. You must run the engine long enough between each drain to open the t-stadt (15 min +/-). After your last drain, your block is filled with distilled water and you put in the correct amount of coolant in the radiator, top off more H20, and run again until mixed.
This avoids any tap water problems if you have softened water or really bad hard water. IMO, very important with today's advanced coolants.
First, knock on wood 3 times......I am a preventative maintenance guy more than most, but as I age, I also dislike fixing stuff that isn't broke. I can't remember the last time I ever saw a bad hose on a maintained car. They seem to last forever. And, I haven't had a thermostat ever go bad (up to 10 yr, 200K vehicles). Knock on wood 3 more times!
So, if you feel these components will last until your next coolant change, maybe consider the simple drain/fill procedure. Be careful not to break your radiator drain plug off. Then, follow dermapaint's suggestion to avoid the flush procedure in the future.
The simplest, but most time consuming method is to do 3 to 5 radiator drain/fills with distilled water. You must run the engine long enough between each drain to open the t-stadt (15 min +/-). After your last drain, your block is filled with distilled water and you put in the correct amount of coolant in the radiator, top off more H20, and run again until mixed.
This avoids any tap water problems if you have softened water or really bad hard water. IMO, very important with today's advanced coolants.
First, knock on wood 3 times......I am a preventative maintenance guy more than most, but as I age, I also dislike fixing stuff that isn't broke. I can't remember the last time I ever saw a bad hose on a maintained car. They seem to last forever. And, I haven't had a thermostat ever go bad (up to 10 yr, 200K vehicles). Knock on wood 3 more times!
So, if you feel these components will last until your next coolant change, maybe consider the simple drain/fill procedure. Be careful not to break your radiator drain plug off. Then, follow dermapaint's suggestion to avoid the flush procedure in the future.
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