Cleaning cooling system

[Vinnie]

Hey folks,

A recent discussion I started about temp difference between the cil. heads made me remember that years ago a garage I had my car service filled it up with (I believe tap water).

I think it's not a bad idea to flush the system but I don't really know how. I only once drained the radiator partly using a hose going in at the top. Surely there must be an easier way to drain all the coolant?

I'd also like to refill and add a cleaner like this: https://www.wynns.eu/product/cooling-system-flush/

Any thoughts / ideas are much appreciated!

Thanks,

Vincent.

 

[SteveO_71]

I am not familiar with the cleaner that you mentioned or how well they work so cant give any opinions. Just wondering what issues can be caused by loosening up radiator junk that then circulates around the engine.

Since you are going through the trouble of cleaning everything, you may want to remove the radiator, take it to a radiator shop and have them flush and pressure test it. Thats what I did, when I noticed stuff floating around in mine. Dont know about over there but a shop here only charged $50 for same day service. So, it was well worth it.

To drain system completely I believe the engine drain plugs can be removed to get all the fluid out. For refilling, its better to use distilled water as opposed to tap water. I also use a water wetter additive.

 

[Twins]

It depends how intense a cleaning you want to do! I am about to do this on my 2013 Mustang (due to age of the coolant) and will probably either open the petcock at the bottom of the radiator or remove the bottom hose. Drain as much as possible. Refill with distilled water and run the car with the heater on until the thermostat opens. Drain (after a little cooling time) and allow to cool and refill with the proper mix of distilled water and coolant.

I know they make various kits where you cut into a hose in the engine bay and attatch your garden hose and flush. I haven't done that on this car or on the 73. On the 73 every few years I remove the lower hose and drain and follow the above "cleaning" and refill procedures. Also if the car has an overflow tank I clean that up.

If my coolant had tons of floaters in it or worse (or wasn't drained and refilled regularly) I might consider getting the radiator professionally cleaned or using a cleaning product. I'm with Steve O though. Sometimes stirring up stuff can cause more problems!

 

[Canted 393]

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/sum-tc001

Havent used this myself but it has good reviews.

 

[Don C]

Any well known name brand product should be good. I've used a lot of Wynn's products over the years with no problems.

There's no problem using tap water for the initial flush, but follow Twins' suggestion about using distilled water for the final flush.

Be sure the heater is on, on a/c cars, to get the heater core cleaned out, too. Non-a/c cars don't have a hot water valve, and coolant flows through the heater core all the time.

 

[Vinnie]

Hmmm sounds like these products do clean up but can:

- loosen up junk

- open up leaks / increase pressure

I’ve never come across companies here that can clean/test radiators but I will have a look!

 

[Don C]

Yes, they will loosen up junk, but if you follow the instructions, especially warming the engine and length of time, most of it should dissolve. That is the advantage of using the backflow garden hose adapter in the heater hose, most of the crud goes out of the filler neck. I've flushed radiators that were so plugged that the crud wouldn't come out of the radiator drain petcock, the petcock had to be removed so there was a bigger hole for it to drain from.

Back in the day a lot of older car owners drained the antifreeze in the spring and put it back in the fall. This was a carryover from when antifreeze was alcohol based. They always did it that way, and new-fangled coolant wasn't about to change the way they did it.

I remember a few other strange ones. Like the woman with a late 40s Packard with a cannisters type oil filter. She didn't trust the filter cartridges, had to stuff the cannisters with Kotex sanitary napkins. And they had to be in a specific pattern, some criss-crossed, some wrapped around, and she stood there to make sure it was done right. Other people would just throw in a roll of toilet paper.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Got me curious now.

There are pipe plugs in the side of the block that will get more liquid out than the petcock on the radiator will drain.

I have mentioned before I have never taken the radiator cap off my 2002 Ford F-150. You can see the coolant in the tank so never have looked in, never added any coolant. This truck is over 285,000 miles and pulls a camper, car trailer and car dolly a lot. Now when I go look in and it starts leaking I will be mad, lol. I have never had to put a hose on it either.

In the past I have ran some of the old cleaners through and had heater core start to leak after, lol.

I do not have a temp gun to check my car to see what temps are on different areas of the engine but will ask around to see if anyone has one I can use.

 

[Vinnie]

Riiiiiiight, that stuff dissolves crud etc as weeeell, nice!

I read a bit about flushing a radiator and it said to hook the water up at the bottom and let it flow out at the top. Is that the way to do it?

 

[Twins]

Got me curious now.

There are pipe plugs in the side of the block that will get more liquid out than the petcock on the radiator will drain.

I have mentioned before I have never taken the radiator cap off my 2002 Ford F-150. You can see the coolant in the tank so never have looked in, never added any coolant. This truck is over 285,000 miles and pulls a camper, car trailer and car dolly a lot. Now when I go look in and it starts leaking I will be mad, lol. I have never had to put a hose on it either.

In the past I have ran some of the old cleaners through and had heater core start to leak after, lol.

I do not have a temp gun to check my car to see what temps are on different areas of the engine but will ask around to see if anyone has one I can use.

Don't open that cap man!  

I'm thinking that unless there is an inkling that there is a lot of crud in there I might be more inclined to just gently flush the old stuff out with no chemical assistance and put in the fresh stuff.

 

[Don C]

Yes, to get most of the water or coolant out it's necessary to pull the plugs out of the block, not always easy to get to, some are almost impossible.

If you don't pull them, you have to add extra antifreeze for the water remaining in the block, a half gallon, or so, to get the 50/50 mixture. The only way to tell for sure is to use an antifreeze hydrometer.