Coolant Flush (round 2)

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:50 am

Okay, I want to try this again, only better.

edit: This is a work in progress. It still has some issues. Please don't try this until it is sorted out or if abandoned. See my third post.

Coolant Flush:
-engine cold
-turn cabin heat on full (engine not running)
-disconnect the battery
-attach a 5/16 inch hose to the radiator drain cack, feed the hose to a bucket (you need to recycle the old coolant). I spelled this 'cack' because the forum changed the word to rooster :lol:

.
-open the drain valve, drain coolant from expansion tank

(2 cms off of the handle of a 10mm "Allen" wrench. It is put in the hollow head of the drain. Just turn it with the open end of a 10mm wrench.)
-open expansion tank cap, allow time to finish draining

-install a Tee

-close the radiator drain cack
-in a 4 liter (1 gallon) milk jug mix 600ml of citric acid (powder) in hot water. Mix another 600ml in another jug of hot water. Distilled water is not required yet.
-slowly add the mix to the coolant expansion tank. Top up the tank to 2cm above the seam with the garden hose. The water level on the left side may be different than that of the middle. The right side of the expansion tank should be empty.
-burp out bubbles by squeezing the upper radiator hose
-replace the expansion tank cap and battery terminal
-drive the Jeep with cabin heat on full (fan on low is fine) until operating temperature is met and water has been circulating for at least 30 minutes through the radiator

-let the engine cool

-drain the water as before and close the radiator drain cack. Citric acid is not harmful to go to storm drain but you may decide to recycle because of the small component of coolant in the mix. Up to you.
-pop out the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator

(Do this by turning the plug ccw to about 4 o'clock and pulling straight up.)

-press into the plug hole, at the top of the radiator, a section of 1/2 inch hose (3/4 inch outside diameter). I used low pressure hydraulic line (250lb Flex-Loc) but heater hose may fit as well. I also coupled on a section of clear hose because I like to see the bubbles and water level when flushing.

-remove the Tee cap and attach the flushing hose adapter. This is just a shut-off valve and a female to female hose section. The second Tee at the top can be used to remove air from the garden hose before flushing if needed.

-slowly refill the expansion tank with water from the garden hose to 2cm above the seam. Hold your thumb on the end of the clear hose and burp out bubbles by squeezing the upper radiator hose.

-attach the garden hose to the flushing adapter, cap the expansion tank, crack the cap in the middle of the adapter, turn on the garden hose slightly and bleed out the air from the adapter.

-retighten the cap on the adapter and not using too much water pressure, open the adapter's shut-off valve
-start the truck
-flush out the system for 5 minutes
-stop truck (if it is summer and you ran the truck too long, let it cool)
-drain again

After the coolant finished draining, I was able to extract another 1.35 liters using a Shop-Vac with the vacuum hose plugged in to blow air.
-open the Tee cap and hold to it a Shop-Vac with a piece of foam or a rag for a filter. Blow through the hoses a few times until the coolant stops coming out.
-cap the Tee

-blow through the expansion tank a few times until the coolant stops coming out
-remove the vacuum, close the drain cock and remove the drain hose

-remove adapter and radiator clear hose drain, replace plug (you may consider putting a little white lithium grease on the o-ring)
-fill with a 50%-70% blend of G-05 antifreeze and distilled water.

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Oct 26, 2010 6:51 am

Some tap water still remains in the system. I don't yet know how to deal with this. Maybe use an air compressor and blow it out?

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Nov 02, 2010 1:31 pm

I edited the first post with a warning.

I did manage, using a shop-vac, to blow out another 1.35 liters of water. The current problem is I could only add 9.6 liters of coolant. I estimate that another liter will bring the coolant up to the maximum allowable. So that leaves about 2 liters of flush water in the system. Not good if your water quality is poor.

What this means for those who just drain and fill coolant, 3.35 liters of the 12.5 is still old coolant. That's 28% :!:

One solution is to do a flush with distilled water but this added on to the other steps approaches the point of diminishing returns.

Maybe just stick with drain and fill but do it more often.

I am done with this for now but my request, if anyone wants to play, is the next time you do a drain and fill, try this:
-drain by the rad drain
-(this step doesn't matter to me so) only if you want to, blow out more coolant via the expansion tank with a shop-vac
-remove the lower rad hose and measure how much more comes out

thanx

CATCRD · **Posted:** Tue Nov 02, 2010 2:54 pm

Squeeto wrote:

-remove the lower rad hose and measure how much more comes out

thanx

I did it and found about 1.5 qt came out. I parked the Jeep so the nose was angled downward in the driveway.

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:02 pm

CATCRD wrote:

Squeeto wrote:

-remove the lower rad hose and measure how much more comes out

thanx

I did it and found about 1.5 qt came out. I parked the Jeep so the nose was angled downward in the driveway.

1.5 us qt = 1.4 liters
That may be all of the coolant then.

I still don't know if this is a waste of time anyway.
To flush or not to flush, that is the question.

4sefed · **Posted:** Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:06 pm

Good info!

I'll need this shortly as I managed to refill my cooling system with the wrong stuff after replacing my EGR cooler hoses.

Thanks for documenting your steps!

Squeeto · **Posted:** Tue Nov 02, 2010 3:48 pm

4sefed wrote:

Good info!

I'll need this shortly as I managed to refill my cooling system with the wrong stuff after replacing my EGR cooler hoses.

Thanks for documenting your steps!

If you do try this, even a water only flush, remove the lower rad hose too before adding the new coolant. Some flush water may be still in the system; I don't know yet. Measure the freeze point of your 50% mix afterwards and see if it reads -37 °C (-34.6 °F). That will be the proof.

papaindigo · **Posted:** Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:48 pm

The 2cms off a 10mm Allen wrench idea is WONDERFUL especially when combined with 1) remove air box and 2) come in from the top with a Craftsman or similar box/open end double ratchet wrench. The Allen thing pops right in and stays in place and the ratchet wrench opens and closes it with the greatest of ease. Having done this with regular wrenchs (1 that fits the flats without the tabs and a larger one that fits over the tabs) I really wish I had tried this first as it would have saved well over 1 hour not to mention temper/blood pressure/knuckles.

Squeeto - this merits a note in the CRD tech section if it's not already there.

stoutdog · **Posted:** Tue Jan 18, 2011 6:33 pm

papaindigo wrote:

The 2cms off a 10mm Allen wrench idea is WONDERFUL especially when combined with 1) remove air box and 2) come in from the top with a Craftsman or similar box/open end double ratchet wrench. The Allen thing pops right in and stays in place and the ratchet wrench opens and closes it with the greatest of ease. Having done this with regular wrenchs (1 that fits the flats without the tabs and a larger one that fits over the tabs) I really wish I had tried this first as it would have saved well over 1 hour not to mention temper/blood pressure/knuckles.

Squeeto - this merits a note in the CRD tech section if it's not already there.

Yes, this is highly recommended. I just used papaindigo's allen wrench cutoff to do a slow coolant flush of my system (drain, refill, repeat 5-6 times). By doing what he outlined above, I was able to get the system draining in 2-3 minutes each time.

Squeeto · **Posted:** Fri Jan 28, 2011 3:17 pm

papaindigo wrote:

The 2cms off a 10mm Allen wrench idea ... merits a note in the CRD tech section if it's not already there.

Put the request in to move another post of mine about this to the tech section.

Sunazur · **Joined:** Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:18 pm **Posts:** 33

Seems very complicate to flush all the liquid. :shock:

On the other hand is important to change it because with the time this liquid became very corrosive ( chemical alteration )

Is not just more easy just to plug ( up to end ) a small plastic hose to the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator ?
I was thinking like the way you can spill liquids from a vat to to glass , is just enough that the end of the hose is lower than bootom part of the radiator....

I am positive people already though about it ; but why it does not work in this case

dgeist · **Posted:** Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:01 pm

Squeeto wrote:

Okay, I want to try this again, only better.

edit: This is a work in progress. It still has some issues. Please don't try this until it is sorted out or if abandoned. See my third post.

Coolant Flush:
-engine cold
-turn cabin heat on full (engine not running)
-disconnect the battery
-attach a 5/16 inch hose to the radiator drain cack, feed the hose to a bucket (you need to recycle the old coolant). I spelled this 'cack' because the forum changed the word to rooster :lol:

.

FYI, you can say "cock" now, just use discretion

Squeeto · **Posted:** Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:34 pm

Sunazur wrote:

Seems very complicate to flush all the liquid. :shock:

On the other hand is important to change it because with the time this liquid became very corrosive ( chemical alteration )

Is not just more easy just to plug ( up to end ) a small plastic hose to the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator ?
I was thinking like the way you can spill liquids from a vat to to glass , is just enough that the end of the hose is lower than bootom part of the radiator....

I am positive people already though about it ; but why it does not work in this case

I don't quite understand. How different? from this in the procedure:

Squeeto · **Posted:** Fri Jan 28, 2011 7:36 pm

dgeist wrote:

Squeeto wrote:

Okay, I want to try this again, only better.

edit: This is a work in progress. It still has some issues. Please don't try this until it is sorted out or if abandoned. See my third post.

Coolant Flush:
-engine cold
-turn cabin heat on full (engine not running)
-disconnect the battery
-attach a 5/16 inch hose to the radiator drain cack, feed the hose to a bucket (you need to recycle the old coolant). I spelled this 'cack' because the forum changed the word to rooster :lol:

.

FYI, you can say "cock" now, just use discretion

Warms the cockles of my heart. :jester:

Sunazur · **Joined:** Mon Jan 03, 2011 6:18 pm **Posts:** 33

Squeeto wrote:

Sunazur wrote:

Seems very complicate to flush all the liquid. :shock:

On the other hand is important to change it because with the time this liquid became very corrosive ( chemical alteration )

Is not just more easy just to plug ( up to end ) a small plastic hose to the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator ?
I was thinking like the way you can spill liquids from a vat to to glass , is just enough that the end of the hose is lower than bottom part of the radiator....

I am positive people already though about it ; but why it does not work in this case

I don't quite understand. How different? from this in the procedure:

Well , actually you can open the circuit simply opening the cap of the expansion tank opening and flush it out after having popped out the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator .
Do not see the need to install the 'Tee' , most probably I miss something...

Roostre · **Joined:** Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:57 pm **Posts:** 195

dgeist wrote:

Squeeto wrote:

Okay, I want to try this again, only better.

edit: This is a work in progress. It still has some issues. Please don't try this until it is sorted out or if abandoned. See my third post.

Coolant Flush:
-engine cold
-turn cabin heat on full (engine not running)
-disconnect the battery
-attach a 5/16 inch hose to the radiator drain cack, feed the hose to a bucket (you need to recycle the old coolant). I spelled this 'cack' because the forum changed the word to rooster :lol:

.

FYI, you can say "cock" now, just use discretion

Whew!

I was afraid my screen name would get auto changed too!!

I'd have to go round sayin' just call me "cack"! :-)r

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Sun Jan 30, 2011 11:44 pm

Sunazur wrote:

Seems very complicate to flush all the liquid. :shock:

On the other hand is important to change it because with the time this liquid became very corrosive ( chemical alteration )

Is not just more easy just to plug ( up to end ) a small plastic hose to the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator ?
I was thinking like the way you can spill liquids from a vat to to glass , is just enough that the end of the hose is lower than bootom part of the radiator....

I am positive people already though about it ; but why it does not work in this case

Actually any shop will have a machine that will do this job the correct way in about 15-20 mins,very simple and easy.

Squeeto · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:17 pm

Sunazur wrote:

Squeeto wrote:

Sunazur wrote:

Seems very complicate to flush all the liquid. :shock:

On the other hand is important to change it because with the time this liquid became very corrosive ( chemical alteration )

Is not just more easy just to plug ( up to end ) a small plastic hose to the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator ?
I was thinking like the way you can spill liquids from a vat to to glass , is just enough that the end of the hose is lower than bottom part of the radiator....

I am positive people already though about it ; but why it does not work in this case

I don't quite understand. How different? from this in the procedure:

Well , actually you can open the circuit simply opening the cap of the expansion tank opening and flush it out after having popped out the plug at the top (passenger side) of the radiator .
Do not see the need to install the 'Tee' , most probably I miss something...

Ahh, I see.
If you are doing your own flush with a hose, it is very hard to to keep the thermostat open, especially at 10°C. For a $10 purchase, I narrowed the chance of a dead zone like the heater core (although the unique design of our 'stats seem to bypass some coolant via the viscous heater to the heater core anyway).

It is a fairly common procedure to cut one of these into the intake hose of the heater core for most vehicles. So there are probably other good reasons.

You bring up a good point though. I know for me, I was able to remove a fair amount of air out of the system at the Tee.

tjkj2002 wrote:

Actually any shop will have a machine that will do this job the correct way in about 15-20 mins,very simple and easy.

But where is the DIY in that? Is the service free? Can the home mechanic afford this equipment?

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:48 pm

Squeeto wrote:

But where is the DIY in that? Is the service free? Can the home mechanic afford this equipment?

Yeah it's not free but our shop it's only $90($110 with HOAT),which includes the chemical cleaner through 1st.Takes about 30-45 mins.

Roostre · **Joined:** Sun Oct 24, 2010 3:57 pm **Posts:** 195

Quick question. Are these systems supposed to have pressure on them when cold?

I have seen a lo coolant alarm on very cold mornings that goes away in a few minutes of driving. Yesterday, I popped the hood to investigate. The coolant level was about 1/2" below the cold mark. It surprised me when I opened the cap it 'popped' off like it had several pounds of pressure- and this was on a stone cold motor.

Coolant Flush (round 2)

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