Well I'm wanting to do a complete radiator flush to make sure my coolant mixture is closer to 50/50 now that I've finally gotten the leak fixed and stopped. But the only write-up that I've found before talks about draining the engine block, but when I tried it before, those plugs on the engine block ARE NOT coming lose. So is there a way to completely flush the system and then make sure I have a close-to-perfect 50/50 mixture? How much coolant/water does the entire cooling system hold...engine block and all?

 

I would imagine as long as you use quite a bit of distilled, you should be fine without removing the plugs. I believe people usually add around 3.5 gallons of straight coolant and then top off with distilled when not removing the plugs...

 

But when you just drain the radiator them there's still a coolant mixture in the block, so if you add 3.5 gal to the mixture it wouldn't be right. Do you just keep adding distilled until it comes out pretty clear, then drain again and add coolant?

 

Try some PB breaker overnight on those plugs and if you have to use a longer wrench.

 

I used around 70 gallons of distilled. Also please recycle the coolant at your local top gun or the like...

 

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for one flush?

 

That's was my exact reaction too! Our distilled at CVS is about $1.49/gallon...I dont have that kinda change! Maybe if I could find it for about 25 cents a gallon...

 

I did mine with 20 gal. and the final flush was crystal clear. That is doing it with the t-stat removed. Much easier and quicker that way. I got my water at Smart & Final in 2 1/2 gal. jugs. Buck.99.

 

The last time I did it I can't remember if we wound up getting the t-stat out or if we gave up on it. I just remember it was HELLACIOUS to fool with! Any tips or tricks to it?

 

If you remove that fuel line it makes it much easier. I'm assuming you took off the IC tube if you felt it was in the way. Removing the T-stat should be pretty harmless.

 

I'm not sure if we tried that last time or if we tried working around it and that's why we got so frustrated. I guess I'll find out in a few days. How much driving around should be done between draining and filling back up?

 

It should only take about 5-10 minutes to remove the t-stat housing, t-stat and reinstall housing. Most of the time being spent on draining 2 gallons of coolant out of the radiator petcock valve.

Tools needed:
2 clean gallon jugs (i had a ton left over from distilled water)
10mm socket, swivel socket and 8-12" extension
i think the factory hose clamp was 8mm on the upper radiator hose

Drain 2 gallons of coolant from the radiator petcock valve
Remove hose clamp from uppter radiator hose and remove from radiator
Remove 2 10mm bolts that hold the t-stat housing on, one requires the swivel socket
Pull up on the t-stat housing and snake out the housing with the hose still attached to the housing
Push down on the t-stat and rotate 45 degrees and remove from housing
Reinstall housing, making sure that the oring stays in the groove
Connect upper radiator hose to the radiator and install clamp
Refill the coolant into the degas bottle
I like to pinch the upper hose to help get a little air out before and while its running

Keep in mind that restore and restore+ requires the coolant to reach a certain temp to do its job properly. When i had my t-stat out, i could only get my coolant to 124 degrees. I reinstalled my t-stat so i could use the chemicals to their full potential...

 

The plug is "o"ringed so it should not be that tough to get out unless you are trying to use a standard allen wrench. I think I used a 8mm (same size as 5/16") 3/8 drive hex head with about 16" of extension into the fender well. Worked great.


Holds around 27 quarts. Dropping the radiator hose and driver side engine block plug pulled another gallon out of the system during each flush. In total, each flush was about 4.5 gallons. Walmart had distilled water for $0.99/gal and I used about 30 gallons. Probably flushed it one more time than necessary because I could not tell the difference in the last two flushed - almost as clear as fresh water.

Make sure you put in a coolant filter when you flush it. My coolant was clear with no residue, but after 1,000 miles, the filter had captured about a teaspoon full of grit/sand.