Coolant exchange

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May 11, 2021 | 08:55 PM

meborder

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From: Sioux Falls Area

Coolant exchange

I had to change the thermostat on my 2014 so took the opportunity to do a drain and fill since I’m due on time and close on mileage.

so I drained the radiator and block and only got about a gallon to drain out. The system capacity is 4.75 gallons, so that’s not very much of the system.

I did take distilled water and poured it down the thermostat housing to flush the block until the coolant coming out of the radiator was mostly clear. Then I poured most of a gallon of straight coolant into the engine block and let it drain out the petcock until it was mostly orange.

my problem is that between the gallon I put in the engine block and filling up the radiator, I didn’t even get 2 gallons of coolant into the system. The radiator doesn’t even hold a gallon.

How are you supposed to get a decent drain and fill when so little of it drains out the bottom of the radiator?

I did fill the block and radiator up with distilled water and let it run with no thermostat for a while so that it could flush as much as possible, but I’m not sure I did a very good job getting much of the coolant exchanges.

any ideas?

May 12, 2021 | 08:50 AM

alloro

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Quote:

Originally Posted by meborder

How are you supposed to get a decent drain and fill when so little of it drains out the bottom of the radiator?

I like to take off one of the heater hoses off the engine and blast in water from a garden hose for a power flush, then I blow compressed air in, both into the hose and the block. If a compressor isn't available the blow side of a shopvac works. By blowing air in I can get most of the coolant system drained down. Just using the radiator drain can be a bit slow, so if you can, disconnect the lower hose from the radiator it will speed up the process.