Newbie coolant flushing question

Chowder Head · Feb 19, 2006

I plan to flush my coolant out because I seriously have no idea the last time it got flushed.

I bought the flush 'n' fill kit from Prestone and installed that in the heater inlet hose. Everything is ready to go but I have two noobish questions.

First off, where exactly is the screw or plug I loosen so the coolant drains out? And where would be a good place to jack the car up at in order to do this? I'm not the best at terminology so go easy on me, lol.

I'm pretty good at the techincal part of what to do, but I have no experience actually DOING it.

Thanks for any help guys. I feel embarresed to ask questions like these.

legalize420 · Feb 20, 2006

make sure the car is cool and pull the lower radiator hose. you can jack the car up on the k member. someone might have a pic, but its in the center of the front of the car between the control arms.

95strokerPSU · Feb 20, 2006

I believe there's a petcock on the left or right lower side of the radiator, but I always just loosen the lower radiator hose and let it drain that way. As long as you can fit a pan under the car to catch the coolant, you probably don't need to jack the car up for this.

Black95GTS · Feb 20, 2006

Whoa whoa no need to jack the car up at all. On the passenger side, you will see a white / off white petcock on the lower corner of the radiator. Loosen this and the radiator will empty.

Then get your good friend the garden house and flush your cooling system from the normal spout in the front of the car. Run a continuous stream through the system until you notice the crap coming out of the petcock coming out clear. At this point your system has been cleared of coolant.

Close the petcock. Fill the spout until the car won't take anymore. Turn on the car, turn the heater on full blast. This will open the t-stat. Watch as the radiator fluid gets sucked down and keep adding more. Do this for 20 minutes or so burping the radiator house every once and a while. When you can't put anymore into the spout, cap it, shut the car off, then dump the rest into your coolant reserve tank. Done.

I also recommend a thermostat change at this point, but thats up to you.

Adam

Chowder Head · Feb 20, 2006

Black95GTS said:
Whoa whoa no need to jack the car up at all. On the passenger side, you will see a white / off white petcock on the lower corner of the radiator. Loosen this and the radiator will empty.

Then get your good friend the garden house and flush your cooling system from the normal spout in the front of the car. Run a continuous stream through the system until you notice the crap coming out of the petcock coming out clear. At this point your system has been cleared of coolant.

Close the petcock. Fill the spout until the car won't take anymore. Turn on the car, turn the heater on full blast. This will open the t-stat. Watch as the radiator fluid gets sucked down and keep adding more. Do this for 20 minutes or so burping the radiator house every once and a while. When you can't put anymore into the spout, cap it, shut the car off, then dump the rest into your coolant reserve tank. Done.

I also recommend a thermostat change at this point, but thats up to you.

Adam

Thanks for the tips, it's appreciated.

I totally forgot about my thermostat, lol. Is the best one for a daily driver a 180* one? Preferebly made by Mr. Gasket?

I only have two questions. Does someone sell it locally, like Autozone or something, and how difficult of an install are we talking here? Hopefully easy, lol.

Thanks again for the help guys.

legalize420 · Feb 20, 2006

get the 180. i got a generic brand. mr gasket is fine. parts store should have it. you will need a new thermostat housing gasket and some permatex ( i used the black ). its very easy. you have to remove the piece that your upper radiator hose is attached to. two bolts will get it off. put the new thermostat with the gasket along with the permatex. the spring faces the firewall.

go-stang5.0 · Feb 20, 2006

Changing coolant is messy and annoying. Plus you have to catch all the old coolant and take it to a place that will dispose of it for you. I did it once and will not do it again. I'm happy to spend the $60-70 to get it done with one of those coolant recyling machines. But thats just me. I recommend you do it once and see if its too much of a pain in the a$$. I thought it was but others dont seem to mind. You may want to open the block drains also to get more of the old stuff out. I forget their exact location right now....

xkuntrycowboyx · Feb 21, 2006

my coolant always gets put on the weeds in the driveway..

ya, this stuff shouldn't be a problem man. You gotta start somewhere, don't worry, you can handle this.

but don't forget to burp ur baby

Blackened302 · Feb 21, 2006

err, i didn't get teh "burping" part? can someone explain this?

Chowder Head · Feb 21, 2006

Hey man, I read your reply again and wasn't 100% sure on what you meant for these steps.

Black95GTS said:
Then get your good friend the garden house and flush your cooling system from the normal spout in the front of the car. Run a continuous stream through the system until you notice the crap coming out of the petcock coming out clear. At this point your system has been cleared of coolant.

What is the 'normal' spout' in the front of my car? The plastic coolant tank that says FULL COLD and FULL HOT?

Close the petcock. Fill the spout until the car won't take anymore. Turn on the car, turn the heater on full blast. This will open the t-stat. Watch as the radiator fluid gets sucked down and keep adding more. Do this for 20 minutes or so burping the radiator house every once and a while. When you can't put anymore into the spout, cap it, shut the car off, then dump the rest into your coolant reserve tank. Done.

Adam

So the place where I put my coolant/distilled water mix is inside the radiator, by removing the cap? The thing right by my battery right? I thought you put the new coolant directly in the plastic tank? So just fill up the radiator (the one by the battery) with exactly how much? To the very top? Then dump the rest in my plastic coolant tank?

Sorry for all the questions. I plan to do this tommorow and would like to be certain of what I'm doing.

Thanks a lot guys!

Michael

legalize420 · Feb 22, 2006

fill the radiator all the way up ( yes, by the battery ). then you fill the overflow ( plastic piece with hot and cold ) to the hot line if the car is hot, the cold one if its cold.

94GTLaserRC · Feb 22, 2006

go-stang5.0 said:
Changing coolant is messy and annoying. Plus you have to catch all the old coolant and take it to a place that will dispose of it for you. I did it once and will not do it again. I'm happy to spend the $60-70 to get it done with one of those coolant recyling machines. But thats just me....

I agree. I give my car to my mechanic, he takes it in, does the work and brings it back.

You "may" find someone that will just charge you labor, and you can bring your own coolant and distilled water to mix....Just tell them that you want it done that way, and see if they can just charge you labor instead of making profit on the coolant, which can be had cheap at Walmart
RC

Black95GTS · Feb 22, 2006

Chowder Head said:
Hey man, I read your reply again and wasn't 100% sure on what you meant for these steps.

What is the 'normal' spout' in the front of my car? The plastic coolant tank that says FULL COLD and FULL HOT?

So the place where I put my coolant/distilled water mix is inside the radiator, by removing the cap? The thing right by my battery right? I thought you put the new coolant directly in the plastic tank? So just fill up the radiator (the one by the battery) with exactly how much? To the very top? Then dump the rest in my plastic coolant tank?

Sorry for all the questions. I plan to do this tommorow and would like to be certain of what I'm doing.

Thanks a lot guys!

Michael

Mike, read this in full and if you still have questions, then I'll go more into it.

Adam

http://www.advanceautoparts.com/english/youcan/html/ccr/ccr20010501rm.html

v6v8swap · Feb 22, 2006

Mike, if you decide to change that thermostat, "check" the new one before you install it. All you have to do is put it in a pan of water and heat it up on the stove until you see it open. If it is not open by the time the water is boiling, it is no good. I have had two brand new t-stats not open, the first time was after it was installed in a Jeep in the McDonald's parking lot. It got hot within 5-6 blocks! I really thought that something else was wrong with that Jeep until I boiled that sucker. I was pissed and decided right there that I would not EVER install another t-stat without checking it first. The second one that would not open was one that was going to go into the Mustang when it still had the v6. I'm glad I checked that one first. Just a thought that might make a pretty easy job into a semi-nightmare! Good luck!

Blackened302 · Feb 22, 2006

v6v8swap said:
Mike, if you decide to change that thermostat, "check" the new one before you install it. All you have to do is put it in a pan of water and heat it up on the stove until you see it open. If it is not open by the time the water is boiling, it is no good. I have had two brand new t-stats not open, the first time was after it was installed in a Jeep in the McDonald's parking lot. It got hot within 5-6 blocks! I really thought that something else was wrong with that Jeep until I boiled that sucker. I was pissed and decided right there that I would not EVER install another t-stat without checking it first. The second one that would not open was one that was going to go into the Mustang when it still had the v6. I'm glad I checked that one first. Just a thought that might make a pretty easy job into a semi-nightmare! Good luck!

that's a damn good tip, thanks!

Chowder Head · Feb 24, 2006

Black95GTS said:
Mike, read this in full and if you still have questions, then I'll go more into it.

Adam

http://www.advanceautoparts.com/english/youcan/html/ccr/ccr20010501rm.html

Thanks for the link, it cleared up a lot of my questions. But there is one thing I'm not sure of. How do I purge the cooling system of air pockets? The term that was mentioned before, "burping" I'm guessing means the same thing.

How do you do it exactly? Lemme take a wild guess and see if I'm close, lol. After filling the car up with coolant, squeeze the upper rad. hose so the air exudes and then close the cap?

Thanks guys!

94GTLaserRC · Feb 24, 2006

Chowder Head said:
Thanks for the link, it cleared up a lot of my questions. But there is one thing I'm not sure of. How do I purge the cooling system of air pockets? The term that was mentioned before, "burping" I'm guessing means the same thing.

How do you do it exactly? Lemme take a wild guess and see if I'm close, lol. After filling the car up with coolant, squeeze the upper rad. hose so the air exudes and then close the cap?

Thanks guys!

That wont too much...Basically, you leave the cap off the radiator, just fill enough so that the water touches the bottom of the neck. Start the car, let the temp get up to TSTAT temp......when the Stat opens, you will see the coolant get flushed in.....slowly fill it to the same level again....as the car runs, you will see an occasional large bubble (burping), like something is in there "breaking wind" Do this for about 5-10 minutes until all you see are little bubbles that eventually fizz out....

BTW...at this stage, you "may" jack the car up a little at the front.

Hope this helps.
RC

im2damncool · Apr 25, 2006

Can anybody tell me where the block drain plugs are? Don't I have to pull them to get all the coolant in the engine? I think I found the one on the passenger side (hex key w/red tape on threads???)but I can't see the one on the oil filter side. Little Help?

Methodical · Apr 25, 2006

im2damncool said:
Can anybody tell me where the block drain plugs are? Don't I have to pull them to get all the coolant in the engine? I think I found the one on the passenger side (hex key w/red tape on threads???)but I can't see the one on the oil filter side. Little Help?

They may be a mother to get out.

im2damncool · Apr 25, 2006

Then should I bother or just pull the lower hose? I've owned the car 6 years and it's never been done in all that time.

Newbie coolant flushing question

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