flushing cooling system

94BULLITT · Dec 22, 2014

I'd just flush it with water. Be sure you drain the block. It will be a pain to do but it is the only way to get all the old coolant and crud out. I use whatever antifreeze the manual recommends. Prestone G05 is probably what it takes.

CJONE · Dec 22, 2014

This is what I have always done. Flush with tap water [well water, not city water] drain then refill with distilled water, flush out. Refill with the correct antifreeze, distilled water mix. SCA's with a diesel. I have found the best run time with distilled water. CJ

dodge man · Dec 22, 2014

Another bit of advice, they make some very low cost coolant testers. Its usually just some little balls that float that way you know you have a good coolant mix ratio.

Diamondpilot · Dec 22, 2014

Capricious said:
Obviously not heat exchanger cooled, but then in a fresh water area no one spends the money for heat exchanger systems. And of course, even exchanger systems can have "issues" with the raw-water side, as the government found out: https://idea.library.drexel.edu/islandora/object/idea%3A1347/datastream/OBJ/view

Yay, I don't deal with many closed cooling systems on motors, maybe 10%. 100% of the gen sets are closed cooling.

Chris

Capricious · Dec 22, 2014

dodge man said:
Another bit of advice, they make some very low cost coolant testers. Its usually just some little balls that float that way you know you have a good coolant mix ratio.

I have a fancy hydrometer that I borrowed (stole) from someone.

While that will give you a freezing point, it won't really tell one much about the state of the additives in the coolant, which will "wear-out" (deplete) over time. I know there are test kits, for nitrites and such:

http://www.hastingsfilter.com/Literature/SpecSheets/F506.pdf

... that are commonly used to check the state of coolant on BIG machinery, but I don't mess with that on my stuff. I just change the coolant every so often.

coobie1 · Dec 22, 2014

Had our 2004 lincoln town car flushed/filled today for $99 bucks from a private shop.

JJZ 109 · Dec 23, 2014

CJONE said:
This is what I have always done. Flush with tap water [well water, not city water] drain then refill with distilled water, flush out. Refill with the correct antifreeze, distilled water mix. SCA's with a diesel. I have found the best run time with distilled water. CJ

I'm not really getting the difference between well water and municipal water here. In many cases well water can be extremely hard, contain sulfur, iron, etc. I've done it with municipal water, then then run a few gallons of distilled through it after that. Fortunately the block drains weren't bad to get at and loosened easily. I put them back in with some anti seize so that the next guy should be able to get them out, as I no longer own the truck.
Then the antifreeze was cut with distilled water. Bought the pre charged stuff for the 7.3 Powerstroke that I owned so didn't bother with additional SCA. But that can be had from the local NAPA store as NAPAcool. Test strips can also be used to test the SCA content, but it's my understanding that they have a shelf life.

QueBota · Dec 23, 2014

I normally flush using the radiator cap (siphon and replace coolant until clear) or the lower rad hose at the water pump. Have been burned one to many times by the drain valve in the radiator. Also the drain valve in the rad is not normally located for an ideal drain.

Don't even mention freeze plugs, one time my neighbor was determined to do the best job possible draining his coolant, he knocked out a large freeze plug on the bottom side of the block. Spent the better part of a day trying to install a new freeze plug that didn't leak. Finally got it done but it was way more trouble than it was worth, still mention it whenever changing coolant comes up

, we love to mess with each other about our "good ideas". Seems like he always stops by after I finish a job and says "did you think of doing ......?", unfortunately his ideas are usually good, I always ask him, "where were you a couple of days ago?", he's a good guy and a great neighbor.

Q

CJONE · Dec 23, 2014

JJZ 109 said:
I'm not really getting the difference between well water and municipal water here. In many cases well water can be extremely hard, contain sulfur, iron, etc. I've done it with municipal water, then then run a few gallons of distilled through it after that. Fortunately the block drains weren't bad to get at and loosened easily. I put them back in with some anti seize so that the next guy should be able to get them out, as I no longer own the truck.
Then the antifreeze was cut with distilled water. Bought the pre charged stuff for the 7.3 Powerstroke that I owned so didn't bother with additional SCA. But that can be had from the local NAPA store as NAPAcool. Test strips can also be used to test the SCA content, but it's my understanding that they have a shelf life.

I deal with municipal water with car washes and the crap that is added will eat away hydraulic fittings in sometimes less than a year. That is the only reason I stated that. If you flush it good, it should not be a problem but I 100% would not use it for a mix. Yes SCA's have a shelf life but test kits are only $50 or so. Any attempt is better than nothing but too much will wipe out water pump seals. CJ

JJZ 109 · Dec 23, 2014

CJONE said:
I deal with municipal water with car washes and the crap that is added will eat away hydraulic fittings in sometimes less than a year. That is the only reason I stated that. If you flush it good, it should not be a problem but I 100% would not use it for a mix. Yes SCA's have a shelf life but test kits are only $50 or so. Any attempt is better than nothing but too much will wipe out water pump seals. CJ

Good enough. I was just curious. It's the test kits themselves that I understand have a limited shelf life.