Need advise on flushing cooling system in the van

[stracer107]

Ok so my wifes van needs the cooling system flushed its nasty brown and I think it has crap pluming it the heater don't work very well. So my question is I have prestone super radiator cleaner. Now can I mix this stuff with coolant after I drain and flush the old out? Its cold and I need to get this done asap. Saturday im going on a 400 mile trip will I be fine tuning just water or should I use coolant and the cleaner.

 

[phunny]

Should have directions on it. Most you drain the coolant, refill with water, add cleaner, run for 15 minutes then drain. Flush with water then refill with coolant.

 

[chinola69]

Run the flush without the radiator cap on so you don't build up the pressure and that way you dont have to wait for the pressure to go down before you remove the cap.

Just pull the bottom hose or sometime radiators have a drain at the bottom but pulling the hose is alot faster. Let all the coolant run out could pour water in run for awhile then pull hose again. After that put in the flush run for the 15 minutes or whatever it says. Pulls hose again drain it all out. Pour in new antifree/water, done. Very simple.

 

[Munkee]

Don't forget to use distilled water on the final fill up. I guess hose water would be fine for the flush since you'll only be running it for 15 minutes anyway.

 

[chinola69]

+1 ^^^^ 100% Thank you for adding

 

[DSM1G90]

With that much rust in the system:

Take the radiator out after draining the system.

Shove a hose in the lower end and flush out all of the sediment that resides in the bottom of the radiator. After the lower end flush, shove the hose in the upper end and flush out the radiator galleys for any rust and sediment as well.

Take out the T-stat, shove the hose in where the T-stat is mounted and flush out the block since you got the radiator out since more rust that resides in the block. And doing this, you're flushing out the heater core along with the block flush.

ALL of that rust MUST get out of the block, system and radiator. Otherwise, you'll be doing a flush job within a month.

The key word is; FLUSH, FLUSH, FLUSH !

All water must be clear coming out as it's going in.

Get a new T-stat and gasket and clean all mating surfaces along with cleaning the radiator cap (or, buy a new one).

Put all back together and full with 50/50 premix antifreeze.

You'll be happy afterwards with a clean motor.

Good luck - DSM

 

[stracer107]

The flush I got says run it for 3-6 hours. Im planning on flushing the system till clean eater comes out. Im just worried that by driving it for that long with only water in it that it might freeze. Idk. Im hoping to flush it out tonight and then ill add water and cleaner in the morning drive it to my nephews bday witch is 200 miles away drive home and drain and rinse then fill with coolant. Do you guys think it will freeze driving it? Spouse to be in the high 40s tomorrow.

 

[DSM1G90]

Straight water is hard on WP since antifreeze is also like a lubricant for the pump sleeve bearings.

Plus, straight water can't extract the heat off the block as does coolant.

I wouldn't go on the road with just water in the system, you just might bust the block since boiling temps aren't maintained as with coolant.

Do your flush at home, drain and do the 50/50 antifreeze mix before doing any serious driving.

 

[Paintballaa5]

Run your heater during the flush.

 

[DSM1G90]

Heater core automatically gets flushed out with the task-there is no "throttle" valve to speak of to control the coolant through the core.

The core always receives coolant from the system.

The heat is controlled by a baffle controlled by the cold/heat control on the dash.

 

[MrBoxx]

With that much rust in the system:

Take the radiator out after draining the system.

Shove a hose in the lower end and flush out all of the sediment that resides in the bottom of the radiator. After the lower end flush, shove the hose in the upper end and flush out the radiator galleys for any rust and sediment as well.

Take out the T-stat, shove the hose in where the T-stat is mounted and flush out the block since you got the radiator out since more rust that resides in the block. And doing this, you're flushing out the heater core along with the block flush.

ALL of that rust MUST get out of the block, system and radiator. Otherwise, you'll be doing a flush job within a month.

The key word is; FLUSH, FLUSH, FLUSH !

All water must be clear coming out as it's going in.

Get a new T-stat and gasket and clean all mating surfaces along with cleaning the radiator cap (or, buy a new one).

Put all back together and full with 50/50 premix antifreeze.

You'll be happy afterwards with a clean motor.

Good luck - DSM

This is how I performed coolant flushes on my truck and badly neglected cars at my previous place of employment. I add one step, though. For a heater core that's plugged, I pull the heater core hoses off and run the hose directly through the heater core. First, flush one way until all the crap is out and the water is running through clear and clean. Then run the hose through the other hose. You'll be surprised how much sludge comes out. Do this as many times as you need to until the water is clear. If the radiator is plugged, do the back-and-forth method on that too with the upper and lower radiator hoses.

In actuality, I usually do this pre-cleaning before I add any flushing chemicals so that the majority of the crud gets out and the chemicals can work on the surfaces of the heater core and radiator and break up the scale on the metal rather than working through the sediment.

 

[DSM1G90]

I did this flush recommendation that I posted previously above when I had an overheating problem about two miles from my exit on the freeway.

Temp gauge suddenly begin to jump almost into the red.

I stopped of the side of the freeway and sat for a while to let the boiling coolant settle down. Then started back up, but took it easy, cranked the heater fan full bore to aid in cooling the system.

Managed to hit a gas station on my exit where I could sit and cool down.

Then, I did the major no-no just to be able to get home with my problem:

Went to the station's shop, borrowed a pair of long handle water pump pliers, put some gloves on and removed the radiator cap. Super hot coolant shot out like a geyser out of the fill opening and relieved the major pressure built up in the motor.

When all settled down, I filled the radiator with water, started it up and crept the car home. Funny is that the temp gauge then was reading normal - not overheating at all.

This is when I did my total flush out - took out the radiator, flushed out the tonnage of crud in the lower part and flushed out the upper section (true, I do remember now doing the bottom to top flush and the reverse now...hot day that day..). Then flushed out the block and so much brown came out it was insane (didn't think on doing the core since knowing that the core received coolant at all times anyway-maybe next summer I'll do the cure flushout..) .. but I got that water clear coming out as it was going in.

Got a new T-stat and gasket along with new radiator cap while I had the thing all torn apart.

This was 3 yrs ago when this all happened (thank goodness, it didn't blow my HG the way the coolant was boiling...) and the vehicle's been running great since-coolant still is nice an green .. for a JDM motor in a vehicle that I bought almost 5 yrs ago.

Good luck - DSM