Any other recommendations besides coolant flush?

[ryanthevan]

Just purchased a '93 Ranger with minimal history and maintenance. There's a lot of ticking from the engine, maybe bad lifters, that have quieted down ~20% after two rounds of seafoam in crankcase/fuel/intake. I've also replaced the air filter (there was a large crack in the top of the air filter housing on the clean side that I've taped up, let me know if you have a spare you want to sell me!). And I just cleaned out the MAF sensor with MAF cleaner, although that may need to be replaced (see MAF sensor picture attached).

Next up I checked the coolant, and there's a lot of sludge above the coolant level. I imagine a coolant flush is next on my list.

Before I get that started, based on my pictures and descriptions, any tips/advice you'd have about flushing or other suggestions you'd have? Trying my best to keep this thing alive as a noob! Learning a lot. This forum is amazing for people trying to learn.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ryanthevan]

With so much build up inside, I'm guessing it would be useful to use radiator flush? And likely flush many times with distilled water? Watching some YouTube videos now for learning.

 

[franklin2]

I have a brass garden hose nozzle like the ones below. You can take one of the heater hoses off, take the lower radiator hose off, and then stick that brass nozzle up in the end of the heater hose. Turn it on a little bit, it will run the water through the heater core, through the engine block, and out the lower hose.

Once that is clean, you can put the nozzle in the top of the radiator with cap off and flush it out. If it is really dirty, I recommend you refill with water and drive it, and then flush it again. Of course you can't do this if it's below freezing where you live. Whoops I just looked, you live in alaska so you can't run the pure water.

If it turns out really dirty, you may have to wait till it warms up to give it multiple flushes.

 

[ryanthevan]

Nice. Thanks!

Looks like I can order a brass nozzle hose for ~$6. (very limited local supply of things here).

It's in the mid to high 30s this week, with a day or two in the low 40s. So maybe I will try on the warmer days.

Did you mean to say I "can't" run the pure water if it's below freezing? That would make sense

Amazon.com

 

[Shran]

Don't let it freeze if you run pure water in it to flush it out. That's the main thing. Keep in mind that if you do flush with water, even if you drain & refill, you don't get all the water out of the block so it's really important to refill with coolant, run it a while, and use an antifreeze tester to see what the freezing temp of your coolant ends up being. If it's too far on the "water" side of things, you can drain some out of the rad and refill with non-diluted coolant and test again. Repeat until you get it where you want it.

 

[ryanthevan]

Thanks for the tip. Just ordered a E-Z Red S102 Anti-Freeze Hydrometer. Should be a nice thing to have around long term with minimal cost.

Won't arrive for a few weeks. Hopefully it's still above freezing then, but maybe not.

If it is below freezing, is it still possible to flush the coolant well? What do I have to make sure to do? Thanks again!

 

[Curious Hound]

You can flush it in cold weather. It's just not a very fun job.

 

[ryanthevan]

Thanks! Just ordered Evapo-Rust TC001 Thermocure Coolant System Rust Remover and a flush kit to help with the flush. Will arrive in a couple weeks and will report back.

 

[JoshT]

If you're going to try it in your current weather, just be careful and ensure that you don't let the truck sit long enough for the water/flush to cool off and freeze. Flushing the cooling system isn't going to help much if you crack the block from freezing.

Evapo-Rust TC001 Thermocure Coolant System Rust Remover

Thanks for sharing. I was not aware that Evapo-Rust made a cooling system cleaner/flush. I haven't been very happy with the flushes available at the local auto parts store. I like Evapo-Rust's rust remover, so I'll have to give this a try. Happen to have my cooling system drained right now anyway, and wanted to flush before adding coolany, so I'll have to order a bottle and try to get it done next week.

 

[RobbieD]

One thing that I like to do when flushing a coolant system, is to pop off the lower radiator hose for the draining of the system.

Yes, it is messier, but the larger and quicker dumping of the water flush pulls a lot more crap with it compared to the dribble out of the radiator petcock.

 

[ryanthevan]

If you're going to try it in your current weather, just be careful and ensure that you don't let the truck sit long enough for the water/flush to cool off and freeze. Flushing the cooling system isn't going to help much if you crack the block from freezing.



Thanks for sharing. I was not aware that Evapo-Rust made a cooling system cleaner/flush. I haven't been very happy with the flushes available at the local auto parts store. I like Evapo-Rust's rust remover, so I'll have to give this a try. Happen to have my cooling system drained right now anyway, and wanted to flush before adding coolany, so I'll have to order a bottle and try to get it done next week.

Nice. You may beat me to it since it'll take a while for some supplies to arrive here. It was the highest rated one I saw, and a little more expensive. So guessed it was worth a try.

 

[ryanthevan]

One thing that I like to do when flushing a coolant system, is to pop off the lower radiator hose for the draining of the system.

Yes, it is messier, but the larger and quicker dumping of the water flush pulls a lot more crap with it compared to the dribble out of the radiator petcock.

Will do this, especially since this will be a flush for the century

 

[Terrys87]

I have tried flushing radiators. If it has a lot of build up, find a radiator shop that can power flush it. My local shop charges about $35 to do it. It looks like a carwash hand wand and it will blow what looks like mud out of it. That is you you have bad build up in it.

 

[franklin2]

Did you mean to say I "can't" run the pure water if it's below freezing? That would make sense

Yes. It was a typo and you read it before I fixed it.