Flushing cooling system, need some help.

[jgrnot]

Well, I need to change my thermostat because it's stuck open. I noticed my antifreeze is getting pretty ugly.

When flushing the radiator, you drain the radiator and, according to my Haynes manual, you drain the block as well. However, it doesn't show where the block drain is and I have absolutely NO clue. Is there even a block drain on my engine?

2000 4.0L, auto trans.

 

[michowski]

Drain out the older antifreeze out of the radiator. Put the hose in it and leave it for a few minutes or untill you see clear water comming out. Disconnect the 2 heater core hoses and put the one end of the hose over the female end and let the water run through that. Also with that turn the water on and off to create a surging to help loosen up any rust or bad debree. As for the block drain I dont have any idea. I couldnt find the drain plug on my 3.0 so all I did was just disconnect the lower radiator hose from the block and flushed it through the thermostat hole. Might not be 100% flushed out but it did get most of the old stuff out.

 

[kunar]

theres not gonna be a drain on the block as far as i know. i just put the garden hose in the thermostat housing once the thermostat is out of the way. like michowski said, run water till its comes out clear. you can buy flush kits, all it does is lets you connect a garden hose inline to your heater core. when i replaced my heater core, i put there adapter where the heater core should have been so i didnt have to cut any hoses. turn on the water and start the truck. you can buy radiator flush chemicals but its probably not necessary

 

[michowski]

You shouldnt have to cut any hoses. Mine fit inside the one hose off the heater core. It even stated that in the haynes manual as well. Just shove it in and start the water. Create some surging action to loosen up any loose debree and when its clear your done.

 

[LearjetMinako]

Depending on how bad it is. The old way is still the best way.

1. Drain the radiator
2. Add a coolant flush chemical (use product instructions)
3. After flush, re-flush with just clean water
4. After re-flush, re-re-flush with clean water and leave the drain pecock open with engine running (make sure water is getting into the radiator)
5. After re-re-flush, drain radiator, close pecock, and fill with clean coolant of correct amount. Fill with water till full.

When doing a coolant flush. Its best to get that system clean. Hate to do it again next year.

 

[JohnnyO]

On most vehicles I just pull off the lower radiator hose to drain it, much faster that way and gets a lot of coolant out of the block. On some I've done there may not have even been a radiator petcock, not that I could find anyway.
Same on the top, I pull the upper rad hose off and fill the water from there. Put everything back together minus the hose clamps, run, drain, fill, repeat.
When the water runs out clean I drain the rad again, button up all the hoses, and fill the rad with antifreeze to 50% of system capacity. The 50% of water is in the block and heater core. To get to 50/50 I usually have to drain out a little bit after it's been run to get a little more antifreeze in.

 

[MAKG]

There is ALWAYS at least one drain in the block. Usually two for V-type engines.

It's at the lowest point in the water jacket. It MUST be underneath the exhaust manifolds, almost always toward the back of the block on a rear wheel drive. It's just an NPT-threaded copper plumbing plug.

 

[Danger FX4 Ranger]

I've seen people take the plug out of the bottom of the radiator, while putting a running garden hose in the top of to replace the water leaving, while at the same time running the engine to be sure fresh water is flushing though the entire system. About the time the water flowing from the bottom of the radiator comes clean, they cut the truck off and re-install the plug in the bottom of the radiator and fill'er back up with coolant (or fill it with water and engine flush, and repeat the cycle again after a few minutes). Anyone know of any problems doing this?

 

[lil red]

id say just take the hose off ,flush twice and refill to spec

ps.nise sig danger fx4

 

[Will]

Get a flush kit and follow the instructions.

 

[jgrnot]

Here's another question.

Where does the coolant go? Can I take it Kragen like I do my oil?

IMO, there's an issue with the garden hose. That's a lot of bad fluid running down the driveway.

What do you do with the stuff?

 

[PaleBlue90]

i bleave you can take the stuff to a store to be recycled

 

[metalmacguyver]

i bleave you can take the stuff to a store to be recycled

not where i live. i thought that too until i ended up walking back out of the autoparts store with my dirty coolant. every town should have a hazardous waste day. you could get rid of it there, or you could stop by a local garage and ask them nicely if you could dump it in thier antifreeze drum that they should have.

 

[MAKG]

Well, you have Kragen, so you're out west.

Several states have coolant recycling at local dumps. Along with recycling for just about anything else in the vehicle (batteries, oil, blown transmissions, etc.) And at least in California, it's all free.

 

[JohnnyO]

Where does the coolant go? Can I take it Kragen like I do my oil?
IMO, there's an issue with the garden hose. That's a lot of bad fluid running down the driveway.
What do you do with the stuff?

I catch the old antifreeze in a bucket and take it to the county recycling center like I do with my old oil.