Prestone Flush And Fill Kit. Worthwhile?

[BobsArmory]

Bought this Flush And Fill kit along with the cleaner the other day at the Dollar Store pretty cheap. I thought, Hey I need to replace the old Dexcool in my truck anyway so this should work pretty slick! Then I started having a little buyers remorse. I thought about cutting a heater hose and installing this part, adding another possible failure point in the cooling system.

What are your thoughts & experiences with these? Are they worthwhile or just a gimmick?

 

[Donald]

I used it years ago but in modern cars its hard to find a place to install the kit.

 

[LotI]

Gimmick. Regular drain & fill is all that's needed.

 

[DemoFly]

Just adding more points of failure for a bleeding technique that isn't effective. You won't get the air out of the heater core with one of these on a modern car.

Worked on old trucks where you could lift the heater hose higher than the heater core.

 

[Eddie]

Good idea and I used it on every vehicle I had. ed

 

[jhellwig]

All that flush is is citric acid. I have used it and wasn't impressed with that it left behind.

 

[Kuato]

I have used that very same kit on numerous older vehicles. Worked as advertised and did not leak.

As mentioned, tough to find an install point in some vehicles.

 

[doitmyself]

Years ago when I used those kits, I would just buy a chunk of heater hose and install the T temporarily to do the flush. After the flush I reattached the OEM hose back to normal to eliminate the worry of the "extra leak point".

The kits seemed to work well. Today's maintained vehicles don't seem to require flushing unless you've inherited or created a problem.

 

[dishdude]

I didn't know they still made these.

 

[Bud]

Haven't used one of those in years. But when I did the kit worked fine.

 

[46Harry]

I have the flush and fill kits installed on my old Studebakers and they do work on them, but don't see any reason to use a kit on my 2010 Silverado.

 

[JHZR2]

Ive used the fluid just as a flush agent. I don't drive with it or let the thermostat open; just drain coolant, fill with tap and some of that, wait a while, drain, flush with tap, refill with 50/50 mixed with distilled.

Id never cut into my OE hoses.

 

[Yah-Tah-Hey]

Nope. Just drain and refill.

 

[BobsArmory]

Just took a look under the hood, there is no drain on the radiator, funky connection on the heater core, no cap on the radiator. I might just let my local professional do the job. (2009 Chevy Silverado Crew cab 4x4 6 Liter Max trailer package).

Unless I can find a youtube video showing how to do it correctly.

 

[R18Civic]

My experience with it is if in doubt about the condition of the cooling system, don't do it.

Tried this on my first car, an 89 Cutlass Ciera. Had lots of sludge which ultimately doomed the car.

First issue after the flush was overheating, the center pin blew off the rad cap. Replaced it, then a few hours away from home she kept overheating one day. Found out the rad fan wasn't working. Ended with a blown freeze plug but later found out the thermostat that controls the fans got clogged with sludge.

 

[JHZR2]

Originally Posted By: BobsArmory
Just took a look under the hood, there is no drain on the radiator, funky connection on the heater core, no cap on the radiator. I might just let my local professional do the job. (2009 Chevy Silverado Crew cab 4x4 6 Liter Max trailer package).

Unless I can find a youtube video showing how to do it correctly.


Then either remove a hose or see if you can suck out via the fill hole.

 

[HangFire]

These should be standard equipment on old Taurus's that need an annual heater core backflush just to keep the heater working.

 

[bmod305]

Hangfire lol My son had a Sable for a few years. Every fall I had to flush the heater core. I actually made a kit that made it a 30 min job. It looked like kitty litter every time in the output bucket. He borrowed that kit to at least 10 of his class mates that had Sables & Taurus. Ford must have never cleaned any of the core sand after casting the block-at least thats my guess.

Dave