first time flusher questions

[earlyre]

so my brother has an '07 Dakota(4.7HO) with only about 45k mi on it. just moved back to ohio from TX, planning to use the Truck for his winter vehicle(4x4, his others are RWD sports cars). he wants to flush the factory coolant before winter sets in, just in case...

he's been looking at most everything he can find online,as he'd rather not cut into any hoses to install the T from with one of those flush kits if at all possible.

what say ye on tips, tricks, Do this not that kind of stuff?

we already know it needs HOAT coolant, which he has acquired.

 

[JC1]

I would try to find out if there are block drainson the engine to make the drain and fill easier.


I normally drain and fill from the rad drain petcock.

 

[barkingspider]

He could pull the lower rad hose

 

[Donald]

How does the coolant look? Many people would just drain and fill the radiator twice. Use Zerex G-05 and distilled water.

You can connect up a flushing tee using a 1' section of radiator hose added on one side of the tee. Do the flush then pull the tee ( and 1' section) and reconnect the original hose.

If you do a flush using a garden hose you will need to purge the system of tap water before adding new coolant and distilled water.

 

[Kestas]

The procedure I use for a complete flush is as follows:

1. Drain fluid
2. Remove the thermostat
3. Reinstall the t-stat housing
4. Disconnect upper radiator hose at radiator
5. Flush system with garden hose through upper radiator hose until water runs clear
(It helps to run the car just a bit during flushing to flush all the coolant passages in the water pump area.)
6. Disconnect heater hoses, open heat valve
7. Flush heater core
8. Flush overflow tank
9. Drain as much water as possible from cooling system
10. Displace the hose water with demineralized (distilled) water, as much as practical
11. Siphon water from overflow tank
12. Reinstall thermostat
13. Button everything back up
14. Refill cooling system with specified amount of antifreeze, bring up to level with distilled water
15. Run car, top off coolant
16. Keep adding water as required every morning until system is topped off.

This procedure is done on a cold engine. I use this method for every car I own.

 

[user52165]

Good post above. Might add, if your overflow is easy to remove, do that, and thoroughly clean it. A little CLR with lots of water, does the trick.

 

[Kira]

A friend had a bit of leftover "swimming pool filter cleaner" (he thought) in a label-less gallon jug.

I washed 2 coolant reservoirs with the stuff and they were returned to snowy white plastic perfection.

I have no specifics. Go get some. Kira