would it be a bad idea to put a garden hose into where the coolant enters the rad and have it come out the bottom end?..( hose off of course.. draining into 5gal oil pan )

was going to change rad fliud the weekend, and wanted to know if that was a good idea to just flush it out with a garden hose and light pressure.......car is a 94 and motor only has 35k on it

 

Yes that's how I always do it. Be careful though, it's going to make a pretty big mess.

Actually what I do is flush the entire radiator and engine, which means you have to remove the thermostat and replace the thermo housing (so the water has an open path) and then you stick the hose into the upper inlet of the radiator, let it circulate through the radiator, lower hose, engine, and eventually come out the disconnected end of the upper radiator hose.

You should drain the coolant in the engine prior to doing this (large bolt behind exhaust header), and then after flushing, remove that large bolt again to drain out the water.

 

thanx, but its a 94 factory header and heatshield

how hard do you think that bolt is to get off??

 

I have the factory header and heat shield on mine, and it's not too bad, a bit of a tight squeeze but I can manage it.

 

so obviously you must remove the heat shield... right


then just flush out top and bottom holes???

 

I didn't remove anything, just stick a big wrench back there to loosen the bolt, then backed it out the rest of the way by hand.

I stick the hose into the upper radiator inlet, and the water comes out the disconnected end of the upper radiator hose. This way the water circulates throughout the entire system. You have to remove the thermostat and then put the housing back in place so that the closed thermostat doesn't block the water flow.

 

If you are going to flush the radiator and engine with pressure make sure to turn the car on and turn the heater on because i've seen people break the heater for not opening it.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by djshorty06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">If you are going to flush the radiator and engine with pressure make sure to turn the car on and turn the heater on because i've seen people break the heater for not opening it.</TD></TR></TABLE>

thats what i do, get the car running and take the plug out of the bottom of the radiator and the stick a hose at the top and let it run through for a few minutes

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JDMdc2lsVtec &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">thats what i do, get the car running and take the plug out of the bottom of the radiator and the stick a hose at the top and let it run through for a few minutes</TD></TR></TABLE>

That would be pointless, engine running, and water running in the top of the radiator and out the bottom, but not circulating through the engine.

Yes you need to put the heater on full hot (forgot about that part) but I've never run the engine while flushing the system.

 

Why would keep the motor on while flushing the cooling system? The compressed air alone would push out the old coolant of the complete cooling system. Thats a new one for me.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by djshorty06 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Why would keep the motor on while flushing the cooling system? The compressed air alone would push out the old coolant of the complete cooling system. Thats a new one for me.</TD></TR></TABLE>

because it lets the water pump circulate

 

You don't need the water pump to circulate the water when flushing, it'll get through the entire engine/system on its own.

 

even with the car off ...wont you have to do something with the thermostat??

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">which means you have to remove the thermostat and replace the thermo housing (so the water has an open path) </TD></TR></TABLE>

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by PatrickGSR94 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You have to remove the thermostat and then put the housing back in place so that the closed thermostat doesn't block the water flow.</TD></TR></TABLE>