Heat

I just had my radiator out while working to get the hood to close properly and saw that my antifreeze is kind of brownish.

I have a 4 cyl. '99 LX with ~ 71,000 miles, bought it in late '98 so it has ~ 6.5 years on it. At 45,000 miles I had a mechanic do a flush and fill, he "recycled" the existing antifreeze.

Anyway, I've read the Haynes manual on how to do a flush and fill and as I understand it, these are the steps:

1. Drain radiator by undoing the plug on bottom
2. Remove thermostat, replace the thermostat housing
3. Turn heat to high (to flush out the heater core)
4. disconnect the top radiator hose
5. Take the cap off of the radiator, put a garden hose in, and turn on the water. The water will come out of the upper hose (which is disconnected)

Questions:

Does that sound right?

While this is going on, am I supposed to start the car engine and let it run?

Am I supposed to catch the water coming out of the upper hose, or is it "clean enough" that it won't hurt my driveway or turn the street green or something?

What brand of antifreeze should I put in? Is something like Prestone "good enough"? I don't run the engine hard at all.

When putting the antifreeze back in to the radiator, how do you put it in so it doesn't spill all over the driveway? Just a funnel into the top of the radiator?

Thanks!

iam7head

First thing first, don't follow the instruction

you not suppose to just let the toxic antifreeze to go back to the drain, esp. for those that lead back to the ocean, it's illegal and it's deadly for the animal.
one good table spoon of those green stuff will finish your lovely puppy.

second you dont flush anything with a garden hose, the water from the tap carry about of unwanted mineral, it's hard on the aluminium engine block.
when you heard the shop refer it as flush because they use a machine to do it, it's a sealed circulate antifreeze bump which can suck out all the dirty antifreeze. I dont think most of the diy/weekend wrencher will have access too.

1)turn the heater to max(do not select recirculate air)
2)remove the cap off the radiator(top)
3)remove the radiator drain cap(plastic winged bolt, replace washer if you see cracks in the ring, which is 10-25cents from honda)
3)remove the engine block drain plug(it's stated where in your manual)
4)when you done draining all that stuff, put the engine block drain plug back, as well as radiator winged plug(lower)
5)50/50 of anitfreeze and DISTILLED water is recommend for most climate(only use distill water*******)
6)as you topping off the radiator, locate and loose the air bleed valve(which also can be found, in your user's manual)
7)when you see a steady flow of antifreeze coming out, you know you got all the bubble out.
8)tighted air bleed valve
9)top off,put the cap back, fill the resourvor if needed.

prestone, peak, honda=all good
just don't buy the 99cents special

you can do it with or without a funnel, the regular funnel is too small, what i do is go to clevron, they have those paper funnel for free when you get gas there, take a couple and cut the lower part off so it will flow more.

remember the collect all the soiled antifreeze, autozone, kragen etc do take them

Heat

When doing that, do you have the engine running or is all of this with the engine off?

iam7head

it's off

Confuc1ous

Royal Purple antifreeze/coolant.

sumptimwong

i have no idea if this is valid, but i once read somewhere online that its safe to dump 50/50 down the toilet. anyone else heard this? if not.. hten just dont do it ;D

JimBlake

Storm sewer or open ground - NO.

Ethene glycol can be handled by many municipal wastewater plants. Make a phone call, since we aren't gonna know whether it's OK in YOUR neighborhood...

If you have a septic system don't dump it in there. It might kill some of the bacteria that are needed to keep it working...