Doing it this weekend.

I was going to use a 20% radiator fluid, 80% water with water wetter (from Redline, any other recommendations). I am in Arizona, so I'm not worried about freezing, etc.

Any tips on flushing the radiator system? Is it in the Helms, if nto how do I do it?

 

Are you doing a complete flush including the coolant in the engine block? Well, regardless, you only bolt/un-bolt three (3) bolts/caps to drain and re-fill radiator, etc.

All the steps are in helms. The basic steps are:
0. Open your radiator cap.
1. Drain the coolant underneath the radiator. (there's a small drain plug)
2. Drain the coolant in the engine block. (there's a 19mm (maybe bigger) hex-bolt in the block)
3. Make your coolant mix.
4. Put the bolts/caps back on. (* when putting the hex-bolt back in the block, use high-temp "red-silicon" to seal it nice and tight *)
5. Re-fill the system at the radiator.
6. Once filled, start the car... go get your owner's manual in the glove box.
7. Follow their instructions regarding adding more coolant.

Info with pics: http://www.bseries.net/html/garage/thermo.php (ignore the thermostat swap)

 

It's also discussed in your owner's manual and provides directions. Very easy to do. Maybe an hour of your day

I'd also recommend no coolant if you're actually trying to get the full benefits of the WaterWetter. Read the back of the bottle and you'll see with coolant, waterwetter only brings down temps 2 degrees but when run with straight water it drops by around 20. Huge difference IMO.

I run straight water and waterwetter each summer and switch back to coolant and water for the winter. I do notice the car runs cooler after the flush in the spring/summer.

 

Where can I pick up that water wetter stuff?
Thanks

 

pepboys carries it

 

On the back of the RedLine Water Wetter bottle it recommends you run at least 15% coolant. You saying I should ignore that?

 

some people don't use any coolant. personally i use 40% coolant. i IMed warren on here and that's what he said he uses plus he said he doesn't know of any road racers that run 100% water- that was good enough for me. remember, coolant increases both the freezing AND the boiling point of water. some people also argue that honda coolant protects against corrossion and WW won't

also, i'd recommend using distilled water not tap

-jeff

 

I don't remember seeing that on mine, I can check it out tonight.....

The bottle I have did say that water wetter contained lubricants to protect your cooling system as I know it's bad to run straight water and nothing else.

And definitely use distilled water as mentioned earlier.

 

i ran straight water + water wetter for a couple of days. Took the car forever to warm up. Remember your engine was designed to operate at a certain temperature. If you go and mess the parameters it was designed to work with then you might be doing harm to it and not good. I switched back to 40% coolant and distilled water. This seems to work fine with the Spoon thermostat. you dont want your car to run too cold.

mike

 

My brother and I just flushed the radiator and not the block on my brother's car...does it matter? I meant..would it make a big difference?

 

You guys aren't actually describing "flushing" a radiator. Most of the posts here have just been about changing the coolant, much like you'd change the oil.

To flush, you drain the old stuff, turn on your car and let it get to operating temp (leaving all drainbolts and plugs out). Next, let the car cool for a few minutes and fill your system completely back up with distilled water (and a radiator flush solution if you think your car needs it). Bring your car back up to operating temp, then, you drain again and wait for it to cool.

Now you can fill it back up with whatever solution/mix you so desire. When you just drain and fill, you don't remove all of the particles and old stuff. This is why letting the car come up to op. temp opens the thermo up and gets what coolant that is left flowing.

 

 

You missed replacing or emptying about half the coolant if you didn't empty the block. (I just did mine last week fwiw)

And Todd's correct, it's not really a flush until you bring it back up to operating temperature and circulate a cleaner or just plain water, then drain again and finally refill.

I always flush the radiator too with just plain tap water, then empty and refill with distilled water, water wetter and/or coolant depending on the season.

 

We did the flush with the temp..etc....just not drain the engine bolt...

 

don't forget to turn the heater on inside on high to flush that out too.