There's plenty of instructions on how to basically do it elsewhere. I just had a couple questions on flushing coolant. (96 f22b2 if it matters)

1) is it going to hurt anything if I run just straight distilled water for a week or so until convenient to empty it again and change some hoses, thermostat, etc?

2) owners manual says to apply "non hardening sealant" to the block drain bolt when reinstalling. Exactly what should I put on there? I was looking at this at work and it seems like it might do the trick? Or, I already have some Hondabond (4 I think, its sort of runny and a PITA but whatever, I got it for the corners of my valve cover gasket) if that would work. Tried to talk to some of my coworkers about it but they seemed to think I was looking at threadlocker instead.

3) is there any gasket I need for my thermostat housing other than the one that comes with a new OEM thermostat?


thanks!

 

Im curious as well.


When my heater hose blew I just let the fluid drain from the lower radiator port, then I added new 50/50 fluid and burped the system. Done lol.

 

Distilled water will be fine. It will actually cool better (the only reason coolant isn't all water is for the anti-corrosive/freeze properties)

No idea about the drain bolt...when I replaced my thermo, rad, and hoses I simply shut the drain **** and that was that.

I think there is a gasket there....but I can't remember. Sorry

BTW, technically you are not "Flushing" the coolant. You are simply draining and refilling. A flush actually flushes the whole system with a cleaning detergent and then all the old coolant is sucked out while the new is added.

 

 

looks like the "extra" gasket I was thinking of is on the water outlet (#9) not the thermostat housing. Thermostat (#4) comes with the thermostat gasket (#5)


I thought about using a chemical flush. My rad is kind of scaly. Then I read into it and figured replacing the rad (if needed) would be cheaper than replacing things like water pump seals, etc that might be damaged by the chemical flush. It still seems to work fine at this point so I'm hoping rinsing with plain water for a bit before I put fresh coolant (which I plan to use the blue stuff, honda type II) in will be enough to keep it going for some time to come.


Edit: drained the coolant from the radiator, couldn't safely get to the bolt on the block (only had my spare tire jack, no stands, wasn't about to ream on a bolt under the car supported just by that! ) and put distilled water in. I hope it bled properly. I apparently need a new bleeder screw, #12 in that picture, part number 19516-PC1-000. The one I have in there is closed, at least in that nothing is coming out of it currently and nothing came out of it while I was running the engine for a while with the rad cap off to bleed out air elsewhere, but the top 2-3 threads are so gunked up and corroded I can't completely reinstall it.

I'd like to have a new one before I empty the system again and replace my hoses, etc. So the question is, if I find part number 19516-PC1-000 listed for Honda small engines (IE mowers or whatever), is this still the same part and will replace mine with no problems?

 

Did you turn the bleeder screw? You should loosen it and add coolant until a STEADY stream comes out of it. Then shut the bleeder, start the car with the rad cap off and heat on high until coolant starts to bubble out of the radiator.

 

I turned it first, but not far enough. when I realized the rad was basically full and nothing was coming out of the bleeder still, then I opened it further and got a steady stream (it wasn't coming out very fast but was not bubbling or sputtering)
the difficulty was closing it again.

after that I closed the bleeder screw and ran the engine with the rad cap off and a funnel in the filler neck, putting more water in whenever it would bubble until it quit bubbling. (it would still bubble once in a while if I would squeeze the upper rad hose, I didn't close it up until it quit doing that also)

my fans never came on though. fan switch works, cause once in a rare while the fan will come on...almost never though. How long should I have to wait for the fan to come on if I start it and just let it idle? had the heater on too (I've seen that recommended for coolant drain/refill) so is that why?