Cooling system flush

[AlexRUS]

Hi guys,
Was trying to find an answer in old threads, but nothing(.

So....planning to do cooling system flush. With chemicals on (2009 Genesis 125k miles).
Last time system was serviced at 60k. (I am sure it was just drain and fill)
Don’t want to go to the dealer as I have a trust issues). I do’t think they flush it with chemicals. Basically they will just drain half and fill with fresh.

Short pre story
Based on my experience with Mustang couple weeks ago, they just sucked fluid (buy book Mustang cooling system 14,5 quarts) but dealer sucked only 8 and refilled with 50/50. All process took them 15-20 min. Boom 100 bucks plus my cooling.
On Mustang it was a problem do it by myself due to I was able to drain only 1/4 of 14,5 quarts, so adding full concentrate wouldn’t helped me to achieve 50/50. That is why I took to the dealer. I thought he will suck half, add distilled water, suck again, add distilled water suck again and than concentrate, so, the whole fluid will be replaced. But NO!. Just partial!.

My question - how much cooling can I get by draining only radiator and expansion tank?
Will I be able to get half of total 9 quarts, if so, I would be great, as I could refill few times with distilled water till clear water start coming out from drain valve and than add concentrate. So eventually it will be 50/50 mixture.

 

[rxnov]

Hi, I am not sure as well. I am in the process of flushing the coolant. Everytime I open the drain plug, there is only about 1.5 quarts of coolant drained. I try to press upper and lower hose, nothing happened. As I am speaking right now, I have done 6 coolant drain. All 6 only got me less than 2 quarts each time. And, the liquid is still darker green.

I followed the manual step by step. And this starts to get on my nerve. How many times do I have to warm up and cool off the car to get this liquid clear? 10 times? 15 times?

Please help

 

[AlexRUS]

Hi, I am not sure as well. I am in the process of flushing the coolant. Everytime I open the drain plug, there is only about 1.5 quarts of coolant drained. I try to press upper and lower hose, nothing happened. As I am speaking right now, I have done 6 coolant drain. All 6 only got me less than 2 quarts each time. And, the liquid is still darker green.

I followed the manual step by step. And this starts to get on my nerve. How many times do I have to warm up and cool off the car to get this liquid clear? 10 times? 15 times?

Please help

Exactly.!. Same frustration I got when did Mustang, and that is way I gave up))).
Damn, looks like I have to go to the dealer again, as don’t want to drain and fill 20 times.
Or just have to figure out the way to pump fluid out .

Also what I tried on mustangs was:
1 Drained fluid from radiator and expansion tank
2 Disconnected lower and upper hoses
3 Disconnected fuel pump fuses
4. Cranked the engine so water pump spitted out whatever it could, but ! (No more that 2 quarts)
5. Than I said myself, now many time do I have to do it ? 5 ? Whole disassembly and assembly ?

Thank you for reply. Now I see that is going to be same shitty story like with Mustang.

 

[AlexRUS]

Dealer used this machine.

 

[edizzle89]

Hi, I am not sure as well. I am in the process of flushing the coolant. Everytime I open the drain plug, there is only about 1.5 quarts of coolant drained. I try to press upper and lower hose, nothing happened. As I am speaking right now, I have done 6 coolant drain. All 6 only got me less than 2 quarts each time. And, the liquid is still darker green.

I followed the manual step by step. And this starts to get on my nerve. How many times do I have to warm up and cool off the car to get this liquid clear? 10 times? 15 times?

Please help

do you take off the radiator cap when you open the drain plug? without taking the cap off it might not let the system vent and not drain all the fluid out. or you might have a small clog somewhere keeping all the fluid from draining

 

[AlexRUS]

do you take off the radiator cap when you open the drain plug? without taking the cap off it might not let the system vent and not drain all the fluid out. or you might have a small clog somewhere keeping all the fluid from draining

I am pretty sure he did so.
Same like I did with Mustang, see above msg, I explained step by stem what was done . And still nothing. Btw Mustang was almost new )

 

[rxnov]

do you take off the radiator cap when you open the drain plug? without taking the cap off it might not let the system vent and not drain all the fluid out. or you might have a small clog somewhere keeping all the fluid from draining

Yes I take off the cap. Guess I have to bring the car to a dealer and let them do the flush.

 

[rxnov]

Yes I take off the cap. Guess I have to bring the car to a dealer and let them do the flush.

I have the car jacked up. Nose up, tail down. Maybe gravity is pulling all the liquid to the back instead of up to the radiator. Can it be that? Its highly unlikely I think

 

[edizzle89]

I have the car jacked up. Nose up, tail down. Maybe gravity is pulling all the liquid to the back instead of up to the radiator. Can it be that? Its highly unlikely I think

even with it sitting that way the complete radiator and more should be able to drain. should easily be more then 2 quarts

 

[AlexRUS]

Hi, I am not sure as well. I am in the process of flushing the coolant. Everytime I open the drain plug, there is only about 1.5 quarts of coolant drained. I try to press upper and lower hose, nothing happened. As I am speaking right now, I have done 6 coolant drain. All 6 only got me less than 2 quarts each time. And, the liquid is still darker green.

I followed the manual step by step. And this starts to get on my nerve. How many times do I have to warm up and cool off the car to get this liquid clear? 10 times? 15 times?

Please help

Did you disconnected lower radiator hose?
Are both radiator hoses connected to the engine on top of the engine ? Or one of them at the bottom ? (I didn’t have car by me, so can not check )

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[Easy]

The way I used to do it in my garage days was thus:

Prepare: Put the front drivers side and passenger side windows down prior to starting. You're going to be checking the vents for heat later and with those open you can lean in and feel for heat. It's quicker that way and you're hands will be full doing the refill.

1. let car cool off.
2. take off lower hose at radiator.
3. Open cap
4. let drain
5. While draining, remove thermostat housing and thermostat.
6. Replace any hoses that need replacing. I usually replaced anything that had 100K miles on it with few exceptions.
7. Button it all back up without the thermostat in it.
8. Refill as full as I can get it. Without the thermostat in makes this an easy process with little potential for air entrapment.
9. Without starting engine attach a garden hose to either the upper inlet of the radiator, or perhaps backwards thru the engine via the upper hose. If it's really nasty and looks muddy, then go ahead and take the lower hose off again and just flush the engine separate from the radiator. Flushing them both, but separately.
10. Flush and flush until it looks and smells clean-clean. wanna put some kinda chemical in? Nows your time. Just flush with clear water over and over after your chem treatment, unless it's supposed to stay in. I never bothered with that stuff.
11. Stop. And once again take off the lower radiator hose and the thermostat housing.
12. Replace thermostat and button that assy. back up. Put all hoses back on that were removed for the flush.
13. Refill with about a gallon of 100% antifreeze.
14. Add a gallon of water.
15. Continue refilling now with a 50/50 mix.
16. Start and run engine and heater on full at the same time. Heater (Yes heater inside the car) on full is key to circulation and burping the cooling system. You're just creating another place to circulate the coolant AND get rid of trapped air.
17. First importance after engine start is to ensure the system gets full. leaving the radiator cap off is a good way to do so. Though systems with pressure tanks may have to have that cap off/on depending. Either way, heater on full is important and begin checking for heat coming out of the vents ASAP. As soon as you feel heat coming out (while you're still filling and keeping vigil at the radiator cap/fill area), you can relax a bit, but not stop doing the fill and check.
18. Once you feel it's full, or even it starts to overflow from the top of the radiator, then put the radiator cap back on and keep checking that 'heat thing'. And checking the overflow tank too for overflow. If you have a coolant temp gauge, keep a check on it. First cycle of the fan is a good sign. Cars typically get their hottest just sitting at idle. Though revving a bit will help heat things up early in the heat cycle.
19. If I have a system that I know will trap air due to it's configuration and/or with a pressure tank application. I'll often take a hose off somewhere, such as a heater hose and fill it with fluid via a funnel. All you're looking to do here is get that system full of fluid with little room left. I've also added antifreeze straight into the block where the thermostat sits AND had a heater hose off to help get the block full and with little air entrapped. Whatever it takes. It ain't rocket surgery, but it is physics a bit. #gravity.

That's about all of that. . . .I think

 

[AlexRUS]

The way I used to do it in my garage days was thus:

Prepare: Put the front drivers side and passenger side windows down prior to starting. You're going to be checking the vents for heat later and with those open you can lean in and feel for heat. It's quicker that way and you're hands will be full doing the refill.

1. let car cool off.
2. take off lower hose at radiator.
3. Open cap
4. let drain
5. While draining, remove thermostat housing and thermostat.
6. Replace any hoses that need replacing. I usually replaced anything that had 100K miles on it with few exceptions.
7. Button it all back up without the thermostat in it.
8. Refill as full as I can get it. Without the thermostat in makes this an easy process with little potential for air entrapment.
9. Without starting engine attach a garden hose to either the upper inlet of the radiator, or perhaps backwards thru the engine via the upper hose. If it's really nasty and looks muddy, then go ahead and take the lower hose off again and just flush the engine separate from the radiator. Flushing them both, but separately.
10. Flush and flush until it looks and smells clean-clean. wanna put some kinda chemical in? Nows your time. Just flush with clear water over and over after your chem treatment, unless it's supposed to stay in. I never bothered with that stuff.
11. Stop. And once again take off the lower radiator hose and the thermostat housing.
12. Replace thermostat and button that assy. back up. Put all hoses back on that were removed for the flush.
13. Refill with about a gallon of 100% antifreeze.
14. Add a gallon of water.
15. Continue refilling now with a 50/50 mix.
16. Start and run engine and heater on full at the same time. Heater (Yes heater inside the car) on full is key to circulation and burping the cooling system. You're just creating another place to circulate the coolant AND get rid of trapped air.
17. First importance after engine start is to ensure the system gets full. leaving the radiator cap off is a good way to do so. Though systems with pressure tanks may have to have that cap off/on depending. Either way, heater on full is important and begin checking for heat coming out of the vents ASAP. As soon as you feel heat coming out (while you're still filling and keeping vigil at the radiator cap/fill area), you can relax a bit, but not stop doing the fill and check.
18. Once you feel it's full, or even it starts to overflow from the top of the radiator, then put the radiator cap back on and keep checking that 'heat thing'. And checking the overflow tank too for overflow. If you have a coolant temp gauge, keep a check on it. First cycle of the fan is a good sign. Cars typically get their hottest just sitting at idle. Though revving a bit will help heat things up early in the heat cycle.
19. If I have a system that I know will trap air due to it's configuration and/or with a pressure tank application. I'll often take a hose off somewhere, such as a heater hose and fill it with fluid via a funnel. All you're looking to do here is get that system full of fluid with little room left. I've also added antifreeze straight into the block where the thermostat sits AND had a heater hose off to help get the block full and with little air entrapped. Whatever it takes. It ain't rocket surgery, but it is physics a bit. #gravity.

That's about all of that. . . .I think

Good write up. Thankyou.
That is what I usually did with other cars.

Flushing, removing thermostat, etc, is not an issue.
Problem is when cooling system holds 9 quarts, and it is filled with let’s say distilled water, Radiator holds 2 quarts, which drained before. NOW, system has 7quarts, by adding 2 quarts of concentrate, doesn’t make 50/50 ratio, unless keep draining and adding concentrate and by using tester checking mixture till it gets 50/50

 

[Easy]

Just go and buy a tester for your coolant. Should be cheap and easy. Also, just an FYI, Coolant doesn't exchange heat near as good as water. Meaning. Where I live now, I wouldn't bother putting in a 50/50 mix. No need.

ETA: and yes. Doing as you say, drain and add is about all you can do once you get to a mix that you don't like.

 

[Daytriper]

The way I used to do it in my garage days was thus:

Prepare: Put the front drivers side and passenger side windows down prior to starting. You're going to be checking the vents for heat later and with those open you can lean in and feel for heat. It's quicker that way and you're hands will be full doing the refill.

1. let car cool off.
2. take off lower hose at radiator.
3. Open cap
4. let drain
5. While draining, remove thermostat housing and thermostat.
6. Replace any hoses that need replacing. I usually replaced anything that had 100K miles on it with few exceptions.
7. Button it all back up without the thermostat in it.
8. Refill as full as I can get it. Without the thermostat in makes this an easy process with little potential for air entrapment.
9. Without starting engine attach a garden hose to either the upper inlet of the radiator, or perhaps backwards thru the engine via the upper hose. If it's really nasty and looks muddy, then go ahead and take the lower hose off again and just flush the engine separate from the radiator. Flushing them both, but separately.
10. Flush and flush until it looks and smells clean-clean. wanna put some kinda chemical in? Nows your time. Just flush with clear water over and over after your chem treatment, unless it's supposed to stay in. I never bothered with that stuff.
11. Stop. And once again take off the lower radiator hose and the thermostat housing.
12. Replace thermostat and button that assy. back up. Put all hoses back on that were removed for the flush.
13. Refill with about a gallon of 100% antifreeze.
14. Add a gallon of water.
15. Continue refilling now with a 50/50 mix.
16. Start and run engine and heater on full at the same time. Heater (Yes heater inside the car) on full is key to circulation and burping the cooling system. You're just creating another place to circulate the coolant AND get rid of trapped air.
17. First importance after engine start is to ensure the system gets full. leaving the radiator cap off is a good way to do so. Though systems with pressure tanks may have to have that cap off/on depending. Either way, heater on full is important and begin checking for heat coming out of the vents ASAP. As soon as you feel heat coming out (while you're still filling and keeping vigil at the radiator cap/fill area), you can relax a bit, but not stop doing the fill and check.
18. Once you feel it's full, or even it starts to overflow from the top of the radiator, then put the radiator cap back on and keep checking that 'heat thing'. And checking the overflow tank too for overflow. If you have a coolant temp gauge, keep a check on it. First cycle of the fan is a good sign. Cars typically get their hottest just sitting at idle. Though revving a bit will help heat things up early in the heat cycle.
19. If I have a system that I know will trap air due to it's configuration and/or with a pressure tank application. I'll often take a hose off somewhere, such as a heater hose and fill it with fluid via a funnel. All you're looking to do here is get that system full of fluid with little room left. I've also added antifreeze straight into the block where the thermostat sits AND had a heater hose off to help get the block full and with little air entrapped. Whatever it takes. It ain't rocket surgery, but it is physics a bit. #gravity.

That's about all of that. . . .I think

Where is the thermostat on a BK2 3.8 engine?