Flushing Radiator?

[guyryan100]

As I have never flushed a radiator before, are there any pointers I should be made aware of? The only thing I know to do is attack it with the water hose and drain from the bottom of the radiator . . .

obviously I have no idea what I'm doing. Any help would be appreciated.

[Erl]

Take it to a radiator repair shop and have them boil it out. Otherwise you are just wasting time.

[COBALT]

Well, you could do that, or you could install a flush tee in the 5/8" side of the heater core (go get a kit at the parts store), and using the adapter in the kit attach a garden hose to the tee.

There's a spout you can put on your radiator opening that will allow the fluid to be expelled from the radiator. I usually stick a piece of hose on it so I can catch the coolant in a bucket instead of it shooting all over the driveway. Don't drain the fluid from the radiator! Make sure the drain plug is closed.

Fire the truck up, turn on the water at the garden hose, and allow the fluid to shoot out of the spout at the top of the radiator (into a big bucket) until the fluid turns clear.

That's the cheap-ass way to do it. Works for me.

[johnnyp]

Here's what I do:

1) Drain coolant.
2) Close drain plug and fill with water.
3) Start engine and turn heater control to hot
4) Add a radiator cleaner and idle for 30 minutes (or whatever the instructions say).
5) Turn off engine and allow to cool for five minutes.
6) Drain radiator.
7) Close drain plug, fill with water and let the engine idle for five minutes.
8) Repeat steps 5 and 6.
9) Close the drain-plug and fill with 50/50 mixture of water antifreeze