I'm doing a coolant flush, and I just put in the Prestone Flush Kit. It says I have to set the thermostat to the Maximum Setting. I'm pretty sure that it is located on the end of the bottom hose. I don't have access to it. Will this make a difference if I cannot change it to the maximum setting? Also I have a 00 Protege. Any help would be good. Would like to know if I am doing this right. Thanks
Help ASAP (full coolant flush)
- Thread starter boxcarlx
- Start date
Installshield 2
Gothenburg Superiority
this wierd...I just did this earlier today...
I didn't use a flush kit...I just bought 6 gallons of distilled water and tried my best to flush everything out...
be careful though...this is a very easy procedure to simply drain the radiator when the car is cold...but to get the engine flushed you need to really play around with it...you WILL get air in the system...so when you think the system is full after you are done, it isn't...so make a bottle of mixed coolant and take it with you for the drive after you finish...the air will bleed off through the overflow tank...and it will suck in more coolant from that tank...drive 5 miles relatively hard...then top off the tank...repeat until it stops taking coolant in from that tank...I did this and it worked great...just took a good four times pulling over...
also it helps to keep an eye on how much coolant comes out of the car in your initial flush...it holds 7.9 qts including the heater core (which will not flush unless you have the core opened i.e. hot setting on the climate control system)...I pulled the car in and jacked up the front...I waited about 10 minutes for the pressure to decline, but opened the rad cap before the thermostat closed (which is under 180* iirc)...when you twist the cap step away for about 30 seconds or so...you will hear it hiss for a little bit...and make sure you wrap a huge bath towel around your arm just to be safe...after it stops hissing, slowly remove it with that towel...
even though the system is no longer pressurized, that coolant is still extremely hot...so be very careful when you twist the drain plug wing nut...
I then let it drain...started the car for a few minutes again, dropped the front and jacked up the rear end...this will help the coolant drain out of the engine block/heater core better because the pump will stop pushing water once the radiator empties...
some guys only managed about 2.5 qts out before it stopped flowing, which is a sign that only the rad drained and the thermostat had closed completely...I was lucky with the thermostat staying open and had nearly 5 qts come out...I then kept topping everything off with just distilled water and repeating the process until it was perfectly clear water coming out...I then took note off how much distilled water was still left in the engine when I shut the bottom plug...and then calculate how much pure coolant to add to get the mix I wanted (for this area I went with 55% water, 45% coolant...that is good to around 15 below 0* F iirc)
now as your topping it off I found it easier to let the rear down...the air will bleed faster if the radiator cap/opening is higher than any other part of the system...so jack the front up as much as possible, and let the engine idle while you fill it (at this point poor the mix/water/coolant directly into the radiator through the cap opening) WITH THE HEAT ON and blowing...that will aid in the engine cooling while you do this...hopefully anyone doing this has a general idea of how much the fan will run during normal idling...if for any reason that fan runs longer than normal, shut the engine off...my fan would kick on for about 30 seconds every 2 minutes or so...and it was 80* ambient when I did this...but yours may be different...maybe let your car idle for 10 minutes or so before you do anything, and take note of how the fan behaves...
everytime the radiator gets topped off blip the throttle body with your hand to pull more into the engine...you repeat this so many times, but it gets to a point where an air pocket gets stuck somewhere, and it takes harder driving plus system pressure to push it through...I had a solid 6.5 qts in before I could no longer get the level to drop in the radiator...so I put on the cap, topped off the overflow tank and started driving...at this point I left the heat on still to keep coolant flowing through the core...I drove relatively hard for about 5 minutes and would then pull over and check the level...each time it had pulled 80-90% of that tank's coolant into the engine, so I topped it off again...I did this twice, and it then would no longer pull any in.....and it has been fine ever since...
Now one thing I don't know is that if the 7.9 qt capacity includes coolant in the overflow tank...I have roughly 7.4qts in the system by my math, and probably another 1/2 qt in that reservoir (I never measure the last time I filled it)...but there is the potential that I haven't driven enough to work absolutely all the air out...so I will check it often for the next week or so...
One other sure sign of air in the system, for anyone not familiar with this job, is the heater...if your heat does not blow normal hot air on the hottest setting, there is definately air not allowing coolant flow...this does not mean "oh well I don't need a heater in the summer"...this means coolant also isn't flowing properly through the block...and you will know it soon after...when you are bleedin g the system, try to stay close to your house/apartment/garage or whatever...so that if it does overheat, you can leave it easily walk back to your place and chill for a good hour to let the engine fully cool...then go get the car again and limp it home to further address the issue...
it isn't difficult to do...it is just that you are messing with a very critical system of your car...cooling system operation is every bit as critical as oiling, and it is a lot more complicated and easy to screw up...but if you take your time and take note of everything, you will be fine...
just remember that the system holds close to two gallons of mixed coolant total...if you know how much came out, and how much you put in...and you are below 2 gallons, you are not good to go yet...
also this isn't just for the thread starter, I realize by now you must have already done the work...so its meaningless to you...I just noticed that there isn't a lot of threads on this board yet on how to fully flush the entire system...eveything I noticed was simply flushing just the radiator...
P.S. I added "coolant flush" to your title simply so people could find this thread while searching just titles...
I didn't use a flush kit...I just bought 6 gallons of distilled water and tried my best to flush everything out...
be careful though...this is a very easy procedure to simply drain the radiator when the car is cold...but to get the engine flushed you need to really play around with it...you WILL get air in the system...so when you think the system is full after you are done, it isn't...so make a bottle of mixed coolant and take it with you for the drive after you finish...the air will bleed off through the overflow tank...and it will suck in more coolant from that tank...drive 5 miles relatively hard...then top off the tank...repeat until it stops taking coolant in from that tank...I did this and it worked great...just took a good four times pulling over...
also it helps to keep an eye on how much coolant comes out of the car in your initial flush...it holds 7.9 qts including the heater core (which will not flush unless you have the core opened i.e. hot setting on the climate control system)...I pulled the car in and jacked up the front...I waited about 10 minutes for the pressure to decline, but opened the rad cap before the thermostat closed (which is under 180* iirc)...when you twist the cap step away for about 30 seconds or so...you will hear it hiss for a little bit...and make sure you wrap a huge bath towel around your arm just to be safe...after it stops hissing, slowly remove it with that towel...
even though the system is no longer pressurized, that coolant is still extremely hot...so be very careful when you twist the drain plug wing nut...
I then let it drain...started the car for a few minutes again, dropped the front and jacked up the rear end...this will help the coolant drain out of the engine block/heater core better because the pump will stop pushing water once the radiator empties...
some guys only managed about 2.5 qts out before it stopped flowing, which is a sign that only the rad drained and the thermostat had closed completely...I was lucky with the thermostat staying open and had nearly 5 qts come out...I then kept topping everything off with just distilled water and repeating the process until it was perfectly clear water coming out...I then took note off how much distilled water was still left in the engine when I shut the bottom plug...and then calculate how much pure coolant to add to get the mix I wanted (for this area I went with 55% water, 45% coolant...that is good to around 15 below 0* F iirc)
now as your topping it off I found it easier to let the rear down...the air will bleed faster if the radiator cap/opening is higher than any other part of the system...so jack the front up as much as possible, and let the engine idle while you fill it (at this point poor the mix/water/coolant directly into the radiator through the cap opening) WITH THE HEAT ON and blowing...that will aid in the engine cooling while you do this...hopefully anyone doing this has a general idea of how much the fan will run during normal idling...if for any reason that fan runs longer than normal, shut the engine off...my fan would kick on for about 30 seconds every 2 minutes or so...and it was 80* ambient when I did this...but yours may be different...maybe let your car idle for 10 minutes or so before you do anything, and take note of how the fan behaves...
everytime the radiator gets topped off blip the throttle body with your hand to pull more into the engine...you repeat this so many times, but it gets to a point where an air pocket gets stuck somewhere, and it takes harder driving plus system pressure to push it through...I had a solid 6.5 qts in before I could no longer get the level to drop in the radiator...so I put on the cap, topped off the overflow tank and started driving...at this point I left the heat on still to keep coolant flowing through the core...I drove relatively hard for about 5 minutes and would then pull over and check the level...each time it had pulled 80-90% of that tank's coolant into the engine, so I topped it off again...I did this twice, and it then would no longer pull any in.....and it has been fine ever since...
Now one thing I don't know is that if the 7.9 qt capacity includes coolant in the overflow tank...I have roughly 7.4qts in the system by my math, and probably another 1/2 qt in that reservoir (I never measure the last time I filled it)...but there is the potential that I haven't driven enough to work absolutely all the air out...so I will check it often for the next week or so...
One other sure sign of air in the system, for anyone not familiar with this job, is the heater...if your heat does not blow normal hot air on the hottest setting, there is definately air not allowing coolant flow...this does not mean "oh well I don't need a heater in the summer"...this means coolant also isn't flowing properly through the block...and you will know it soon after...when you are bleedin g the system, try to stay close to your house/apartment/garage or whatever...so that if it does overheat, you can leave it easily walk back to your place and chill for a good hour to let the engine fully cool...then go get the car again and limp it home to further address the issue...
it isn't difficult to do...it is just that you are messing with a very critical system of your car...cooling system operation is every bit as critical as oiling, and it is a lot more complicated and easy to screw up...but if you take your time and take note of everything, you will be fine...
just remember that the system holds close to two gallons of mixed coolant total...if you know how much came out, and how much you put in...and you are below 2 gallons, you are not good to go yet...
also this isn't just for the thread starter, I realize by now you must have already done the work...so its meaningless to you...I just noticed that there isn't a lot of threads on this board yet on how to fully flush the entire system...eveything I noticed was simply flushing just the radiator...
P.S. I added "coolant flush" to your title simply so people could find this thread while searching just titles...
Last edited:
justanotheradikt
Member
- :
- 03 protege dx 5spd
will be doing this wed after finals....
Installshield:
Can't you take out the thermostat and then flush at any temperature? I did this on another car that I was replacing the thermostat on. If you can get the whole system open and the rear jacked up (so the drain in the radiator is the lowest point) you can usually get most of the coolant out.
Can't you take out the thermostat and then flush at any temperature? I did this on another car that I was replacing the thermostat on. If you can get the whole system open and the rear jacked up (so the drain in the radiator is the lowest point) you can usually get most of the coolant out.
Installshield 2
Gothenburg Superiority
yeah you can definately do that too...I just figured for the guys on here that didn't want to break out tools and stuff, this would be easier...but yeah if you take the thermo out, it is easier to pump everything out...you will just have to let the car sit for a very long time before its safe to get to it...and its also hard not to cover yourself with coolant once you remove that piping....
Ahh, I forgot that the stat is not very accessible on our car. My other one it was way up top, with a cover, so if you took it out, you could put the cover back on and seal the system.
Another issue, you can do this at cold temps and not worry about 200F coolant splashing around.
Another issue, you can do this at cold temps and not worry about 200F coolant splashing around.
- :
- -- 03 P5 / 23 CX-5 --
It'd be nice if there was a convenient place to put a flush n fill kit on this car so you wouldn't have to do all this empty fill jack empty fill thing. On my truck with it all you have to do is hook the garden hose up to the fitting on the heater line, take off the radiator cap then replace with the spout thing, put the heater on hi & start it up & let it run until the water coming out of the spout on radiator runs clear. Then you drain radiator/motor with the drain on bottom of radiator, take off garden hose, cap the fitting, fill up with new coolant & done all in 10 minutes or so. Top off the overflow tank after driving it once & fuggitaboutit til next time. The only place I've seen on this car to put it would involve crawling under the car to hook up the fitting for the garden hose in the proper spot & then the spout thing wouldn't fit in the tiny radiator cap opening we have so all you got is the other procedure which'll burn about an hour or more of your time to get it done thoroughly.
lowandslow
Member
hey,
I just flush the whole system with a garden hose, and I do it with the car cold.
Drain the rad, remove upper and lower rad hose at the radiator. Flush the rad by running the garden hose in the fill tube and wait till it runs clear out the bottom rad house spout.
Do the same with the upper and lower hoses. It has worked well enough for me on several cars.
Matt
I just flush the whole system with a garden hose, and I do it with the car cold.
Drain the rad, remove upper and lower rad hose at the radiator. Flush the rad by running the garden hose in the fill tube and wait till it runs clear out the bottom rad house spout.
Do the same with the upper and lower hoses. It has worked well enough for me on several cars.
Matt
rednecks_r_us
Member
- :
- 2003 Laser Blue Protege5
So you don't flush the coolant from the motor?
