Did I kcuf up

[themantis]

At the correct step in a coolant flush, I added 4 qt GM prestone dex cool and am having trouble adding any water to it. Currently only have 1 qt water to ~4 qt coolant.

One source said the system held 13 qt of fluid total. Another said 2.5? Help!

-theMantis

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

If you drained the block and radiator you should have been able to get over 1 gallon of coolant into the system.

I always pulled the lower hose and it drained pretty much the whole rad and alot of the coolant in the block.

[Scottydoggs]

how to flush coolant.

remove the t stat, put the t stat housing back on, take the upper hose off the radiator, then push it down to the ground to a bucket or let it fly.

get your garden hose out, put it in the rad turn it on, then fire up the car, let it run till clear water pumps out the top hose.

then turn the hose off, run the car till no more water comes out the upper hose. then turn it off. <<<(this part clears the rad and some engine coolant.)

put your t stat back in, with new gasket, the upper hose back on. ( you can also pour coolant in the lim where the t stat is before reinstalling it.)



now take 1 gallon of full strength green antifreeze, not the 50/50 crap. ( parts store cheap green is fine to use) dump the whole gallon in the radiator, fire up the car, fill the rad with hose water till its full. top as needed till its ready to be bled of air. it will burp and take coolant as the water in the block warms up the t stat opens up for a few seconds till cold coolant hits it and it shuts again.

now to bleed the air out, let it idle rad cap off till the fans turn on, (when the fans are on the temp is over 195 deg, the t stat is wide open) then open the bleeder screw on top the t stat housing a few turns till a steady stream of coolant comes out the hole, shut the screw, top off the rad. cap it.

done.

[themantis]

If you drained the block and radiator you should have been able to get over 1 gallon of coolant into the system.

I always pulled the lower hose and it drained pretty much the whole rad and alot of the coolant in the block.

Thats how i drained it as well

-theMantis

[themantis]

how to flush coolant.

remove the t stat, put the t stat housing back on, take the upper hose off the radiator, then push it down to the ground to a bucket or let it fly.

get your garden hose out, put it in the rad turn it on, then fire up the car, let it run till clear water pumps out the top hose.

then turn the hose off, run the car till no more water comes out the upper hose. then turn it off. <<<(this part clears the rad and some engine coolant.)

put your t stat back in, with new gasket, the upper hose back on. ( you can also pour coolant in the lim where the t stat is before reinstalling it.)



now take 1 gallon of full strength green antifreeze, not the 50/50 crap. ( parts store cheap green is fine to use) dump the whole gallon in the radiator, fire up the car, fill the rad with hose water till its full. top as needed till its ready to be bled of air. it will burp and take coolant as the water in the block warms up the t stat opens up for a few seconds till cold coolant hits it and it shuts again.

now to bleed the air out, let it idle rad cap off till the fans turn on, (when the fans are on the temp is over 195 deg, the t stat is wide open) then open the bleeder screw on top the t stat housing a few turns till a steady stream of coolant comes out the hole, shut the screw, top off the rad. cap it.

done.

You say pour full strength green antifreeze in? I used bright red orange and mixed it myself, is that ok?

-theMantis

[Fivefingerdeathpunch]

It really doesnt matter what coolant you used.

[buck531]

If you didn't pull the knock sensors you didn't get all the old coolant out. The block itself holds a decent amount. Yes the flush will move most of it but not all of it.

[Scottydoggs]

as long as you did a 50/50 mix, sure, we like to ditch the dex coolant, green works fine and is cheaper.

over the years dex has gotten a bad rap over the brown sludge and boogers/sludge. seems they have fixed that issue. as long as your system is full with no air trapped inside it should be all good.

keep in mind the engine will hold about a gallon of water left from the flush, the whole system is about 3 gallons, so one gallon of full strength coolant will work fine with 2 gallons of water, why i dump the coolant right in, theres already water in the engine from the flush. then fire it up and top it off with water.

the coolant will mix in the rad and engine pretty fast.

[Scottydoggs]

and that mix ratio is safe to -20. if it gets colder where you live add more coolant to it then the one gallon.