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Procedure for complete radiator flush *Tips/Advice*

mattcooper

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Hey Everyone

I strongly need to do a complete radiator flush on my 98 VT V6 Commodore.

Recently the heater tap broke and I lost allot of coolant which I had to top up with over 2 liters of water.
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Also the other reason for the desperate need to flush the system is that my local holden dealer use to put brown tablets into the system. They seem to have gone off and are really “froffing” up. Especially in the radiator overfill bottle. (Brown froff).
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Unfortunately I cannot afford to get this professionally done so I’m going to embark on doing the job myself.

I have a few questions regarding the job.

*Is it normal for the coolant/water to sit low in the top of the radiator when engine is cold?
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*Now I require to do a really good flush so my first question is whats the safest flush to use in the Ecotech engine?

*Do I have to remove the thermostat to do this?? I would prefer not to.

*I understand I have to remove the top and bottom radiator hose. But am I required to remove any heater hose to flush the heater system? If yes then how do I flush that.

*Tap water or distilled?. I live in Bundaberg our town water has allot of chlorine added to it.

*And the final question that concerns me the most. I read that I must remove some knock sensors. I’m not a big fan messing around with sensors that I don't have any knowledge about. Is this really required?

I think thats all my questions for now

Thank you in advance for any tips and experience.
 

MrSirWantalot

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Well I can only give advise about the flush & that is, "I would" completely let out water from bottom hose (including heater) then flush it out with clean water (till it runs clean) then add a radiator/engine block flush & run it for maybe 100k's or so, drop bottom hose, flush out with clean water then add the coolant specified by ur holden dealer. I would also use rain water. Be sure to bleed system properly as these holdens seem to be a drama otherwise. Hope that helps!
 

wortus

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If you want to flush it with a flushing product you just need to add it to the existing coolant. Running the car on straight water is not advised because it can overheat/boil around the valve seat area in the heads due to their design.

To flush it just empty the system by removing the bottom radiator hose and take off a heater hose near the water pump and flush that part out with a hose (not too much pressure). Reconnect and refill and run the car at idle until it warms up or a SHORT drive. Let it cool and remove the hoses again and reflush. Once you have clean water in the block and radiator just empty it again (you need to get at least 6 litres out) and refill with 6 litres of concentrated coolant, use Nulon Long Life an dyou don't ned the pellets. It needs 6 litres as a 50/50 mix is needed and the capacity is 12 litres.
You have to bleed the air from the system, shove something in the top of the radiator to bring it above the bleed screw and top it up with the screw loose, when no more air comes out it is bled. There are plenty of thread son how to bleed the system. Good luck with it.
 

graham7773

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And if you want to keep the coolant at the correct mix, you will need 7 litres of coolant concentrate as you need to put 2 litres of coolant mix in the overflow bottle and on the question of the level being down when you take the radiator cap off, put a new cap on cause your old one is not sealing properly, letting air in as the motor cools down so not drawing the expelled coolant back from the overflow tank.
 

VYMAD

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Hi Matt, welcome to the forum, I'm from Bundy too. Have a look in the "How to" section. There is some advice and quite a lot of info on there. Your radiator is really filthy looking in that photo with the cap off and no it shouldn't be down that low, you should be able to see it right up to about the overflow pipe on the radiator neck. I just did mine on the VY and used distilled water, 'cos yeah the water here is crap. I used to use rain water when I lived at a place with tanks. You are going to have to do a pretty good flush by the look of that, I would be replacing the thermostat at the same time. The overflow bottle should be taken off and flushed out properly, too. Good luck and have a look on the "how-to's" section.
 

mattcooper

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Thanks for everyones comments!

Yeah VYMAD I replaced the thermo a few weeks ago when I replaced the heater tap. So we should be sweet there. I'm planning on taking the overflow bottle out. These damn tablets makes the engine look like I dont take care of it.. Grr lol

Matt
 

aazn

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Stolen from another forum.

Here is a simple and easy way to achieve this result.
This method only works if you are using a concentrate, not a pre-mix coolant.

I just did mine today, this is how I did it

* Remove top radiator hose.
* Remove radiator cap
* Get garden hose ready
* Turn on the heater
* Start Engine.
* A small amount of coolant may flow out of the top engine pipe while the thermostat is closed, but not enough to cause any concern. If any more than a dribble flows out of the engine pipe, then you either have a thermostat jammed open, or a missing thermostat.
* Keep radiator topped up if necessary.
* When the thermostat opens, coolant will start to flow quickly out of the engine pipe.
* Don't panic , after all, the coolant inlet for the motor is at the bottom radiator hose.
* Turn on the Garden hose and keep the radiator full of water.
* It takes about 15 minutes and the water will run clean.
* Remove garden hose, run the engine for about 20 seconds and then shut down.
* This expels enough coolant to allow the addition of coolant concentrate.
* Add the coolant concentrate.
* Reattach hoses and check the radiator level
* Fill as required.
* Replace the Radiator cap.
* Check the level of your overflow bottle.
* Check the level of your radiator every day for the first week.

This won't blast your cooling system clean, although you can do this twice, and use a flushing compound the first time.

This is just a simple method for completely removing an old coolant from your system so you don't contaminant one type of coolant with another, or even with old vs new coolant of the same type.
 

Nic92

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I know this is an old thread but instead of making a new one, is tap water fine to flush out the coolant from the radiator/engine?

I was told just to use distilled water because tap water can harm the engine?

Thanks!
 

Brett_jjj

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know this is an old thread but instead of making a new one, is tap water fine to flush out the coolant from the radiator/engine?

I was told just to use distilled water because tap water can harm the engine?

Thanks!
Tap water is fine to use for short periods of time, like when flushing the cooling system. Make sure the interior heater is kept set to full hot position whilst draining, flushing and refilling etc.
Use distilled/demineralised water to mix with the new coolant when you do the final refill.
 
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