flushing radiator & what coolant?

[henrytad]

hey everyone, i think its about time i flush out my radiator and refill it. what is the process of flushing it on a alloytec 3.6L ??? i cant find any info. also i read on the forum that you have to use the specific GM coolant or it will damage the engine? is this true??? i bought CASTROL ANTI-FREEZE, ANTI-BOIL coolant today, the green one thats ready to fill. will this work or should i stick to GM????

[Jasta]

My VZ has the red coolant in it and so should yours. If your flushing you can use the green stuff but the red coolant is made for all alloytech engines. Take the green stuff back spend the extra and get the red stuff just to be safe.

[henrytad]

ok, ive heard a few people say that now so i might as well. whats the process for flushing it then? how do i do it?

[marcdon]

I use the Nulon Red Long Life coolant. dont buy the pre-mixed stuff. do it yourself. GM recommends 50/50 coolant to water...all the pre-mixed are only around 35% coolant. I ran my car till it was at operating temp then took the bottom hose off and let it drain out. Hooked the hose back on and filled with water and Nulon Radiator Flush and ran for around 15mins then drained that out. hooked everything back up filled the radiator with 50/50 coolant to water mix that i had already mixed. I used the coolant recovery cap or whatever it is called. when it was full i got a big funnel and wedged it in the hole so no air could seep in, filled the funnel with coolant and turned the car on....waited til the coolant started to drain into the system and kept topping up the funnel until it stopped draining. put the cap back on, filled the reservoir with coolant and took her for a spin for around 30mins. came back, no leaks, no air in the lines and my coolant is now actually red. Did it about 30,000km ago and still no problems, before my temp sat abit high but now it sits just above the first line. Alot of guys on here have said they replaced their coolant and then either the thermostat or pump dies pretty quick afterwards.

[henrytad]

what happens if air gets into it? if it does, how do i get it out

[BoNeZ-01]

If you get air in the cooling system, you can end up with a trapped air pocket somewhere in the engine, normally up high, causing a hot spot, which is very bad for alloy heads, cause they can warp, then you're screwed.. :/
So it's very important that there is no air left in the system.
There may be an air bleeder somewhere, on the highest spot in the cooling system, on the Ecotec, it's on the thermostat cover, I'm not sure about on the Alloytec's.
Undo this bleeder while you're re-filling, and you see coolant start bubble out, eventually it should become a steady stream, with no bubbling.
One way I use to refill is a 1.25lt coke bottle, with the bottom cut off, and the lid end stuck in the radiator cap, with some electrical insulation tape wrapped around the coke bottles spout to make it a tight fit.
The coolant in the coke bottle should sit higher then the bleeder, to push air out, so you can do most of your air bleed cold, then to make sure, run the engine with coke bottle still in place, to push the coolant through the system more, in case any air pockets are still trapped in the system, then close the bleeder, remove the coke bottle(you may lose some coolant from the bottle as you pull it off..), put your cap back on, and go for a short drive.
Let your engine cool, then check your levels.
REMEMBER always have your Heater set to Full Hot when flushing and refilling your cooling system! Very important!
Be careful removing anything from the cooling system on a hot engine, especially one that's at normal operating temp and pressure, serious injury can occur, and you really don't want that.. lol

[BoNeZ-01]

oops.. I forgot to add this part..lol: Top up your overflow bottle with the new coolant, after you have flushed it out too, before you go for your drive.
That way, when the engine cools, it can suck back any that it needs in to the system.

[Jasta]

Well said!!! But if the engine is at RT and not too hot and you fill it back up with coolant make sure you have the engine running. Dont want to crack any thing now. Best off letting it cool first. Let us know how it went, all ways good to hear.

[PaulSV6]

Henry,

Ive using the Castrol Anti freeze/boil coolant for the last 1.5 yrs. No issues at all. No need to spend the extra money on the Genuine GM coolant.

[Torquative]

mines been running for 140 000 kays with the Castrol green coolant, throughout this time it finished its duties as a cop car, its done a track day, a skid pan day, a driver training day and a WSID drag day, plus several trips from Sydney to the South Coast and Gold Coast without any issues.

Just make sure the red stuff has been fully drained from the system before switching over to green if your doing it.

If you search around on the forum there are pages directly from the official workshop manual that detail how to properly bleed a VZ system, its fairly easy as the bleeder is at the very top of the radiator itself.

[henrytad]

thanks mate, im planning on doing the flush on the weekend

[FnomnaVZ]

Just make sure the red stuff has been fully drained from the system before switching over to green if your doing it.

If you search around on the forum there are pages directly from the official workshop manual that detail how to properly bleed a VZ system, its fairly easy as the bleeder is at the very top of the radiator itself.

That other thread procedure doesn't mention draining anything on the engine itself. Does the radiator drain let the whole 10L out?

[Torquative]

Admittantly I didnt have a chance to look so I thought it did explain it, but come to think of it perhaps not.

Obviously no, using the drain plug at the base will only drain whats in the radiator not whats in the car.

IF I get a chance too I'll hunt around for the pages that outline how its done. I havent dont it myself, my car was running green from the day I picked it up Ive only ever drained the coolant and put fresh stuff in.

When we did my mates Calais in the driveway we just drained the radiator of red, put the green stuff in, ran it til hot so it had a chance to mix with what was left in the engine, drained it again and put new green stuff back in, although ideally you'd get it flushed by a mechanic to make sure all traces of the red is gone. I think the holden manual says to have it flushed too.

[wortus]

oops.. I forgot to add this part..lol: Top up your overflow bottle with the new coolant, after you have flushed it out too, before you go for your drive.
That way, when the engine cools, it can suck back any that it needs in to the system.

When I used a gatorade bottle in a similar manner I had to remove the overflow tube fromt he bottle and pin it to the top of the garotade bottle as the connection to this hose on the radiator did not block off this prevents coolant filling the overflow bottle. Once the radiator and engine are full with no leaks just put the hose back into the overflow and the coolant in teh coke/gatorade bottle will run down into that so you won't waste any.

When filling after a flush there will still be water inthe block unless you remove any drain plugs so don't pre mix the coolant before you add it as you won't end up with 50/50. I made sure I had removed enough water and then filled with the right amount of concentrated coolant and then topped up with clean water then used pre mixed to fill the overflow bottle to the right mark if need be.

[V8Silverfox]

The red coolant is generally classed as OAT (Organic Acid Technology) coolant, used in cooling systems that are fitted with aluminium radiators.
All Gen 3 & Gen 4 V8's and the Alloytech V6 require the use of OAT coolant.
Swap your green coolant for the red OAT coolant, or check to see if the coolant you have bought is OAT.

Try Nulon Red Long Life Concentrated Coolant.

Red Long Life Concentrated Coolant - Nulon Products Australia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antifreeze - A Good read, but a little concerning when reading about mixing OAT coolant with the standard green coolant.

It looks like Castrol Anti-Freeze 350 is suitable for the V6 Commodore according to -> http://www.castrol.com/castrol/multi...tentId=7000401

[prestonM]

go to a holden dealer.. green coolant part number: 92140057
red coolant: 92145527

red coolant is usually used in v8 cars and now is used in all vz and ve's

if you go to a holden dealer they will surely know what type goes in what car.. ^^

[BoNeZ-01]

Yeah good point there wortus, I'l remember that for next time.

[FnomnaVZ]

Obviously no, using the drain plug at the base will only drain whats in the radiator not whats in the car.

Yeah I did a test drain yesterday and 5L came out from the drain. When putting it back in, it took 4L until bleeding out the radiator bleed screw, then started burping as the rest was put in.

[FnomnaVZ]

Changed my coolant today. 170000km and not sure of previous history. Could be original coolant but looks a bit of a green tinge so maybe not?!

Made sure heater tap was open.
Drained about 4.5L from radiator tap, then another few hundred mL dropping the bottom hose.
(Hydrometer showed about -25C freeze protection, so less than 50/50 mix)

Took off the heater hose from the engine - those quick release clips make it much easier!
Put the hose through the heater hose and attached a lead-away hose from the engine outlet.
Flushed until clear then closed it all up.
Filled with water and ran the engine with no cap on just to mix the water through the engine.
Drained and then filled with distilled water.
Ran it until thermostat opened to mix the water through.
Cooled. Drained. Siphoned reserve tank. Filled with 3L water, siphoned again. (let this drain while other stuff was hapening).

Filled with radiator with 5L of the 'red' extended life Holden anti-freeze coolant. It's really a bright orange.
Results in a roughly 50/50 mix.
All the fills made sure the bleed screw was opened.
Run engine with no rad. cap on - to thermo opening (both radiator hoses hot) and rev engine to 2000 a few times. Level drops, top it up.
Fill reserve with 50/50 mix.
Check level cold the next few days and top up.

Some pics attached - old vs 50/50 new/dist.water
(Old stuff looks a bit green, but when pouring looked mostly murky orange - see the light shining through is orangy. Does it normally look like this?)

[mattyr82]

When I used a gatorade bottle in a similar manner I had to remove the overflow tube fromt he bottle and pin it to the top of the garotade bottle as the connection to this hose on the radiator did not block off this prevents coolant filling the overflow bottle. Once the radiator and engine are full with no leaks just put the hose back into the overflow and the coolant in teh coke/gatorade bottle will run down into that so you won't waste any.

When filling after a flush there will still be water inthe block unless you remove any drain plugs so don't pre mix the coolant before you add it as you won't end up with 50/50. I made sure I had removed enough water and then filled with the right amount of concentrated coolant and then topped up with clean water then used pre mixed to fill the overflow bottle to the right mark if need be.

good tip there thanks mate......i pressume ur talking about a vy or vs cos they have the hose thru the cap on the overflow bottle. the vz's have a different setup, just thought id make that clear cos some people might be scratching there heads goin what the...!!! good post tho cos i got a vs and a vz