VF v8 radiator flush

[Penguin8]

Has anyone drained or flushed a VF v8 radiator.

I want to drain it and replace with all new fluid as I had a bit of an issue with a small loss of coolant. The radiator guy suspects the radiator cap, so I have anew cap and Nulon red fluid.

Any tips such as the location of the drain plug for the VF or ways to get the thermostat to open and flush as much as possible.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Has anyone drained or flushed a VF v8 radiator.

I want to drain it and replace with all new fluid as I had a bit of an issue with a small loss of coolant. The radiator guy suspects the radiator cap, so I have anew cap and Nulon red fluid.

Any tips such as the location of the drain plug for the VF or ways to get the thermostat to open and flush as much as possible.

Do not use Nulon. Known to corode and leak. Use acdelco dexcool to avoid chemical reaction that can stuff up your car. Especially if you are unsure how to completely drain the coolant from the block

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Drain plug is at the bottom of the radiator but that will only drain about 1/2 of the coolant

 

[tml678]

AC Delco for the win. Genuine parts fluid is the best.

 

[Skylarking]

The Holden VF, WN & HSV workshop service repair manual gives little away as to how to accurately perform a full flush.

The documented process is to simply disconnect the battery negative lead (why?) and then remove the lower radiator drain cock to empty the fluid.
The manual then states to fill up via the radiator cap with 50/50 mix or DexCool with a few hints on releasing trapped air and ensuring the correct level is reached....but from what others have stated here, that would only flush about 1/2 the fluid from the system.

In the past, on my older cars when i used to service them, i'd 1st run a chemical cleaner through the system by idling for 15 minutes. Then i'd let the system cool down so i could safely drain the radiator of fluid. Then i'd remove the thermostat and connect a garden hose to the bottom radiator hose going into the engine. I'd turn on the tap forcing water through the block, heater and radiator until clean water exited the radiator for a few minutes. Finally i'd reconnect the bottom hose to the radiator and reinstalled the thermostat before filling with glycol concentrate to 1/2 system volume before toping the remaining 1/2 volume with tap water. This would give a rough 50/50 mix of glycol & water. Any final top up would be done with a 50/50 mix of glycol concentrate and water to avoid thinning the mix down. And since we have what is considered rather soft tap water, i didn't need any premix or demineralised water, the tap was good enough... And over the years, i'd never had issues with the cooling system... ever... most of my cars had alloy heads, alloy radiators with cast iron blocks though one had brass radiator and cast iron block...

Is this good enough for our modern VF's (or are they much more fragile these days)?

So getting back to the OP's original question, how does one actually perform a full flush?

 

[Tryg]

The Holden VF, WN & HSV workshop service repair manual gives little away as to how to accurately perform a full flush.

The documented process is to simply disconnect the battery negative lead (why?) and then remove the lower radiator drain cock to empty the fluid.
The manual then states to fill up via the radiator cap with 50/50 mix or DexCool with a few hints on releasing trapped air and ensuring the correct level is reached....but from what others have stated here, that would only flush about 1/2 the fluid from the system.

In the past, on my older cars when i used to service them, i'd 1st run a chemical cleaner through the system by idling for 15 minutes. Then i'd let the system cool down so i could safely drain the radiator of fluid. Then i'd remove the thermostat and connect a garden hose to the bottom radiator hose going into the engine. I'd turn on the tap forcing water through the block, heater and radiator until clean water exited the radiator for a few minutes. Finally i'd reconnect the bottom hose to the radiator and reinstalled the thermostat before filling with glycol concentrate to 1/2 system volume before toping the remaining 1/2 volume with tap water. This would give a rough 50/50 mix of glycol & water. Any final top up would be done with a 50/50 mix of glycol concentrate and water to avoid thinning the mix down. And since we have what is considered rather soft tap water, i didn't need any premix or demineralised water, the tap was good enough... And over the years, i'd never had issues with the cooling system... ever... most of my cars had alloy heads, alloy radiators with cast iron blocks though one had brass radiator and cast iron block...

Is this good enough for our modern VF's (or are they much more fragile these days)?

So getting back to the OP's original question, how does one actually perform a full flush?

I've done it similarly over the last few cars (SRT, Jeep GC Summit, 300C), but not the hose. I have used demineralised water, refilled, re-run engine, drained again. Twice over.

Then lastly refill with 50% (by volume) glycol and top up with demineralised water. So same, but just with deposit-free, no mineral water.

Overkill? Yes, probably. Not better, just easier on my conscience.

 

[Ron Burgundy]

I've done it similarly over the last few cars (SRT, Jeep GC Summit, 300C), but not the hose. I have used demineralised water, refilled, re-run engine, drained again. Twice over.

Then lastly refill with 50% (by volume) glycol and top up with demineralised water. So same, but just with deposit-free, no mineral water.

Overkill? Yes, probably. Not better, just easier on my conscience.

I did this too.
Drop the coolant...fill with plain water....drive until recirculates and after cooling down put plain water again.

Did this 3-4 times until drained water was completely clear and then last time put 5L of dexcool instead of water. The system holds about 11L so the ratio is almost spot on. I also emptied the overflow bottle and filled it with 50/50 dexcool mix. Worked like a charm and did it over the weekend.

The only tool needed is a screwdriver doing it this way

 

[Tryg]

I did this too.
Drop the coolant...fill with plain water....drive until recirculates and after cooling down put plain water again.

Did this 3-4 times until drained water was completely clear and then last time put 5L of dexcool instead of water. The system holds about 11L so the ratio is almost spot on. I also emptied the overflow bottle and filled it with 50/50 dexcool mix. Worked like a charm and did it over the weekend.

The only tool needed is a screwdriver doing it this way

Perfect, mine just costed a tonne more for bottled demineralised water!

 

[losh1971]

How much you paying for water? I bought 5L from Woolworths for under 4 bucks. Are you using demineralised for flushing as well?

 

[arronm]

I got my water from the SKY...