Changing coolant
03-15-2007, 03:54 PM
#1
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Join Date: Feb 2007
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Changing coolant
i am currently changing the coolant in my car, was looking for any tips or advise on the process. Also, since the Hayes manual is absolute garbage, can anyone shed some light on how they would go about flushing the system? I wasthing of taking off the upper piping and flushing the radiator from top to bottom. I was also told to drain the engine and the radiator, fill it with water and run it
03-15-2007, 04:06 PM
#2
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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RE: Changing coolant
Its pretty easy. I would take the fill cap off first. Jack the car up as high as you can get it and disconnect the LOWER hose. All the dirt settles to the bottom-most part of the system which is where the lower hose connects. When it pops off its gonna come pretty quick so watch out.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
03-15-2007, 04:41 PM
#4
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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RE: Changing coolant
ORIGINAL: ASUSMC
Its pretty easy. I would take the fill cap off first. Jack the car up as high as you can get it and disconnect the LOWER hose. All the dirt settles to the bottom-most part of the system which is where the lower hose connects. When it pops off its gonna come pretty quick so watch out.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
Its pretty easy. I would take the fill cap off first. Jack the car up as high as you can get it and disconnect the LOWER hose. All the dirt settles to the bottom-most part of the system which is where the lower hose connects. When it pops off its gonna come pretty quick so watch out.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
03-15-2007, 05:33 PM
#6
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Join Date: Apr 2006
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RE: Changing coolant
ORIGINAL: 97targa
You DO NOT NEED to take the lower hose off!!! There is a white plastic plug on the passenger side bottm of the radiator. It is a large fitting maybe 11/16" or so. This plug only unscrews but does not remove! There is a small **** hole port just in front of that where the coolant runs out of. Just unscrew the fitting and it will drain out ogf the plug. Be sure to take your radiator cap off. This method does not get all of the coolant out of the system. Some does remain in the heater core. The only way to remove everything is to have the system flushed by a mechanic, but this will drin everything out of the heads and radiator! It will take roughly an hour to completely drain out since the hole is very small, but this makes life easiest! Just did mine without getting dirty. AND I didn't have to jack the car up. It is kinda hard to find for the first time if you don't but it's there!!!
ORIGINAL: ASUSMC
Its pretty easy. I would take the fill cap off first. Jack the car up as high as you can get it and disconnect the LOWER hose. All the dirt settles to the bottom-most part of the system which is where the lower hose connects. When it pops off its gonna come pretty quick so watch out.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
Its pretty easy. I would take the fill cap off first. Jack the car up as high as you can get it and disconnect the LOWER hose. All the dirt settles to the bottom-most part of the system which is where the lower hose connects. When it pops off its gonna come pretty quick so watch out.
Never refill it with only water. Always put antifreeze in with it. Refill it then run it for a while. The car will gurgle more down the longer it runs.
03-15-2007, 06:54 PM
#8
2nd Gear Member
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: michigan
Posts: 463
RE: Changing coolant
do not use dexcool. ford recemends not to use it. it eats plastic. gm has a lot of gasket problems from using this coolant. plus its expensive. use green or yellow. if your car has red stuff in it change it to green. it will work fine as long as you flush all the red out.
03-15-2007, 07:11 PM
#9
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Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Valley of the Sun
Posts: 824
RE: Changing coolant
I used the Prestone Extended Life in a yellow jug that shows on the front sticker that the fluid is yellow like Fords stock stuff. When I poured it out into the car it was a very watery light green. I've ran it hard about 7,500 miles and its been great. Screw the DEXCOOL like bullitt said and go with either Motorcraft Premium Gold or Prestone Extended Life.
03-15-2007, 11:05 PM
#10
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RE: Changing coolant
The white plastic screw worked fine, however, i flushed the car four times, twice i used the screw cap, twice i disconnected the lower hose. I used Prestone, light green(makes me thirsty!)