Coolant Flush 348

No. Just drain it at the radiators. Fluish with water and drain again as much as you want. Then fill with your favorite coolant and run the car until almost at operating temp. Fill coolant as needed. There is a 10mm bleeder on one of the black crosstubes about 8" from the passenger cam cog cover. Open it up to bleed the air out. When water comes out you are done. You will neot need to access the Tstat for just a flush.

 

Along with what FBB said you can drain the block too. There are 2 brass plugs one on each side of the block there is quite a bit of fluid in there, this will also allow you to get any sediment out since this is a low spot on the cooling system.

 

Right under the headers, on the side of the block.

 

The radiators are bypassed by default when the engine is cold! The thermostat then blocks the bypass as the coolant heats up.

So knowing the above you can, if desired, perform the hyper-easy, mega-lazy, "Stooge" coolant flush by:
1: remove right rear wheel and unscrew the inner fender liner liner (forward section is all that is need to come off),
2: Unscrew the coolant drain on the bottom right of the coolant radiator, but do so only part way (i.e. don't completely remove the drain plug),
3: Open the radiator cap and insert a garden hose that is only partially turned on such that when you start the engine in step 4 that your coolant level in your fill tank neither overflows nor drains out of sight,
4: start your cold engine and let the car idle until the color of the liquid being drained from your right radiator reveals water-only,
5: Turn off your motor and drain as much water now as possible,
6: close your drain plug and fill your coolant reservoir full to the brim with 50/50 Prestone pre-mix, Close radiator cap
7: Start your motor and turn on your Heater to high heat, allow to idle until both cooling fans kick on,
8: bleed your cooling system by slightly unscrewing both bleed nipples on the black cooling tubes on your firewall (right side U.S.)
9: turn off motor, allow to cool, then check coolant level in reservoir.

*if you want to get rid of any meaningful leftover tap water, drain the whole system a second time with the engine off and fill *again* with PRestone 50/50.

The above isn't perfect, but it will flush the system and it is fast and easy. It's a "Stooge" flush rather than a full pressure flush, and it simply takes advantage of the thermostat first bypassing, then blocking the coolant bypass.

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread but the other day I went and looked at the Prestone 50/50. It was priced at $11.99/gal. Then I looked at the Prestone 100% antifreeze. It was $12.99.

Why couldn't you just mix half of the 100% with 1/2 gal of distilled water for your 50/50?

I know. I'm cheap but these days...........

 

Or buy 6 gallons of Peak antifreeze at Sam's club for $56. Sounds like a reasonable way to flush the system. I'd go for ND's method. You don't need to remove the thermostat to do this flush.

BT

 

No.

But, you will need to remove the engine lid for better access. Four bolts total, two on each hinge, and it's off. Once you have the lid off you'll have access to the hose attached to the outflow pipe, and you'll have access to the three nuts holding the outlet to the top of the pump. You will also need to move the throttle cable out of the way.

 

All you guys are doing way too much work. The only reason to take the freeze plugs out is if the car had really bad maintenance. Also there are 2 radiators to drain not 1. You do not need to get to the tstat unless you want to replace it and you can get at it fine without taking the decklid off just the plenum. You have to dump the coolant to do the 30k engine out service so while it may not have said so you were most likely charged for coolant and it was at least topped off and bleed at that service.

 

Just be very careful when you unscrew the drain plug. Mine snapped off when I was draining it. Luckily thanks to BT's ingenuity all is well..

 

The Macgyver of Ferrari repairs! Good times, good times...
I just returned the unused parts to Home Depot this morning!!!

BT

 

Any further info on the home depot parts for the simple bass plug? Great info.