Rad flush - draining the system

[Guest]

John,
I have just flushed out the system using Halfords two part flush and corrosion inhibitor.
I think one point that is important is to drain the system FULLY. This is not achieved by merely pulling off the lower rad hose.
First I opened the drain plug on the rad, then pulled off the lower hose. Drained everything into a wide bucket. Then I disconnected the heater hose, on the same side as the starter motor where it comes out of the engine block. More coolant came out.
The Haynes manual advocates back flushing via the thermostat housing. But as this is tucked away on the opposite side of the block and requires the air filter housing etc to be removed I took a different approach.
I disconnected the hose from the engine block that feeds coolant to the warm up device on the injector pump. About a litre more coolant came out so this is the low point of the block.
This is a tricky place to gain access and anyone with hands like shovels or fingers like bannanas will have difficulty !
I flushed the system out carefully and then used the flush chemicals. It is a long winded job so allow plenty of time.
I refilled the system with Toyota pre mixed red coolant.
Gareth Jones '97 1-HDFT

 

[Guest]

Thanks Gareth and Jon-c-w for the indepth way of making my little job even
harder than I thought. I think the first thing ill have to get is one of
those wheel steps, so I can actually get more than the tops of my fingers in
the engine bay and protect my belly from being squashed and of course to do
all this fiddly stuff you now are telling me to do. Its so hard once the
temp drops to actually want to do anything in the cold with the wind blowing
and unless it really needs to be done. Its always the same I always think of
looking at the heater in the winter instead of the summer when it would be
pleasant to do so.
John C
92HDJ 80 1HDT Ireland
----- Original Message -----
From: "Gareth Jones" <[Email address removed]>
To: <[Email address removed]>
Sent: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 11:09 AM
Subject: Re: [ELCO] Rad flush - draining the system
John,
I have just flushed out the system using Halfords two part flush and
corrosion inhibitor.
I think one point that is important is to drain the system FULLY. This is
not achieved by merely pulling off the lower rad hose.
First I opened the drain plug on the rad, then pulled off the lower hose.
Drained everything into a wide bucket. Then I disconnected the heater hose,
on the same side as the starter motor where it comes out of the engine
block. More coolant came out.
The Haynes manual advocates back flushing via the thermostat housing. But as
this is tucked away on the opposite side of the block and requires the air
filter housing etc to be removed I took a different approach.
I disconnected the hose from the engine block that feeds coolant to the warm
up device on the injector pump. About a litre more coolant came out so this
is the low point of the block.
This is a tricky place to gain access and anyone with hands like shovels or
fingers like bannanas will have difficulty !
I flushed the system out carefully and then used the flush chemicals. It is
a long winded job so allow plenty of time.
I refilled the system with Toyota pre mixed red coolant.
Gareth Jones '97 1-HDFT

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