Anyone flush their coolant themselves?

[Zorba]

Both of my cars are due for a coolant flush and I would prefer to do it myself. So my question is what the heck do you trap all the fluid in? Both of my cars take 4gal of coolant, plus the flushing water and I have never see a 5/6gal drain pan before. I was thinking about using a low profile rubbermade thing, but wanted to see what others used.

Also where do you take the coolant after you've collected it? I know a lot of parts stores only take oil, but not coolant.

Edit: I just looked up the capacities again, I was remembering wrong, it is actually just ~7 quarts, so now it doesn't really seem like a big deal.

 

[thecritic]

If it isn't overdue and you are using the same coolant as before, you can just drain the radiator and engine block and all of the sediment and most of the fluid will come out.

The radiator drains using a peacock valve, so you can stop it once your pan is full, empty it, then restart. When you close the drain valve, pay attention to any "tracks" or "notches" that the plug is supposed to travel along. If you miss it, you'll be in for a nasty surprise after you start the car up.

Usually your city dump can take used coolant. Either that, or pour it into your BBQ when you're done cooking.

Or, you can just pay Pep Boys $69.99 for them to perform a "cooling exchange" and save yourself all of the trouble.

 

[StageLeft]

I've never done a coolant "flush". In my case for my cars, whenever it's time to get rid of all the fluid, I will drain the radiator into a jug (it doesn't have a ton of fluid) and then refill it. I will run the car for a bit, and do this several times. By the end most of the radiator fluid is removed. I started this this way because on at least one of my cars the bolt on the engine to remove that allows out coolant is in a comically inaccessible area.

 

[nwfsnake]

Depending on the vehicle, it is also a good idea to make sure your heat is turned on so that any coolant in the heater core can escape. Most vehicles have some type of valve that opens and closed coolant flow to the core, so you want that open in order to get most of the fluid out of there also. If it is a vacuum valve, you might have to run the engine for a couple seconds until it opens.

 

[Cardio]

What do you drive that holds 4 Gallons? That is alot more than most vehicles use.

 

[Zorba]

Originally posted by: Cardio
What do you drive that holds 4 Gallons? That is alot more than most vehicles use.

Yeah, you're right, I was just remembering wrong it is actually like 1.5gals for each, much better.

 

[desy]

I flush the coolant in the bif, terlet, water closet, biffy
drain it, flush with garden hose, fill with garden hose drive around til things get to temp
drain and flush again then fill with 50/50 coolant distilled water.

 

[Zorba]

bif?

 

[BW86]

Make sure you bleed the cooling system before you go around driving it and blow a head gasket.

After you refill your radiator with new coolant/water, start your engine with the radiator cap off and turn the heat to full blast. As you are waiting for your car to get up to temp watch your radiator for bubbles of air and keep filling the it up until no more bubbles come out.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: Cardio
What do you drive that holds 4 Gallons? That is alot more than most vehicles use.

because when you flush a system you are putting a lot more in.

Laws may vary, but here you are ok to dump coolant down the drain. The cities treatment takes care of it. You cannot dump it in the ground nor in a storm drain or waterway.

Antifreeze is a lot more dangerous to cats than dogs, only a teaspoon can kill so be careful with it.

Also use distilled water for a final flush/refill, or at least to refill with rather than tap water.

As far as containers, you can just close the stopcock and dump then open it back up and continue flushing. Some kits have a hose output you can run to a drain directly.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: BW86
Make sure you bleed the cooling system before you go around driving it and blow a head gasket.

After you refill your radiator with new coolant/water, start your engine with the radiator cap off and turn the heat to full blast. As you are waiting for your car to get up to temp watch your radiator for bubbles of air and keep filling the it up until no more bubbles come out.

for some cars their will be a bolt in the upper manifold for air to release as well...the radiator method only works when it's the 'high point'. My Nissan KA24DE has this setup.