Clarification and quesiton on Radiator flush (1 Viewer)

[TEXLEX450]

I have search the faq and read e9999's thread https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/14891-cleaned-my-cooling-system-full-scoop.html
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My question: Is the preston kit really necessary?

Why can't you drain the radiator, refill with distilled water. Run the engine with heater on hot. Then drain radiator, block plug and repeat the process a couple of times. Then re-fill with 50/50? Without ever using the preston "T" kit.

Wouldn't this be sufficient enough? Or am I missing something.

 

[corsair23]

IMO no the Prestone kit isn't "necessary", but rather a tool that makes doing the flush easier now and down the road. That said, I didn't use a kit. But you can't really "flush" the system by just draining and filling it.

Read Coax's response in this thread: https://forum.ih8mud.com/80-series-tech/373489-flushing-radiator.html

The kind of gunk he had come out probably isn't going to come out by doing a drain and fill or even multiple drain and fills. I noticed after I changed my coolant and then started "tweaking" my mixture % by dumping out what was in the overflow container and refilling with distilled water, that each time I dumped the coolant out of my overflow container that there was a sizeable amount of "gunk" (light tannish crap) each time at the bottom of the overflow container. I probably dumped and filled the container 4-5 times getting my coolant level down to a 50/50 mix and each time the gunk was there, although less and less each time. FWIW I usually ran my rig for 2-3 days in between each check of the mixture % before dumping the coolant and refilling the container.

 

[fzjconvert]

What the Preston kits helps with is back filling the system. I hooked a hose and a funnel to it and it pushed most of the air out the front. Someone correct me if I am wrong but I think by doing it this way you fill the heater cores first, then the block and lastly the radiator via the return hose. In any case, I had way less air to contend with than the first time I serviced this system.

 

[slo60]

What I liked about using the flush kit from prestone is that I was able to pull the block plug, turn on the hose and allow the truck to run for about 20 minutes while having fresh water completely flush the system. I had both heaters going on full, and by the time I was done, I had no trace of old coolant left. Just for good measure, I opened the radiator drain and then flushed the entire system again allowing the clean water to just run out on the ground (I had already collected the old coolant for recycling). I then filled the system with distilled water and ran it for about 20 miles with the heat on high. I then drained this, and it was clean as well. Then I filled with a 50/50 mix of Toyota red. No sign at all of any crud, or mixed coolant to date. Also had no problems with air bubbles or any hot spots. I checked it with an infrared thermometer and everything was good.

The Prestone kit was only about $4, and I purchased about 5' of 5/8" heater hose to make up a simple flush kit. Very simple, and I liked the end results.