Does your truck have a PHH? I know some of the older engines don't have it. If it does change it out when you flush. Someone else said to change out your thermostat, I did that when I flushed too. Get a new radiator cap while you are doing everything else. Check all of your cooling/heater hoses ahead of time and change out any that are looking old.
I've spent the last 3 hours reading your flushing stories. Thank you all so much for sharing, very humbling. My two concerns are.
#1 How often should you change/flush coolant?
#2 I'm not sure if I have a alluminum or brass rad, can I just run green and call it good?
I enjoy doing my own maintenance but after reading all the threads I realize I don't know much and it would be much easier for a father of a screaming kid to just pay the $100 and have my system flushed. I did not even know there was a drain for the block coolant and it may take me another hour to find it or them.
We have a radiator specialist here in Olympia I think I'll pay him to do it, ask a lot of questions and start my own thread for dummies who don't know what a PHH is
Crikeys you blokes make easy jobs seem hard.
RAD FLUSH THE SIMPLE WAY.
1.Turn heater tap to heat.
2.Remove rad cap and 1x heater hose.'The one with a REMOVABLE hose clamp.'
3.Stick garden hose in said heater hose and turn on full ball.
4.Dirty water will come out of rad and heater outlet, block rad outlet with hand to get more gunk out of the heater.
5.Once cleam water comes out rejoin the heater hose.
6.Add your favorite coolent and top up with water.
7.Start up the donk and set a fast idle untill the water temp gets up to normal driving temp.
8.Top up water if necessary to level with top of rad.
9.Add new rad cap.
10.Job done and now beer time.
Using a garden hose and tap water is the worst advice ever. Have 20 gallons of distilled water on hand and flush. But replace the radiator first and drain the block.
Using a garden hose and tap water is the worst advice ever. Have 20 gallons of distilled water on hand and flush. But replace the radiator first and drain the block.
I dunno. I used hose water + a couple tablespoons of borax for the initial flush. Drove 15 miles or so on it. Then distilled with prestone radiator flush. Then straight distilled. Then pink coolant. But i was converting from green.
prestone radiator flush is just a couple tablespoons of sodium citrate in water. liqui-moly radiator cleaner is better. has a detergent too.
