Hi,

I'm psyching myself up to degrease my coolant system, after a part failure (oil and water meet in the oil filter housing).

I changed the coolant last year, and used the petcock on the radiator which I couldn't actually see, and drained ridiculously slowly, and made a mess as it's above the front skirt.

I've been more observant this time, and noticed that the upswept spigot for the bottom hose is clipped in place so, in theory, should come off nicely.

Has anyone done this, without problems?

I can imagine it being brittle, or an o ring disintegrating.

Otherwise I could remove the hose from this spigot/elbow, and blow out most of the coolant from the bottom of the radiator.

Cheers, Pete.

Take the hose of the bottom of the rad flush with water or a hose to get as much out as you can
If you still have oiley residue full with water and a couple of dishwasher tablets
Run it up to temp for5-10 mins the drain and flush again
Finally fill with anti freeze mix as normal

Should I unclip the hard plastic elbow from the rad?

Or pull the hose off the elbow?

I've got some Wynn's coolant system degreaser, for the job.

Any idea if I can drive a few miles with it in?

loserscar said:

Should I unclip the hard plastic elbow from the rad?

Or pull the hose off the elbow?

I've got some Wynn's coolant system degreaser, for the job.

Any idea if I can drive a few miles with it in?

Click to expand...

Remove the stainless clip noting which way round the tabs go, can be a bit hard at first to get it to budge(the plastic connector), pull it clean off so the system gushes out, "place" the connector back in place doesn't matter if it leaks,brim the system with water, yank off connector so it pours out again, repeat until nice and clear, replace hose and clip, fill with your flushing agent as per instructions etc. Finally re fill with coolant mix.

If you have the heater hose bleed screw on yours be extremely careful with it, don't try opening when hot, not due to the hot water but it can snap off!

Pull the hose off the elbow. Those things are a pig to get off. I have to change them when I replace rads and they are a pain with the rad out of the car.

For those with a header tank built into the side of the radiator, then (unless you've got a major contamination problem), you're better off not removing anything. You'll get just as much coolant out by syphoning or (better) vacuuming it out - it's easy to get a hose down to the lowest point in the system, and it'll suck out any crud as well.

Removing the bottom hose won't get you any more coolant out - I've tried and checked this after vacuuming the system.

jrkitching said:

For those with a header tank built into the side of the radiator, then (unless you've got a major contamination problem), you're better off not removing anything. You'll get just as much coolant out by syphoning or (better) vacuuming it out - it's easy to get a hose down to the lowest point in the system, and it'll suck out any crud as well.

Removing the bottom hose won't get you any more coolant out - I've tried and checked this after vacuuming the system.

Click to expand...

I think you're right though I found when I used the above method that the sudden out rush helped pull more crud out that did not come out on the first draining in total I think it was filled/emptied 5 times to get no more bits etc

Don't dump your old coolant down the drain... it's easily the most toxic stuff in your car (including engine oil) so it's best if it doesn't end up in the surface water drainage system.
Collect it and take it to your local Household Waste site (who I'm guessing won't know what to do with it).

Also don't get any in/on/around your mouth if you're blowing into the system, or just working with your mouth open. You won't suddenly drop dead but the goo damages your nervous system. It's properly nasty.



Ralf S.

Ralf S. said:

Don't dump your old coolant down the drain... it's easily the most toxic stuff i
Collect it and take it to your local Household Waste site (who I'm guessing won't know what to do with it).

Ralf S.

Click to expand...

I went to our local tip today to dispose of some old oil, I asked your above question re what to do with old anti freeze, their answer;

"Just throw it in the general (Land fill) window"

That's a bit disappointing... they thinks it's Robinson's Barley Sugar or something.

Normally I tip mine into the waste oil tank. It's probably not the ideal place for it but at least it'll get some kind of processing.

Best advice round the internet seems to be to flush it down the loo (unless you have a sceptic tank etc.) so that it goes through the sewage treatment system (I suppose it's no worse than bleach and toilet cleaners). Tipping it into a drain (water courses) seems to be NOT the way to dispose of it.


Ralf S.

The stuff I've got is made from oats.

I'm going to save some money this time and make my own.

You're going to put porridge in your radiatore?

What's this home-made recipe? I like home-made recipes... you realise that "Chemistry" at school was actually useful after all.


Ralf S.

chris3234 said:

Take the hose of the bottom of the rad flush with water or a hose to get as much out as you can
If you still have oiley residue full with water and a couple of dishwasher tablets
Run it up to temp for5-10 mins the drain and flush again
Finally fill with anti freeze mix as normal

Click to expand...

This is a terrible idea! Have you ever seen what dishwasher detergent does to aluminium? Guess what the head on your engine is made out of.
jrkitching what’s happening to this place?

306maxi said:

This is a terrible idea! Have you ever seen what dishwasher detergent does to aluminium? Guess what the head on your engine is made out of.

jrkitching what’s happening to this place?

Click to expand...

And yet it's really common way of cleaning the cooling system
I've got aluminium pans that go through the dishwasher perfectly fine

chris3234 said:

And yet it's really common way of cleaning the cooling system
I've got aluminium pans that go through the dishwasher perfectly fine

Click to expand...

Here’s what happens to a good quality frying pan that goes through the dishwasher for years.

I'd avoid dishwasher tablets just because I don't like the sound of using detergent in the engine block.. but in theory, if they're just in there for 20 minutes, they're unlikely to do any damage.

When my old Alfa 155 blew a gasket I filled it with plain water, ran it for half a minute to circulate fully and then emptied it out. Then repeated it.

I did clean out the header tank (separate, on that car, rather than being built into the radiatore) with detergent to get the oil grime out.

Then I just refilled the beast with regular 50% antifreeze and never had any oil slick in the coolant that was worth too much comment.

Coolant contains solvents that would dissolve a small amount of oil. My current Stilo was a bit gooey in the coolant... and all did was replace the old (blue) coolant with the pink stuff and it seemed to clean up the reservoir with use. Since then I've had to drain the reservoir to move it (cam-belt change) and the new stuff I added to top it up still looks like new.


Ralf S.