Cleaning the system out and putting it all back again


Flushing

  1. To clean out the radiator you can use the hosepipe through either the pressure cap or the top pipe hole and flush water out through the bottom pipe (easy to catch); or if the system is particularly bad you may have to reverse flush (through the bottom pipe hole, this needs a rag to help create a seal and is a pain for catching the water). Keep putting enough water through the system and stopping so you don’t overfill your container. Keep doing this having emptied the container until you get clean water out with no bits floating (took me about 100 litres for my radiator).
  2. To clean inside the engine block coolant areas, you have to be very careful; you don’t want to go spraying water around in your engine bay! Using the hosepipe, put water into the system and try to catch it at the bottom of the engine, again you want to keep going until you get no bits in the water, this took me about 150 litres. I reverse flushed mine but I have had plenty of practice!
Rebuilding the system

  1. Re-attach the flexible flexible pipe to the bottom radiator hole and the metal pipe (if you took it off) using jubilee clips to secure the pipes. If you have taken the metal pipe off for cleaning, good luck refitting it, I haven't a clue!
  2. If you have separated the top pipe from the thermostat, you should reapply the pipe using a jubilee clip and then get the instant gasket or appropriate gasket to hand.
  3. Apply the appropriate gasket to the thermostat, if you are using a liquid gasket then run a 5mm to 7mm (obviously guess this) all the way around the ridge you cleaned out and then re-attach the thermostat housing to the engine and bolt it into place.
  4. Attach the remaining end of the top hose back onto the radiator and secure with the final jubilee clip.

*side note* If you have used an instant gasket, go do something else for an hour to let it set firmly!

Filling back up

  1. Now you can start to top the coolant back up. If you are using radflush then I would advise you put that in about half way through the filling up procedure. If you have premixed coolant then simply pour a bit of coolant (say half a litre), do your best to ensure you have no air locks, pour another half litre in and continue (for coolant bleeding, see one of the associated guides I linked to at the top) until coolant comes out of one of the two bleed points without any bubbles in it. Re-apply the screw if you took it out and carry on looking for the same at the next bleed point and continuing the bleeding methods (the usual pattern is radiator then heater matrix, as usual try to catch as much fluid as possible). Reapply the screw to the second bleed point’s hole once you again get a good flow of coolant out of there. If you are using concentrated antifreeze and purified water, put about a litre of water in, add the appropriate amount of antifreeze (that being 2.3L) and then carry on the bleeding process using water; again I suggest this in half litres (or as close as possible; I would probably put 2.5L of antifreeze in considering you will lose some through the bleed points).
  2. Put the pressure cap back on, re-attach the negative lead to the battery and close the bonnet.
Any questions, please ask! Comments and pointing out any mistakes or things I may have missed are also welcome. The next page contains a series of pictures and a few comments about the state of my car when I did this (yes these are the promised horror pictures). Hopefully your car will be in a much better state!