Flushing Cooling System

[stingray]

Hi,

This is for a R32 RB20DET.

I've read through all the guides and post about this procedure. I've taken my turbo off so I need to flush and refill my coolant system. The method of removing the drain plug on the engine block is just too much work. Someone else suggested filling the radiator with clean water, let it run and then cool down and drain. Doing this a few times until water is clean. Again this will take some time for each cooling process.

What I'm wondering is can I take the top hose off, turn on the car and let the water come out and refill it with the garden hose in the radiator cap unitl water becomes clean? Will the cold water cause any problems on the engine?

How many litres does the whole cooling system take and how much is in the radiator? That way I can work out how much coolant to add to compensate for the water in the engine block.

Thanks

[adam-__-]

Hi,

This is for a R32 RB20DET.

I've read through all the guides and post about this procedure. I've taken my turbo off so I need to flush and refill my coolant system. The method of removing the drain plug on the engine block is just too much work. Someone else suggested filling the radiator with clean water, let it run and then cool down and drain. Doing this a few times until water is clean. Again this will take some time for each cooling process.

What I'm wondering is can I take the top hose off, turn on the car and let the water come out and refill it with the garden hose in the radiator cap unitl water becomes clean? Will the cold water cause any problems on the engine?

How many litres does the whole cooling system take and how much is in the radiator? That way I can work out how much coolant to add to compensate for the water in the engine block.

Thanks

I was doing something similar to this in my brothers car and it didnt seem to work all that well. I think what happened was, when we were putting water into the radiator, the water was too cold for the thermostat to open so no water came out from the top hose. Instead of water coming out of the top hose, it was coming out of where the water was entering.

Hope that helped a bit and made some sense.

[ryano]

you could use hot water.

[skybarge]

The way I do it is,

drain a bit of the water out of the radiator by turning the bleed valve at the bottom of the radiator

then putting in some radiator coolant flush

then completely removing the radiator bleed valve

wait till it's all gone, then undo the bottom radiator hose

it'll leak a lot still so be careful

once empty, put it back on, put in a mix or 50/50 coolant/water or 100% coolant if you really want to, although I think 50/50 is a better idea to be honest

then squeeze the top radiator hose a few times, bubbles will come out and there won't be too much air in the system.

Start the car with the radiator cap off, remove the inlet bleed screw(where the 3 water lines connect) and wait about 1-5 minutes

the thermostat will click off and the water will drop a bit, top it up, then redo up the bleed screw

Then you should have it all clean again

take it for a thrash

leave it for 30+ minutes to cool down, then undo the cap and check the level, it should be nice and clean

--- Oh and don't ever use cold water in a hot engine, you could crack the head/block if it's too hot and cold water enters the galleries, or so I've been told----

[adam-__-]

The way I do it is,

drain a bit of the water out of the radiator by turning the bleed valve at the bottom of the radiator

then putting in some radiator coolant flush

then completely removing the radiator bleed valve

wait till it's all gone, then undo the bottom radiator hose

it'll leak a lot still so be careful

once empty, put it back on, put in a mix or 50/50 coolant/water or 100% coolant if you really want to, although I think 50/50 is a better idea to be honest

then squeeze the top radiator hose a few times, bubbles will come out and there won't be too much air in the system.

Start the car with the radiator cap off, remove the inlet bleed screw(where the 3 water lines connect) and wait about 1-5 minutes

the thermostat will click off and the water will drop a bit, top it up, then redo up the bleed screw

Then you should have it all clean again

take it for a thrash

leave it for 30+ minutes to cool down, then undo the cap and check the level, it should be nice and clean

--- Oh and don't ever use cold water in a hot engine, you could crack the head/block if it's too hot and cold water enters the galleries, or so I've been told----

I used water from the garden hose to clean it out and that water is cold.

Nothing wrong so far....

[skybarge]

haha should've been a bit clearer

I meant when the radiator hoses have pressure in them, you know, you use a rag or towel to loosen the cap that's probably not a good time to do it

when it's cooled down a bit, warm to the touch and not pressurised, yeah I use the hose then too

[adam-__-]

That's ok then. I waited till the car cooled down a bit. Didn't want to burn myself with the coolant.

Thanks for clearing that up. I got a bit worried.