Radiator flush & fill...

[CPittman]

I've been changing my own oil and fuel filters on this truck - should I tackle the radiator flush & fill? Is there a drain petcock on the bottom of the radiator? It looks like we're using the HOAT coolant from Mopar - I'll get some of that.



I was shocked to find that my coolant level was WAY low - I don't smell anti-freeze anytime and there are no spots on the driveway. What gives? OBTW, mileage is 109K.

 

[JFaughn]

It would seem that none of the shops in my area are using the recycling flushers properly , becouse when I had my shop and bought a recycler used , and when looking for the chemicals to treat to a reusable condition , only NAPA had them , at the wherhouse , and in quanties that are for stocking a store front , so that being said , the recycling is just one of the advanatges of having it done , the other is what used to be called before recy. power flushers , they made a differance by forcing out the old for the new ,
So now I would say that it is not worth paying to have it done , except that capturing the old and disposing of , if any pets drink it , it will at least make them very sick or kill them depending on how much they get.
With that info , use the garden hose and put in the fill hole at top of rad. , disconnect the heater hose from the return from the heater core , some engines had petcocks to help drain , on the drivers side, pull the thermostat , to help the flow ,
then run water till clear , now the problum is that its best to use distilled water , but you will never get all the water out of the cooling system ,
Then to refill use your favorite coolant and put in pure until the rad. is about half full , then you want to get a tester to see how much mix there is [ after putting in thermo & running to mix ] you want at least 50% & not more than 70% when finished.
Then when its all back and running , check the level every day - short millage - until it stablizes [ if it does ] to see if it is leaking and how much , it may be that it just got away from you [ not checking and just some normal consuption ]
Now theres the horse and cart thing , top it off 1st and look for leaks and how much fluid in how much time ,

 

[rbattelle]

About 2 years ago I had the local Cummins service center flush mine. All they did was drain the radiator, fill with water, drive it, drain the radiator again, then fill with new stuff. The mechanic complained that there was no block drain.



-Ryan

 

[ANG012]

I have a radiator shop do mine. They flush the cooling system with air and water and get a lot more of the crud out of the system. They can get most of the water out of system than just draining it. Then add new coolant and distilled water.