Most effective Coolant Flush?

[ConElite]

Considering the tempetures in California have shot up from cold to Blistering in one week. I was thinking of Flushing out my coolant system bc you can see sludge in the radiator and I can only imagine how the rest of the system is. I have about a gallon of DexCool. I heard that Its possible to Not have to run Any Dexcool at all, Just add 2 bottles of water wetter and the rest water and it cools better than Dexcool. It never gets Lower than 45 degrees here and thats extreme, And We will be seeing at least 4 months of hot weather so I want to make sure shes running top notch.


So is there anything better than Dexcool or recommended, And the best method to flush everything out? I was just planning on removing some hoses and Blasting the water hose in there for a couple minutes.

[njrextreme]

Considering the tempetures in California have shot up from cold to Blistering in one week. I was thinking of Flushing out my coolant system bc you can see sludge in the radiator and I can only imagine how the rest of the system is. I have about a gallon of DexCool. I heard that Its possible to Not have to run Any Dexcool at all, Just add 2 bottles of water wetter and the rest water and it cools better than Dexcool. It never gets Lower than 45 degrees here and thats extreme, And We will be seeing at least 4 months of hot weather so I want to make sure shes running top notch.


So is there anything better than Dexcool or recommended, And the best method to flush everything out? I was just planning on removing some hoses and Blasting the water hose in there for a couple minutes.

You can flush it with the hose, water will work fine for you. You also can flush the heater core out the same way.

[ConElite]

What can I replace my Coolant with? Does it have to be Dexcool or is there a better product out there Such as water wetter.

[njrextreme]

What can I replace my Coolant with? Does it have to be Dexcool or is there a better product out there Such as water wetter.

You can use plain water. I ran it in my buick big block every summer w/o any problems. The only reason you use anti freeze is for cold weather freezing. Some may chime in and say use somthing else, but it doesnt matter. Check your thermostat and see if your fan is working if your heat is jumping up out of no where.

[ConElite]

You can use plain water. I ran it in my buick big block every summer w/o any problems. The only reason you use anti freeze is for cold weather freezing. Some may chime in and say use somthing else, but it doesnt matter. Check your thermostat and see if your fan is working if your heat is jumping up out of no where.

Oh no no no. Bad idea. PLain old water corrodes metal parts. Althought Straight water is the best cooling fluid for a car, You need a Lubricant to prevent Corrosion thus the adding of Coolant/AntiFreeze. I heard that some people run water wetter in substitute for Coolant and straight water.

[njrextreme]

Oh no no no. Bad idea. PLain old water corrodes metal parts. Althought Straight water is the best cooling fluid for a car, You need a Lubricant to prevent Corrosion thus the adding of Coolant/AntiFreeze. I heard that some people run water wetter in substitute for Coolant and straight water.

Not likley in a alum block and heads. Most do a 25/75 anit/water mix. Like I said, I ran for several yrs w/ straight up well water. When I finally rebuilt the motor, there was no rust or corrosion on anything in the motor. Sounds like you want to use watter wetter, go for it.

[Trash man]

Oh no no no. Bad idea. PLain old water corrodes metal parts. Althought Straight water is the best cooling fluid for a car, You need a Lubricant to prevent Corrosion thus the adding of Coolant/AntiFreeze. I heard that some people run water wetter in substitute for Coolant and straight water.

find a shop with a coolant flush/exchange machine, have them flush it out then add new dex-cool or if u want, have them run a cleaner thru then run green antifreeze

[ConElite]

Well I know our cars recommend ONLY Dexcool. Im curious whos running anything else? I run about 70/30 water to Dexcool now.

[Injuneer]

You are overlooking the benefit that ethylene glycol provides with regard to raising the boiling point of the coolant. Raising the boiling point helps reduce the problem of localized hot spots causing localized boiling, which further reduces heat transfer, and can cause an increased liklihood of detonation. The elevated pressure of the cooling system provides a significant increase in the boiling point of the coolant, and ethylene glycol increases the boiling point even further.

With a 25% solution of ethylene glycol, the specific heat capacity (BTU/lb-*F) of the circulating solution is reduced by less than 5% at 200*F. Not a major concern. Yes, pure water has a higher specific heat capacity, but the difference is not that great.

The block is only one of the parts in contact with the coolant. Non-aluminum parts are also contacted. Aluminum does corrode. Yes, it forms a protective layer of aluminum oxide, when the corrosive medium is oxygen, preventing further oxidation. But there are other forms of corrosion besides oxidation.

Water Wetter is not a coolant. Water Wetter is a "surfactent". It reduces surface tension, allowing the circulating coolant to transfer heat more effectively at the boundary layer between the coolant and the metal. It also allow vapor bubbles to be released more easilly from the metal surface, preventing the reduction of heat transfer caused by vapor bubble clinging to the metal at the hot spots.

[Al 96 Ram Air T/A]

I couldn't have said it any better than Fred just did...


To add, Evans makes NPG (which stands for Non Propylene Glycol). Supossed to be great stuff...but it's pricey.

GM/Dexcool was basically the first to offer a coolant safe for aluminum. Since those early days (1991), most coolant is safe for aluminum. The other benefit of Dexcool is it doesn't contain silicates and can be left in for 100K or 5 years.

With that said, you can use any coolant you want, as long as it is safe for aluminum (you'll be hard pressed to find coolant that isn't). Your only choice is extended use (100 - 150K) and what color. Coolant is clear...manufacturers add colorant to distinguish their brands. DO NOT think because it is or is not green that it is/is not extended use. Toyota used red-orange coolant in my Pontiac Vibe (from NUMI) but it was not extended use, as it needed to be replaced at 3 years, or 30K. I used a green coolant (I think it was Prestone) but it IS extended use, and can be left for 5 years, or 150K. Go figure

Finally, I would flush the heater core as well...use the two rubber hoses by the fans to flush water in/out. I bought a simple hose repair kit and temporarily installed a threaded hose bard to facilitate connecting to my garden hose. You can reverse the flow too using the hose method. When you replace the coolant, use distilled water. It's dirt cheap, and preferred over tap water.

[ConElite]

Thanks Fred. That helped out a lot. Well What I went and did is remove one of the lines from the return from the heater core and hooked it up to the hose. Plugged that hook up it was going to and then turned on the hose, It went through the engine and then up and out the radiator!

Then reversed the water flow. Let it all run about 1 minute after it was clear and filled up my system with half a gallon of dexcool and rest water.

[dochidalgo]

Preston has a DexCool/destillated water 50/50 prediluted....My car has used it plus a Wattter Wetter bottle without overheating problems.
Wal Mart sells it, NAPA, Advance AutoParts, O'Reilly...

Regards
dochidalgo