flushing the radiator

[guitar588]

i was checking my fluids today, and my coolant was really low, so i thought id top it off for the time being. well my dads a jackass and all he had was green coolant. he said he didnt see a problem with it. ive never really had a problem trusting him before, pretty smart guy, but i guess i learned something today. so i top it off with a mixture of 50/50 green coolant and water. so i find out i had screwed up royally, and now i need to flush the radiator. how is this accomplished? i really dont have a ballpark image of how screwed i am. this might be the dumbest thing ive ever done.i just had no idea. i drove about a quarter mile after the orange and green cooolants were mixed. any advice? its a 99 D2 with 59k.

[Searcaigh]

Pure coolant is Ethylene Glycol and over here it is a red colour, needs to be mixed with water before use 33:66 I think (depends on the concentration)

The Green coolant is a mixture of Ethylene Glycol and water and is ready to use, which is what I use

Why do you need to flush your radiator, just make sure you top it up with coolant when it gets lower again

[dieter]

I suggest you drain the coolant and flush with clean water. Use Caltex Extended Live coolant only (50/50 concentrate). Make sure you open the bleed screw on the radiator top hose before start filling with coolant (this will avoid the occurrence of an air block which could result in serious engine damage due to over heating). Remove the expansion tank (where you fill up the coolant) and raise it above the normal level and slowly fill with coolant until a steady flow of coolant is emitted from the bleeding hole. Replace bleeding screw and fit expansion tank. If the coolant level looks right start the engine and allow to idle until warm. Switch off engine and wait until cold, check coolant level again and top up. Remember what I said about the air block, use the bleed hole and make sure all the coolant goes in. You risk SERIOUS engine damage if you do not use the bleed hole.

Cheers

[Dan Erickson]

I have read that not all coolants are compatible, so you doing right by flushing the system. I would do it as soon as you can but I don’t think it is just going to melt down on you or clog the radiator like right now.

I have flushed my 99 D2 a few times here lately.

I wanted to get all of the old coolant out because I had used tap water and had read that it can lead to a lot of deposits forming in the radiator. I also had used some coolant recommended by someone at the parts store and had begun to second guess it, so I wanted to make sure I had a good mix of Dexcool and DISTILLD water in it just to make sure.

I decided to use the Prestone radiator flush to make sure any deposits that had already begun to form, were taken care of.

I started by pulling the drain plug from the drivers side of the engine block. It’s a square plug, so it needs the proper type socket. A pretty long extension and swivel between the extension and socket really helped.

I caught everything I could from the drain plug with a brand new catch pan, so the guys at Jiffy Lube would not bitch that the coolant had oil in it when I gave it to them for disposal.

I then opened the expansion tank ran a garden hose in there (only slight pressure) to push a little more of the coolant out the plug hole in the block until it started to run clear.

I then pulled the top radiator hose (driver’s side), as well as the lower hose (Passenger side) while trying to catch as much as I could with the catch pan. If the lower hose is taken off real slow, most of the coolant can be caught in the pan

I then ran the garden hose into the top of the radiator to push the rest of the coolant out of the radiator (again catching the coolant in the pan until it runs clear).

After that, I did not worry about catching anything else in the pan.

I ran the garden hose into the lower hose connection of the radiator just to give it a little back flush (not sure if it really helped anything or not). I was able to pressurize it a bit by cupping my hand around the hose and trying to seal it on the radiator hose connection. This seemed to work pretty good as a lot of water was coming out of the top radiator hose connection.

I did not do this, but I should have taken the hoses leading to the heater matrix and flushed that with a hose (maybe next time). I was not really worried about it too much because I new I would be cycling water through it while driving around with the Prestone flush stuff in it.

I don’t think it was absolutely necessary, but I used distilled water with the Prestone radiator flush just to get a head start on purging all tap water from the system. Before I put the flush in, I poured distilled water (79 cents a gallon and the grocery store) through the radiator (had to use a short section of garden hose to accomplish this) and expansion tank to purge some of the tap water out.

After that I just connected all of the hoses back together and put the plug back in the block (I used thread tape).

After adding the radiator flush chemical to the expansion tank, I continued to fill it until the level did not drop anymore.

I pulled the upper radiator hose and laid it on top of the retaining clips on top of the fan cowling. This made the screw for the bleed hole the highest part of the hose.

Pulling the expansion tank out of the clips, I held the tank up so that it was the highest point in the system. I had a friend open the bleed screw until water began to run out, then closed it. After remounting the expansion tank I topped it off and started the motor.

Once the thermostat opened we had to top of the expansion tank again (actually I think we had to do it a time or two after that, but not much).

Once I drove around for a few days, I repeated the process and used distilled water to flush.

I have it apart right now again to add water temperature and oil pressure sensors. I will probably just use distilled water and some stuff called water wetter (as a lube and to keep temps down) for now until I confirm that I have no leaks.

Once all is OK, I will add the Proper mix of distilled water and Dexcool, although I am thinking of just using the water until it starts to cool down outside because I heard that water alone helps to dissipate the heat better than the 50/50 mix (although it does need a lubricant in it). I’m not sure yet.

Long winded I know, but that is how I did it.

Hope it helps.

Peace,

Dan

[guitar588]

Originally Posted by Searcaigh

Why do you need to flush your radiator, just make sure you top it up with coolant when it gets lower again

i wanted to flush it because it thought mixing the 2 coolants was really bad, is it? i mean i didnt put much in, i just topped it off with the 50-50 mixture.if what i did is really bad then thanks a lot for the advice because i had no idea how to flush the radiator

[RageRover]

Mixing two different types of coolant is bad, both have different chemicals in them. I would recommend flushing it thoroughly and then adding new prediluted stuff in there, like the Prestone All Makes Yellow stuff.

[Rovin4life]

Why bother worrying about the coolant mix when you should be worrying about what caused the leak in the first place. Look for stains on the radiator surface meaning the radiator is leaking or tell tale coolant coming from the intake or frt cover gasket.

Or the throttle body gasket.

Solve the problem dont put a bandaid over it.

[guitar588]

Originally Posted by Rovin4life

Why bother worrying about the coolant mix when you should be worrying about what caused the leak in the first place. Look for stains on the radiator surface meaning the radiator is leaking or tell tale coolant coming from the intake or frt cover gasket.

Or the throttle body gasket.

Solve the problem dont put a bandaid over it.

thanks, good job on the straight advice. ill take it to autozone to read the codes if there are any. im drunk and dont know what im talking about. but how do i know if there is a leak? because for the entire year ive had it; checking it recently is the only indication that it needs coolant because there are never any puddles on the ground, and maybe when i bought it a year ago, the dealership just didnt fill up the coolant reservoir. sorry, i didnt know anyting about land rover discoverys before i joined this site, im still learning.

[RageRover]

If no puddles are seen, and no droplets are forming around fittings, hoses, etc., then you don't have a steady leak, which is good.

[6cuda6]

Just a reminder...the red type [orange what ever] does evaporate so a low bottle doesn't always mean a leak [now i'm talking a top up once or twice a year type of deal]....

As far as radiator/coolant flush what i use if you want to clean it out.....fill it the system with water after draining it out.....add about 2 or 3 table spoons of Tide or other powdered laundry detergent and run the engine for a little time [yes your reading right, laundry detergent.....cleans oil, grease etc but doesn't need to be nutralised after use so will never harm the system if you can't get it all out....plus it smells good...lol]
Drain, put a hose with running water in the top rad and leave the drain open and run the engine for a bit....
Drain again and add your coolant making sure to remove all the air [see previous post about the bleed screws etc...]

Later, Dean