radiator flush

[V-Spec]

what does it take to flush a radiator properly

do they need it out of the car

can it be done at home, but not the type where the fluid just gets dumped like they presurise it or something i dont know

and wheres the best place to do it, i live in vermont melb

natrad do it but just wondering if its better and cheaper anywhere else

[cowie165]

Try a search. lwells posted a thread a while back about DIY radiator flush for R32 GTR, it's the business.

[lwells]

To answer your questions:

* It involves sticking the radiator in a water tank and having an air hose stuck in the bottom outlet. Air is then pumped through (in the reverse direction) at high pressure.

* Yup, unless you would prefer to submerge the car

* Removing the radiator is very easy: probably a 5 minute job for someone who has done it before. Putting it back and replenishing the coolant is far more time consuming (but very easy to do) because you have to cycle the car, then wait for it to cool.

* No idea on the "best" place: its bread and butter type stuff for radiator shops, so just ring around for a good price.

My write up is here:

http://www.skylinesaustralia.com/forums/sh...ead.php?t=67730

Lucien.

[Gav]

Lucien

An extremely good write up!

Not a criticism, but a question of effort vs benefit: given that you didn't "power flush" the block (i.e just drain it), why go through all the hassle of removing the engine drain plug? Since distilled water is very cheap (or often free if you know someone in an industry that uses copious quantities of it such as a laboratory or manufacturing plant etc), I would think that multiple flushing with distilled water and draining (from the already flushed radiator) would essentially do the same thing. This is particularly so if you know what the engine block cooling water capacity is and just deduct this proportion from the dilution water that you would otherwise finally add to the system.

As I said - not meant to knock a very informative and useful DYI thread, but just an idea to save a lot of extra hassles.

Cheers

Gav

[lwells]

Gav,

I was not aware that there was a block "power flush": how exactly does that work? Most times I have seen power flushed referred to in regards to radiators and the cooling system it has meant the end caps being taken off the radiator, and some sort of cleaning device inserted into the radiator.

As for why I drained from the block plug rather than cycling water: well, I had never tried to drop the coolant from the block before so I didn't know how hard it would be Having done it once, I think I could probably do it much faster a second time.

Lucien.

[V-Spec]

sweet

thanks heaps for the heads up