tips on flushing coolant.

[pasenah]

Anything I should need to know?
Can I use a flush product?
Percentage of coolant/antifreeze?

Cheers

[marcus]

Can't think of any benefit to using a flushing product, when I changed my water pump I flushed with a hose until the water ran clear.

Dilution is product-specific, so read the label, but typically around 33% ie 33% coolant, 67% water.

[james butler]

Always flush one way then flush the other. I.e the heater matrix has 2 pipes disconnect both then flush one way then the other.

[Jack92]

done it a few times with head gasket failures, dissolve a dishwasher tablet and flush it through and then water. It breaks up any oil which is in there.

[pasenah]

Ideal, thanks guys.
Just need a dry day now :)

[Nate]

done it a few times with head gasket failures, dissolve a dishwasher tablet and flush it through and then water. It breaks up any oil which is in there.

or a decent squirt of biological washing liquid. same kind of idea. both are a hell of a lot cheaper than "proper" coolant flush, and you've probably got one or the other in the house already

[Jack92]

done it a few times with head gasket failures, dissolve a dishwasher tablet and flush it through and then water. It breaks up any oil which is in there.

or a decent squirt of biological washing liquid. same kind of idea. both are a hell of a lot cheaper than "proper" coolant flush, and you've probably got one or the other in the house already

for some reason i never thought of that would be alot easier than dissolving things lol

[Nate]

they both do the job. i just got into the habit of using washing liquid coz for years i didn't have a dishwasher! the person who originally told me about it advised the use of biological, as it's apparently better in a washing machine at shifting oily stains on clothes (doesn't get them out of my work kit though!)

[dozzum]

Always go 50/50 on the coolant.

means your covered for as all temperatures a and also means you don't run the risk of running too weak.

Apparently coolant mixed too weak is actually more corrosive than plain water or so I was told.

[pasenah]

Great tips, thanks

[mark1gls]

I use this stuff in my cars and it's already mixed so just pour it in.
http://www.eurocarparts.com/ecp/c/Volks ... &0&cc5_865

[Lukeh17]

Do you have the Haynes manual? It should give you the percentages for the coolant

[pasenah]

Yeah I do, 6.5lts with 40% - 50% antifreeze.

[Blueshark]

I always use the coolant VW sells, it is a coolant but also protects the aluminum and metal parts from corrosion because it is some kind of 'greasy'.

It also cooles a lot better then anything with water and the boiling point is around 124 degrees Celsius.

Over here it is called G12++ and sold by VW only.

Joost

[james butler]

you will find putting too much antifreeze into the system like 50-50 will cause overheating in the summer, this is why there is a recommended mix. i wondered for ages why my engine used to get so hot in summer and i found out it was because i was running the coolant concentration too high, to fix it i drained half of the coolant out and refilled with plain water. it never really gets cold enough in england to do damage so i dont worry so much and just have the mixture around 25% antifreeze. if you want to do it properly you can buy a hydrometer/refractor/antifreeze tester to see how low a temperature you are protected to.