Coolant flush

[Tommy53]

Hello I'm wanting to drain my coolant system and I think I've got an idea how to do it but not totally sure. Do I do the following...

Put car on axle stands
take off overflow cap
Pull up the drain plug till its all come out then replace it
pour in hot water till it reaches the max line
Run the engine to warm and keep repeating

is this correct or are there any guides?

 

[Lewis583]

Sounds about right. Don't forget to put your heaters on hot though and medium fan speed when running it up to temp. Not doing so can cause air locks.

 

[Tommy53]

I can't find this coolant drain anywhere :-/

 

[Chillout]

I can't find this coolant drain anywhere :-/

Thats because it doesn't have one unclip the lower hose.

 

[Tommy53]

That's the drivers side one on the rad isn't it? Do I need to disconnect the intercooler pipe too as its in the way

 

[Chillout]

It's on my passenger side but yours could be different watch out for air locks mine took ages to purge remove the cap when draining

 

[Tommy53]

Sure this middle one is it. How do you purge it? Using heater matrix and driving?

 

[Chillout]

Run it with cap off heating on stationery of course and squeeze large hoses to move air locks mine took a long time to purge.

 

[Tommy53]

How can you be sure it's correctly purged? I'm getting hot air through all heaters and no bubbles are coming up + the coolants not dropping any more.. Is that correct? Temp gauge sits just below 90 now tho, little much coolant to water ?

 

[Chillout]

How can you be sure it's correctly purged? I'm getting hot air through all heaters and no bubbles are coming up + the coolants not dropping any more.. Is that correct? Temp gauge sits just below 90 now tho, little much coolant to water ?

Check your return pipe to the expansion tank has a good flow and keep an eye on it for a while as you may find your Poland level will drop as it bleeds .

 

[JudderMan]

I changed my radiator to a cheap eBay one, that is far better than the OEM one (especially as it doesn't have a hole in it) and it killed the thermostat, so if you think that you've got all the air bubbles out and the temp doesn't get up to 90 then it might need a new thermostat.

To burp the air bubbles out, as mentioned do it stationary with the cap off, then go for a fast drive, getting plenty of load on the engine (hills 3rd gear) and check every 5 minutes to see if it needs topping up. I found that it needed a little more once it had cooled down after a drive.

My 2p.

 

[Tommy53]

Thanks all, seems to have settled now but I have a bottle of the coolant mixed with water in my car incase it drops

 

[ArianAu]

Where is the radiator cap? 2.0 8p

 

[SootySport]

He means the coolant reservoir yellow cap and that was 3 years ago

 

[ArianAu]

He means the coolant reservoir yellow cap and that was 3 years ago

Yes, but does anyone here know wheres the radiator cap located? Not reservoir cap

 

[SootySport]

There is no cap on the radiator. What you trying to do?