austin165

I've never flushed my coolant before, my Dad recommended I buy the Prestone Flush 'N Fill kit, which I did. Problem is, I can't figure out which are the two heater hoses in my car. Hose #1 runs from fire wall to water pump. Hose #2 runs from fire wall to top of engine. This is the heater inlet hose. I can't figure out which of these hoses I need to cut. Here are the instructions for the kit:

http://www.prestone.com/products/print/461?popup=1

Anybody have any advice?


Thanks!

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

you should only use OEM factory coolant in your car and more percisely u gotta use the same color coolant.


you dont need to disconnect any hoes, under ur radiator, there is a little drain valve (usually a white color). just unscrew that and ur coolant will be drained out. make sure ur car is level.

then what you can do is pour a couple of gallons of distilled water in your car and let the car run for a bit (10mins) then drain the distilled water through that white drain valve.

then when all the distilled water is drained, you can pour your coolant in.

thats a proper and clean coolant flush.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

and you NEVER take a garden hose water and flush out your coolant system.

ezone

Not unless you KNOW what you are doing.


The Prestone T fitting flush adapter by itself is really good for causing leaks, without ever connecting the garden hose.

The dealers coolant is Honda Type 2, it is premixed so you don't have to mix it with water yourself.

Not all blue coolants are alike.

Hondas use
Conventional Ethylene Glycol based, Non-Silicate, Non-Borate coolant.
It is already 50/50 mixed with De-ionized water. Ready to use. It is long life coolant, 5 year/60k.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

unless the water coming out of your garden hose is pure water (as in distilled water) you never run it through your system.

there are calcium, minerals, and a bunch of other crap in garden hose water. why would u want to run it through a closed/clean coolant system that is (many times) fickle with the fluid it accepts.

ezone

Ah, I see what you meant now.

You have a great point, I'll give you that.

I figured someone would blow the radiator tank or heater core out from the pressure of the tap, not taking the radiator cap off.

Or have a block and heater full of water, then end up with a far less than ideal mixture of coolant and water when it's done.



As for using tap water during a service, it's been done that way for the last 100 years or so. It's only been recently that everyone got worried about deposits in the cooling system and started pushing premixed coolant and purified water. (Don't forget about the ungodly PROFIT MARGIN on water!)
Deposits and buildup in the cooling systems used to be part of life if you ran the coolant too long. Every 2 years used to be the norm for coolant.

I still have no problem with using a hose to power flush or mix coolant though, when it is really necessary. Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get it done.
I don't foresee anyone at the shop willing to sponsor buying any purified or drinking water just to waste it on some lousy car though.

Many other manufacturers still don't use premixed coolant. You can bet there is a lot of tap water in cars on the road.

Honda only started using the premix somewhere around 05 or so, so everything prior to that change got tap water in the coolant mix.

Unless some shop was paying for expensive drinking water to be dumped into cars.

austin165

I don't have a major problem using garden hose water, partly because I live in Washington where our water is really good quality. Riceboi is from SoCal, where water is nasty, I know, I used to live in SoCal. So for him, yeah I would definitely use distilled water.

I'm trying to figure out which hose to cut in order to install this flush 'n fill kit. Which hose coming our of the firewall do I cut? Hmmm....

ezone

If you chop a hose to install the T, that makes at least 3 more places to leak from.

What makes you (or anyone else, for that matter) think it needs flushed?

If your heater core is plugged, there are better ways to clear it out than the prestone way.


Normal service is to simply drain the radiator, and refill with fresh.

austin165

Trust me. It needs it. It hasn't had a flush for a few years, the coolant is brown, and I drained the radiator today I only got a pint. I need to flush everything out and put brand new stuff in, especially since I'm making a 900 mile trip this week.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

thats why u wanna drain the radiator, fill it completly up with distilled water, then let it run and then drain it again. =]

and just cuz its been done for the last 100 years, doesnt mean its good, right?

ezone

Doesn't necessarily make it wrong, either.

If it was totally wrong, then all the coolant manufacturers would ONLY sell premix, so you have zero choice.
Oh wait.....that wouldn't sell radiators and other cooling system parts if they never broke. The principles that chinazone parts stores base their business model on.

Distilled/deionized is the better choice.

sl33pyriceboi

iTrader: (3)

Rodrigo

If you simply drain your radiator and refill (with water or anything else) you leave a significant amount of the old coolant in the engine block and heater core.

Depending on your engine, you'll have a plug on the engine block somewhere which will allow you to drain the coolant from the block. On my D17A1, the plug is to the just to the right of the oil filter, as you look at the back of the engine.

When I flushed mine, I drained the radiator via the drain plug at the bottom. I also pulled the aforementioned plug off the back of the engine to get out as much old coolant as possible prior to flushing (then reinstall!). If you turn your heater control (inside the car) all the way to the warmest temperature setting, you'll maximize flushing action in the heater core. Your coolant reservoir probably lacks a drain plug; I had to remove mine to get the old coolant out & give it a good rinse.

I pulled the thermostat out of its housing and reinstalled the cover without the t-stat in place, which allows the flush water to freely circulate through the entire system. I disconnected the upper radiator hose from the engine block and shoved my garden hose () into it. I turned the tap on full bore, and let it run for a few minutes until it ran out nice & clear.

Then it was a matter of draining all the water from the system (aforementioned drain plugs), reinstalling the thermostat, and refilling with new coolant. Personally, I opted not to use the Honda stuff. I used a readily available 50/50 premix to fill the radiator and reservoir. I started the engine with the radiator cap off, and topped off the radiator as the fluid pumped through the system. Once the car reaches operating temperature (the thermostat is open), make sure the radiator is full & replace the cap.

I agree with the suggestion that there's no need to cut lines to install the prestone kit. I didn't do it to my car.

Not saying any other suggestions are right or wrong. It's just what I did to my car... which is running like a champ right now.

austin165

Wow, you guys have been very helpful. Thank you for these excellent tips! I did a full flush of the system, and I replaced the T-stat as well, so now my car is happy and so am I. Thanks peeps

MindBomber

You have absolutely no idea what you're talking about.

My tap water comes from a spring a few kilometers away from where dasani is bottled, that doesn't mean I would use it in a radiator.

Rodrigo

I'm no chemist, but it seems to me the biggest concern with tap water in a radiator would be the presence of metals (copper, iron, etc).

The only way to know if you have metals in your water is to have it tested. Pool owners have to deal with this all the time, as metals can cause problems in pump/filter/heater systems. Though I think pH & alaklinity can also be a factor.

If you're terribly concerned about the content of your water, any good swimming pool store can help you out. You probably only have concerns if your domestic water source is a private well. Most municipal water has to meet pretty stringent guidelines.

voxleo

Sorry to hijack this thread but it seemed more appropriate than staring from scratch on this as I am having this exact issue on my 95 Civic Ex coupe- bought the same stupid Prestone Kit even. I also got stuck when the stupid directions on the kit didn't match my cars innards and got sent here from my post at honda-tech to figure out which is the right hose to attach the T and backflow coupler to : http://honda-tech.com/showthread.php?t=3073744

Yeah, that didn't seem the best plan of action to cut stuff that was working well... I had planned on affixing the T at the end of the existing hose and then using another section of hose cut off something else to run the T to where the end used to be for the flush and then removing the T and addtional hose segment to reattach like it was originally.
The fluid that had remained in my system was pretty much all water and rust - actually opaque brown, as my radiator had disintegrated all along the top seam. New radiator going in, and I want as much of the old coolant sludge out as possible to get a nice clean start, and also as much of the (visibly plentiful) deposits removed from the passages.

I’ve since found out that the inlet hose is the one labeled blue in my diagram from that other thread - and assuming now that the rest of the instructions will work out as directed on the kit. Also got the new thermostat, but everything is still all apart so now I am wondering how to proceed.

Ran out from where? Isn’t the upper radiator hose where the splash thingy is supposed to go?


This is what I have in mind now:
1) install the new radiator and
2 take out the old thermostat and reclose the housing empty to facilitate the flush,
3)then pour the flush solution from the kit*[see ??? below] into radiator, top with water using garden hose**
4) run it for a bit to circulate the water/flush and clear out some of the gunk before
5) draining both the radiator and the block
6) install new thermostat in housing and
7) refill with new coolant***

Have I got this about right? Should I proceed accordingly?

* ????
I actually bought one of the kits, so that IS what I'll use but I read somewhere someone suggested to use some Cascade instead of those kits which sounded kind of frightening until I really thought about it - would that work in the same manner as those dishwasher cleaners or if you added a cup of vinegar or something?

** I REALLY don't want to walk to and then back from the store and carrying several gallons of distilled water on the return trip to boot. I am a little girl weighing all of buck twenty or so and its already HOT outside; if I undertake that trek, I'll be quite the bitch for the remainder of the day. Though I might consider filling with tap to drive to the store to get distilled to mix the undiluted coolant with and then doing the flush with that. Possible?


*** I haven't got access to Honda antifreeze atm. I do have a gallon of undiluted extended life stuff from Prestone and about a half gallon of some 50/50 premixed Prestone as well that will have to suffice. Is there any water left in the system that I need to account for in the refilling after all this? Or is this why I would use undiluted coolant to mix with the remaining water left in the block after the flush and not have to drain?

Short on cash so DIY is the only possible way to get it done, and I can execute just about anything given clear enough directions but I am short on experience and the parts vocabulary so I've no idea what to expect and I am going so slowly and reading a ton so as not to botch anything up worse as I go. But I am losing patience with not being able to drive the last week or so and I am ready to be done with it TODAY.
...

immajackuup

you can use distill water but never ever use tap water.

the way to flush is drain radiator and there should be a bolt on the block to drain the rest of coolant.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

just a quick tip, the easiest and fastest way to always have a majority of new coolant is to do a drain and fill once a year. almost all the coolant will be in the overflow tank and radiator, with little in the heater lines and engine block. here is my little trick, which if you do correctly will not require you to bleed any air out when youre done (which on these civics with tiny passage radiators is a huge pita). drive the car til its warm, and turn the heater control dial to full COLD. this will close the heater valve and trap coolant in the heater core and lines. i would then turn the car off and wait about an hour for the car to cool down. just dont do this procedure with hot coolant. put a drain pan under the radiator and open the radiator cap. take out the overflow tank and drain it (preferably measure how much coolant comes out). this coolant can get nasty, since it doesnt really move much, so you may need to rinse the overflow tank a few times. fill with same amount of new coolant and hook it back up. open the radiator drain valve slowly, only allowing a small amount of coolant to come out. as the coolant drains, pour new coolant in the radiator thru the top with a funnel. the trick is to make sure the radiator stays full. pour a lil over 1/2 the coolant bottle and you should have replaced most of it.

mac25

...it's odd what you guys are saying about the tap water thing. i agree that one should not use tap water to refill the system even at 30% water to coolant. how ever, flushing the system with tap water after draining, and removing the thermostat is exactly what the Haynes manual says. then one should use a concentrated coolant to mix with distilled water or a premixed coolant.

i really doubt when you take a car into a lube shop that they flush the system with distilled water. that would just cost too much.

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

the problem is not with flushing using tap water, its with tap water remaining in the cooling system, even in small amounts. there is no true flush method for any fluid replacements. you will always have some amount of old oil/coolant but it will just get less and less each time you change with new. im sure all of us still have some amount of green honda coolant, z1 atf, original break in engine oil left in the car.

voxleo

What about filtering your own tap? I just couldn't buy water to put it in the car, maybe a Brita might do some good? I ended up putting in the same water that we drink, which is our LA tap, run through the filter and hoping for the best...

I really can't see feeding my car better water than I drink myself, and couldn't afford to buy distilled anyway. I have absolute ZERO cash and can't wait for honey to cash the check to drive...

gearbox

iTrader: (95)

i got a gallon of distilled water at walmart for $1.25 so i dont think that should stop you from buying it. if thats expensive, i dont know how you can afford to even own a car. no offense. the equipment you would need to distill water yourself would outweigh any benefit. just buy the jug from the store and use that. water purifiers (unless you have a $1k+ lab grade system) dont really do much of anything to clean up water.