Flushing a \6

[shadango]

Checked the coolant yesterday and its brownish....time for changing, obviously.

I dont know the full history of the car, so was planning on doing a full system flush.

From what I have found online, the slat 6 has a drain plug on the block, but it seems like many folks have major issues getting that loose.....I dont know if the one on this car has moved in 36 years.....

SO....I was planning to drain the radiator, maybe install one of those t fitting kits from Prestone to do a thorough flush of the block......

Or should using the block drain plug be mandatory?

 

[AJ/FormS]

This is a really hard question to answer. The sludge all builds up in the bottom of the block. The only way of getting it out is to remove the freeze plugs. It accumulates like jello but doesn't crumble like jello.It has to be scraped out with tools, and you can never get it all out, in frame.
I forget where the slanty freeze-plugs are but on SBMs,that sludge eventually rots out the freeze-plugs, and then they leak, especially the one above the starter.
The slanty seems pretty tolerant of having the bottom inch or two of the block sludged up with that goo.
Personally, I would leave it in there. If you disturb it with chemicals, there's no telling where it will end up. If it ends up in the rad, it will plug it up nicely.
I rebuilt my last slanty in 94, so it hasn't been flushed in 32 years. No heat related issues,yet.

 

[shadango]

Yeah I didnt think about freeing up chunks....

But the current coolant looks pretty grungy.....so I want to at least get that stuff out.......

Gonna probably just use one of those garden hose flush kits and cross my fingers.....I usually use the premix stuff so I don't have to use tap water but......the flush by default will use tap water....

 

[kkritsilas]

For mixing anti-freeze, I use distilled water from the grocery store or Wal-Mart. Tap water is very hard here in Calgary (most of the water supply comes from snow melting, then running down the sides of mountains, so it picks up a lot of minerals on the way down, and we are only about an hour away from the mountains by car).

 

[Aspen500]

Don't forget that flushing with the garden hose will leave the block full of water if you can't get the block drain(s) out. It'll only drain through the radiator petcock to the level of where the lower hose is on the water pump.

 

[Jack Meoff]

If it was me and my driveway mechanic method I'd just drain the rad and pull the lower rad hose let it go as low as it's going to. Reattach everything and fill with the garden hose. Then drain it all. Then repeat. Then drain it all and THEN fill it with distilled and fresh coolant. You wouldn't disturb the sleeping sludge and you'd have fresh coolant.

I may be wrong but I think it would be better than the old stuff and it's a two to three beer job depending on the weather.

 

[BudW]

The key word here is: to use Distilled water.

The key sentence is: to use 50% green coolant and 50% distilled water, and change it often

I’ve been told (often) that coolant doesn’t go bad per se, but the anti-corrosion properties in the coolant loses its effectiveness after two years or so.
I have no degree with this, but in my opinion (for those cars using green Glycol based coolant), those who has changed the coolant every 2-4 years have a much cleaner system than those who do not change it that often.

My ‘77 Service Manual says: “Drain, Flush and Refill at 24 months or 30,000 miles, and every 12 months or 15,000 miles thereafter”.

I will say that I do not change my coolant every year.
That said, I am doing something to each car that requires coolant to be drained every couple of years or so (water pump leak, burst hose, etc), so it seams like, in a round about way, the maintenance gets done (but not by my schedule).

Maybe there is a higher power influencing my scheduled maintinance (hum, I need to ponder this . . .).

BudW

 

[shadango]

Don't forget that flushing with the garden hose will leave the block full of water if you can't get the block drain(s) out. It'll only drain through the radiator petcock to the level of where the lower hose is on the water pump.

Yeah, I was thinking of that.

We ended up using the flush kit and let me tell you, the old stuff was nasty. But no real problems that I can see.

When we were done flushing the system took almost 2 gallons of green coolant before we saw the mix at the t fitting....so we didnt have to add much tap water at all.....just whatever was already in the block when we finished flushing.

I wasnt in the mood to tempt fate with a drain plug that may have been untouched for 36 years.

Our tapwater here is not overly "hard" water....soap suds up well, etc...we dont have iron stains or heavy lime deposits on fixtures....

I think the tap water/green coolant mix we have in there now is much safer than what WAS in there.....YIKES!

 

[BudW]

Distilled water is 100% pure.

Tap water is a stretch from being pure water (lots of minerals, fluoride, and who knows what else).

For flushing, I’m not against using tap water.

Our local Walmart will sell you 2 gallon jugs of distilled water for about $1.00 (US).
While at Walmart (or the store you frequent), compare the expiration date on "drinking water", "spring water" and distilled water. Now you don't know when said items were put on shelf, but you will notice the distilled water has the longest shelf life.

I will dare anyone to take a couple of clean sealable containers, put tap water in one container and distilled water in the other. Set aside for a year and come back to compare results.

 

[Aspen500]

One other thing with old coolant is it starts acting like an electrolyte between the dissimilar metals in the system (iron, aluminum, copper.......). Basically creating a battery and causing electrolysis that as we all know creates corrosion. More or less the same way salt accelerates the rotting away of cars up here in the good ol' rust belt. A good majority of radiator leaks or heater core failure is because of it.

 

[AJ/FormS]

Hey, fellow Canucker
I thought it never got cold enough in Calgary to freeze!

 

[kkritsilas]

it can get as cold in Calgary as it does in Winnipeg. We did see -32C last year, with a solid week of -23C as a daily high. Mild winter this year, but it varies year to year. Winnipeg doesn't snow in July, like it does here on occasion. Since I have been here (15 years), I have seen it snow every month, including July and August. I have also seen it at +18C on Christmas day.

Water in some areas outside of Calgary is so hard that you can't wash your car, as it leaves a whitish fog all over the car, and is especially noticeable if you let a water drop dry off by evaporation; you get a nice outline. Its much better in the city.

 

[Justwondering]

-32 C -- too cold.. it gets below freezing more than a couple of nights per winter and its a 'bad' winter

 

[AJ/FormS]

Dang it! I forgot the Lol again. Yeah I know you guys sometimes get hit with the wet stuff too.Maybe not like Atlantic Canada tho. Got a hi-school buddy in the south part of the Hat.Redvers I think it is. Haven't been out to see him now for 10 years tho. They get some warm winters there. Dare I say "mostly" warm. I always thought I would like to retire there one day

 

[Jack Meoff]

-32 C -- too cold.. it gets below freezing more than a couple of nights per winter and its a 'bad' winter

Here you go Becky.
Great Canadian Winters.

 

[kkritsilas]

Dang it! I forgot the Lol again. Yeah I know you guys sometimes get hit with the wet stuff too.Maybe not like Atlantic Canada tho. Got a hi-school buddy in the south part of the Hat.Redvers I think it is. Haven't been out to see him now for 10 years tho. They get some warm winters there. Dare I say "mostly" warm. I always thought I would like to retire there one day

The "Hat", or more formally, Medicine Hat, and surrounding areas, is one of the warmest parts of Alberta, with generally warmer winters and warmer summers, too.

Calgary's weather is unpredictable at the best of times. The winds coming in from the Pacific are loaded with moisture, and most of it does end up on the west side of the Rockies (which is why Whistler, BC is a mecca for skiers). However, a lot of stuff gets into the mountains, and swirls and bends around, and mixes up in various ways. This is why we get Chinook winds in winter (no, Mr DiCaprio, it isn't Global Warming), snow in the summer, and all sorts of interesting things going on with weather patterns. In most parts of the country, you can bet the weather forecast will be pretty accurate for the next 24 hours, and decently accurate for the next 3 days, most of the time. Weather forecasts in Calgary are only accurate for the next 3 hours or so, and anything beyond that is to be taken with a very large grain of salt. Other interesting part is that different sections of the city can have different weather. It snows more in the north west part of the city than it does in the other 3 quadrants. You can have rain in one part of the city, but sunshine in another part. Part of it is the sheer size of Calgary, part of it is the mountains' effects on the weather.

 

[Justwondering]

Well as they say, that cold winter should put hair on your chest.
Do you walk around like the pillsbury dough boy with 20 layers to keep warm?
How do you bring yourself to open the door, knowing its that cold out there? Its all I can do to force myself into layers to get out and grain the goats on those 5 or 6 days a winter that it gets 'cold' here.
I'm gonna have to find another term cause what was in that video and what kkritsilas described .... now that's real cold.

 

[kkritsilas]

Like any other place in the world, you get used to it. I would probably have a very hard time with the weather in SE Asia, close to 40C (100F) and 80-90% humidity, but eventually, I would get used to it. Same with lliving in Arizona in the summer; probably go crazy from the heat initially, but get used to it in a few years.

In Calgary, a sweater and a jacket are usually all I need, along with gloves (have some cirulation issues with my hands). In Montreal, due to the added humidity, some sort of head covering, maybe even a facemask during the coldest times; boots, too in Montreal. Not normally required in Calgary, unless really cold or we've had snow. The one thing about winter is that you can alwaus add layers, with heat, after you get down to your last layer, you run out of options.

 

[Jack Meoff]

Nothing says "fresh" like -40°

 

[Justwondering]

Well - you make good points. Although, the reverse is also true. Grew up on the edge of the Sonoran desert, so this seems cool to me.