Suggestions on FLUSHING MY RADIATOR???

[leedowney]

Hey guys. I plan on flushing my radiator in my 2000 Winnebago Journey on a Freightliner chassis with 275 hp Cummings engine. I have already bought 5 gallons of the Alliance anti-freeze that was put in it new.

What is the best way to flush my radiator? The service tech at Freightliner today told me the way he does it is drains all the fluid out. Puts his water hose in the top and turns on full. Goes into the coach and turns on the dash heater to open the heater cores and starts the engine. He waits until the water is completely clear coming out of the radiator. Turns engine off and lets it finish draining. Then refills with new fluid.

Anything he missed or additionial suggestions are helpful. Thanks.

[DriVer]

Originally Posted by leedowney

Anything he missed or additional suggestions are helpful. Thanks.

Looks like you have everything figured out and the process you quoted looks like it'll work just fine.

[chasfm11]

Perhaps it is just me but I worry about the output of the system after the first dump.

I replaced all of the hoses when I did my system a year or so ago. Here were the steps in the process that I followed.
- run system to operating temperature. With heater valves open, dump the system and capture the output for recycling
- fill the system again with tap water, run until operating temperature and then dump, capturing output for recycling.
- fill system again and add Cummins recommended flush. Drive vehicle per directions.
- dump system and use cold water flush until it runs clear.
- replace all hoses, fill system with hose, run to operating temperature and dump.
- fill system with distilled water, run to operating temperature and dump.
- fill system with 5 gallons of coolant ( 10 gallon capacity), top off with distilled water.

I mixed 50/50 coolant distilled water and had to add a couple of times as air worked its way out of the system. I carefully followed the procedure recommended by Freightliner for bleeding of the air but it took a couple of times topping off the coolant resevoir before everything settled down.

I'll admit that some might consider this process overkill. The problem was that I paid to have the coolant replaced previously and they only added a couple of gallons afterwards. I suspected that they didn't do things correctly and wanted the extra protection of making sure that all of the old coolant was gone and that I was running distilled, not tap water with it.

[leedowney]

Originally Posted by chasfm11

I carefully followed the procedure recommended by Freightliner for bleeding of the air but it took a couple of times topping off the coolant resevoir before everything settled down.

I'm interested in what the procedure is for bleeding any air out of the system once I do this flush and refill tomorrow. Can you provide some tips they gave you?

Thanks.

[leedowney]

Well, radiator is flushed and job is done.

[Elkhartjim]

Lee, make sure the coolant is disposed of properly. Animals, especially dogs love the taste of coolant and it will kill them quickly.

[leedowney]

Originally Posted by Elkhartjim

Lee, make sure the coolant is disposed of properly. Animals, especially dogs love the taste of coolant and it will kill them quickly.

Thanks for the advice. We have 2 cocker spaniels that will eat or lick anything. I plan on taking what I captured to Advance Auto and see if they will accept it. Other than that, I'm not sure what to do with it. It was about 8 gallons. I actually spilled more putting the new coolant in than I did taking the old out. I even bought a special funnel just for the job and it didn't work well at all. Learning experience. I washed the driveway very well after I finished. I probably spilled a total or 2 qts of the 5 gallons I put in.

Thanks again for the advice.

[FleetMan]

Depending where you live, many municipal dumps have recycling facilities for motor oil, filters and anti-freeze.

[leedowney]

Thanks Fleetman. I'll check into that.