Radiator Maintenance

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

I want to drain, flush and replace the anti-freeze in my Buick. An old timer once recommended draining the rad, putting a hose in the radiator fill hole, running it and the engine for a few minutes, then filling it with clear water and a few teaspoons of Baking Soda. After that according to him, one should drive the vehicle for a day or two, drain the rad and then add new anti-freeze. I've tried both this and the commercial flush method in a few old cars. The cheaper home remedy method seemed to work just as well as the commercial one. Any comments?

[Guest Richard D]

I am not sure about the baking soda, but make sure the hose does not fit too tightly in the filler neck. Most home water pressure is between 50 and 70 PSI and a friend blew the tank and hose off his Mustang when the system got full and the drain petcock had no chance of releasing the amount of water going in.

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

Yes, I remember that the water will back fill and bubble with full hose pressure. Thanks for the reminder.

[charlie1]

Just drain and refill with 50 50 mix every 2 years and you should be fine.

[Guest Mc_Reatta]

Don't forget to turn the heater on so you flush out that heat exchanger as well.

A great time to flush the system is when your changing the thermostat.

[Guest THEHKP7M13]

Just drain and refill with 50 50 mix every 2 years and you should be fine.

Thats all I do. I do it every year. ANTI-FREEZE IS CHEAP...cooling system parts on the other hand.

[padgett]

Replace/flush every 2-3 years. Usually open one end, stick a hose in the other (easy with a Fiero) and flush for a while. Then drain as much as will come out and refill with 1 gal of real antifreeze ($48/6 at Sam's) and the rest distilled water (78 cents a gallon at my Mart of Walt).

50-50 is only worthwhile if under $4.50/gal.

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

Thanks for the replies. I am going to try to do it this week in our condo parking lot. I'll have to recover the waste fluids, though, and dispose of them somehow. Someone will probably get all bent out of shape if there's any spillage.

[Guest mongeonman]

You should look at the frost plugs while you are at it,if they are bad you could change them,it would pevent to empty the cooling system one more time.I replaced the ones on my 2 reatta last month,3 were leaking on the 1990 and 1 on the 1988,i used the rubber plugs,they work fine,i had one for 3 years on my 1988 and it still in place and no leaks.

[Guest SwiftBuicks]

Actually, I'm working on the '95 Le Sabre Presidential which just passed 90K miles. I did the drain and flush, cleaned the overflow tank, filled it with water and added the quarter cup of baking soda. Then I did a little driving around town. In spite of the 85 degree weather we are having, nothing boiled over. I couldn't find anything but 50/50 premixed at Walmart. There wasn't any distilled water there either. I'm going to drive for a day or two and then fill.