foggysail

I have a 99 Taurus, the plain vanila 12 valve engine. It is time for me to do something with the radiator before the radiator does something to my wallet. Last winter I pulled the hoses from the heater at least 3 times to flush the thing in order to get heat. Inside the radiator reservoir there was the common sign of brown poop that others have called "death."

Well, I want to prevent the next cancer stage from occurring by flushing this thing out. My thought is that whatever is added for a flushing detergent it should be left in the cooling system for a couple of days or so to get this crap out. Next, I don't recall seeing a radiator drain cock on the radiator but maybe it is hidden out of sight.

Questions-- what is the recommended way to drain the radiator? Next what is recommended for flushing the radiator along with how long should the flushing substance be left to circulate before draining? Finally, is one flushing deemed adequate or should the flushing be repeated?

Thanks--

Foggy

RickMN

If your system is that corroded, you may not want to flush it with chemicals. Read Tip #2 on my blog: Flushing Cooling System

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SHOZ123

The best place to drain the entire cooling system is where the 1" hose coming off the degasser tank tees into the lower radiator hose. It's accessible without taking the air deflector shield off and just a spring clamp to remove. Easy as pie with a 5 gallon bucket.

jwko

If you decide to go the chemical route, I would bypass the heater core with a hose coupling or some other way if possible.

SHOZ123

The heater core is part of the problem and needs flushed.

foggysail

Thanks folks especially Shoz for suggesting where to drain the system. I feel that if the only thing between a good drive and a radiator failure is crap in the system prevent leaks then I need to know that now. I intend to go with the flush treatment with hopes for the best. I am going to be careful though about what it is I put into the system.

I have some Purple stuff and I wondered how that would work. I put a small sample onto a piece of aluminum and waited an hour. WOW! It looked like the stuff was disolving the aluminum. Nope, that will not make it to my cooling system. I did look around at Wally World for some radiator flush and did not see any. Maybe need to go to Napa or another auto parts store. Heck, I even considered Simple Green. One thing fro sure, I have got to get control of the cooling system.

NEXT ON MY AGENDA AFTER THE COOLING SYSTEM IS THE AIR CONDITIONING SYSTEM. Yes, that is another topic. I do believe I have a leak that needs to be found and fixed. I wil start another thread on that topic later.

Foggy

jwko

Yeah, but all that rust and scale in the cooling system thats breaks loose, sure loves to stop up those small tubes in a heater core. I still say block it off & what I forgot to mention in my other post, flush the core separately with water. You can do it however you want, it's just my suggestion.