Radiator flush hints and advice, please.

Hello there, i am going to flush out the coolant in my 2000 Oldsmobile
Bravada, i can find the drain plug on the radiator so i guess i have to
loosen the lower radiator hose, any good advise on how to remove
the clamps, and find the block plugs. This is my first time so
any advice would be great.

also if you can tell me the location of the lower radiator hose that will be great, and sorry i forgot to say THANK YOU!!!, i am at work

The drain plug is at the bottom of the radiator on the passenger side. Turn it 1/4 turn then pull straight out.

Here's the flushing method that I recommend:

For normal maintenance:

Buy the following:
2 gallons of distilled water $1
2 gallons of antifreeze $20
Prestone Flush 'N Fill kit $3
Prestone Radiator "Flush" $3

Turn your heater on and leave it on for the entire process

Drain the antifreeze from the system.

Install the "T" from the Flush 'N Fill kit and follow the directions that came with it.

Disconnect the water hose, close all the drains, add the Prestone Flush, fill with water, get engine up to operating temperature and run for 20 minutes, allow to cool then, drain the system.

Connect your water hose to the Flush 'N Fill "T" and flush one more time. Drain.

Fill the system with a 50/50 mix* of antifreeze and distilled water. Continue to fill the system over the next few days as the air is worked out of the system.




For clogged, neglicted, or extremely dirty systems:

Buy the following:

2 gallons of distilled water $1
2 gallons of antifreeze $20
Prestone Flush 'N Fill kit $3
Prestone Radiator "cleaner" not "flush" $4

Turn your heater on and leave it on for the entire process

Drain the antifreeze from the system.

Install the "T" from the Flush 'N Fill kit and follow the directions that came with it.

Disconnect the water hose, close all the drains, add the Prestone Cleaner, fill with water, run the engine 3-6 hours (you can leave it in for a few days if neccessary), drain the system.

Connect your water hose to the Flush 'N Fill "T" and flush one more time. Drain.

Fill the system with a 50/50 mix* of antifreeze and distilled water. Continue to fill the system over the next few days as the air is worked out of the system.


*When you do your final drain and fill....not all the water will come out so to get the proper 50/50 mix you should add the right amount of straight antifreeze then top off with the distilled water.

use a non-toxic antifreeze to replace your old. if you can't find it look for antifreeze with an oderant that will alert you to a leak. sorry to keep harping on this subject, but this is from an ealier post of mine:

antifreeze leaks can be more dangerous than you think. we had a small heater core leak that went unnoticed until we went on a long road trip. about three hours into the trip my wife, who was sitting in the passanger seat with the windows rolled up, had a grand mal seizure. very scary. and she has a cdl so she automaticaly lost her job for 6 months and can't drive any vehicle for 6 months.

common anti-freeze is a veritable soup of toxic chemicals, although up to now i've never experienced any problems even though i've changed three cores and a couple of radiator hoses in the past two years on my vehicles. we think it was the duration of exposure combined with lack of ventilation, or worse her sole source of ventilation was thru the saturated ventilation system. The link to a poison center sheet on one of the worst componets of anti-freeze is http://www.iowapoison.com/index.asp?pageID=155

I remember that Eric, is your wife getting better?

thanks for asking Chris, she's doing fine. seems like no long term effects, but she can't legaly drive until Dec 8th. i'm counting the days. in the meantime i've got the taxi duty. three kids. football practice and games, volleyball, dance lessons, library, church functions, dentist appoinments, birthday parties, and the list goes on. and worst of all, on top of all this, i have to take her shopping too. i almost blew up last weekend at the mall when she said "as long as were here, lets go look for new window treatments".

Thanks for the replies, i didn't do a flush that night i changed my brake pades instead haha, i tried doing the flush but was not able to locate the drain plug and the block plugs that are located below the exhaust manifolds, say the haynes manual. Any how i'm gonna jack up the car and crawl under there with a flash light.

Foon, don't forget your jackstands...flat foons can't help anybody.

Eric, glad your wife is getting better...looks like she'll be on the road just in time for holiday shopping. Hang in there pal.

haha flat Foons hahaaaaaaaaaaa, got a nice rtune to it
Alright i think i have to dis connect the lower radiator hose, do i just let that coolant spill all over the engine compartment? Do i need to turn on the heat or anything? I'm just gonna flush thru the radiator til the water runs clear.

There's some information that I posted in this thread that may be helpful and answer you questions :naughty: :
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=464026

Blazee has good info. Taking the lower radiator hose off will get most of the coolant out so you can proceed with Blazee's flush.

Sorry it took so long haha, i'm back
Hey Blazee, i wasn't ignoring your post, i just thought the flush was a lot hard than it seems, any how i did what you said and everything worked out super fine, Thank you

Sorry it took so long haha, i'm back
Hey Blazee, i wasn't ignoring your post, i just thought the flush was a lot hard than it seems, any how i did what you said and everything worked out super fine, Thank you
You're welcome. I'm glad that it worked out for you.

I normally just post the advice and then stay out of it, but I couldn't resist being a smart @$$ and replying with a link to your own thread. :evillol:

i flushed my system last winter, and the heat worked fine. i also replaced the water pump. now this winter i am getting no heat again. the antifreeze lvl is up to where it should be, so no leak. is there anything else besides flushing the heater core that i can check, i would rather not flush it again so soon (just the mess). also, if this is any indication of something, when i turn it to auto, it turns on the ac, even tho its 40 out. is there a temp sensor that might be bad? thanks, you guys have always been a great source of info

*edit
i just saw the other posts on this issue, i'll give them a try