coolant flush at heater hose

[pitteach]

Has anyone had any experience with the coolant flush kits that hook up in-line on your heater hose. It is an inlet that you can hook a garden hose up to for a back flush. I bought the kit, but am unsure if I should use it. The advantage of this I see is that you are able to push more gunk out of the system and you don't have to take out the thermostat. The downside is that the heater line is located along the firewall, so I will have to take off the cowling (I'm not too concerned about this because I've done this for the iso-bolt fix and water pump fix so I can get it off in about 5 minutes.) My real concern is that I have to cut the heater hose and install a plastic tee using some adjustible clamps. Are these prone to leakage or will they restrict flow? I did a modest flush of the system when I replaced the pump, but I believe that the coolant may have been original (2000) due to its nasty blackish color and smell. I want to get as much of that out of there as possible. Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

[WINDED]

I have used these kits from Prestone on both my Mazda B4000 and my Windstar without any problems. My Windstar really seems to muck up the coolant. I had a coolant leak internal. It didnt show up in the oil but it looked as if the it might be exhaust and the water jacket could have slight breach. I flushed the coolant and ran some stop leak through the cooling system. I know this isnt the best solution but with the miles on this Van I wanted to avoid head gaskets at all cost. This seemed to take care of the leak. I still get the black soot out of the tail pipe on to the lower rear quarterpanel. Do you see this on your van?

[pitteach]

Thanks for the info. I have not noticed any coolant loss or strange tailpipe residue. I will keep an eye on it. What year is your Star? I have heard that earlier (pre-98?) models have issues with the front cover leaking.

[phil-l]

While I haven't put a coolant flush tee in my Windstar, I've done it in other vehicles, and have never had a problem. You'll want to make sure that cap is good and tight, but it shouldn't pose any restriction problems.

I have disconnected the heater line on the block near the thermostat to help flush the system.

If you install the tee, consider that you have two heater cores (presuming you have rear heat) and associated lines to flush out. During my last coolant flush, I even disconnected one of the lines under the van in the rear, just to make sure everytying was clean. It did take awhile to get all of the air out of the system...

[WINDED]

I have a 98 GL with 130000 miles. Am currently struggling with the IMRC.

[wiswind]

If you get a good quality "T" you should be fine.
I would make sure to use distilled water in the coolant mix....so if you use the tap water through the hose to flush.....I would have plenty of distilled water on hand to do a final flush with the distilled water.

Winded.... The post '95 windstars are NOT known for head gasket issues.....
The lower intake manifold gaskets are a failure item....and the fact that they get coolant into the cylinders along with the reputation from the '95 3.8L, cause the lower intake manifold gasket leak to be sometimes mis-diagnosed as a head gasket leak.

They made some changes in '96 that improve the head gasket reliability.
I have read that the Bar's brand in tablet or powder form is a good way to go...and plan to do that this spring when I flush my cooling system again.

As mentioned, the front cover is another very common leak.....which I have had success with keeping sealed up for over 50K miles with Bar's stop leak.

The lower intake manifold gaskets needed replacing to stop the slow leakage.

Black by the tail pipe.....is very common.
If it is due to a problem with the engine, you would have super bad fuel economy and most likely a Check Engine Light.