How to Flush a Car Radiator

One should definitely know that owning a car comes with a lot of responsibilities and maintaining the car is one of the major tasks that comes forward with buying a car. And if you talk about maintenance you dare not skip them cause doing these work is what keeps your car running. And you have to keep in mind that there are different kinds of maintenance works. Some are very simple and easy to do but some are pretty hard but both are must do. But again these simple tasks you can avoid for sometimes but the important ones you should not at all. And flashing the radiator of the car is one of those important jobs. And this article will give some idea regarding flushing the radiator and how you should do it.
Car experts often say that the radiator is basically the heart of the cooling system of the car. And what it does is that it sends liquid coolants which is also known as “antifreeze” in different parts of the engine just to keep the engine cool and thus it protects the engine from overheating. As you can see that this radiator is very important so you also need to properly drain or to replace the antifreeze time to time. And experts suggest that this should be done in every five years or after 100,000 miles of driving.
Flushing in simple words is basically cleaning the radiator. What you will have to do is supply distilled water and run through the radiator and then add the antifreeze. You have to again keep in your mind that you should not skip it because it naturally keeps the engine cool and also this task cleans the cooling system from dust and rust. And this why this article will give a brief view of flushing.
Choosing The Antifreeze
The first and most important work before using the antifreeze is to buy the antifreeze. And you definitely need to be very careful in buying a coolant. This because there are different kinds of coolants for different situations and you will have choose a coolant regarding your situation. For example there many coloured coolants. Some are red, some are green and some are orange. You have to keep in mind that most of the cars have green dyed coolants but some brands tend to use red dyed coolants. As result before choosing make sure which one is perfect for your vehicle and if you have any want of replacing the colour then prepare properly. The orange coloured coolant is very different from the traditional or common red or green dyed coolants. There is an advantage of the orange coolant and that is the orange one is long lasting but it has a huge difference from the common red or green coolants and this is why if your car has common red or green coolant and you want replace it with orange then you will have to do a lot work to prepare your vehicle for new coolant. As a result now can see why choosing a coolant is so important.
How to Flush a Car Radiator
Now I will try to give you a straight step by step process of performing a radiator flush in your car :
Tools
First you will need is to collect the tools. And you will need a funnel, a large drain pan, a screwdriver and a wrench to perform your work.
Materials
Firstly you will need four gallons of “ready-to-use” antifreeze. Secondly you will need two gallons of “concentrated” antifreeze or coolant. And lastly you will need two gallons of distilled water.
Main Work
As now you have collected all the tools and materials it’s time for the main work and which is flushing the radiator.
Step 1
First you will have to find the radiator and for that you will need to open the hood of the vehicle and then look for a finned and flat area in front of the engine. And this is the radiator. And you also have to keep in your mind that you will find the radiator with a round cap like metal object and that is called pathway to the radiator and most of the times its marked with a saying like “radiator coolant” or something. After finding the place at first you have to do is that you have to properly mark the place in your mind.
Step 2
After finding the radiator your job is to drain the radiator. And for that you will have to crawl under the vehicle and then you will have to find out the valve or a rubber hose which is connected to the radiator. And the valve is connect with the help of clump which is removable. Now you will have to take the drain pan from the tools and use it to loosen the valve or the clump and if the the arrangement is hose type arrangement then all you have to do is to pull the hose away. And then all you will see is yellowish green, red or pink liquid to come out through it rapidly and this liquid is called antifreeze. And keep in your mind that you will have to leave the radiator draining for at least around 10 minutes or more.
Step 3
The third step is known as flushing the radiator. And first what you will have to do for it is to replace the hose and then re-tighten the clump which is keeping it in the right position and if there is any closing systm in the valve then use it to close the valve properly.
You definitely remember the metal cap of the radiator from the first step. So now what you will have to do is that you will have to pour distilled water properly inside the radiator by opening the metal cap and then make sure the radiator is full.

After that you will have to replace the cap and the you will start the vehicle and run it around 10 to 15 minutes. And this will basically help to run the distilled water through the engine taking all the dust, rust or derbies inside the cooling system and flushing it out.
After running the engine you will have to stop the engine and then you will have to again do the draining of the radiator. Again use the drain pan and use it to loosen the hose to make the distilled water out of the vehicle.
While you are doing this you will have to be very careful that the children of house or any pets does not come in contact with it. This is because the antifreeze has a sweet taste and it is highly toxic in nature and if you want to avoid any kind of unwanted incident you will have to dispose the old antifreeze properly. Make sure you take professional help if needed to dispose the antifreeze.
Step 4
The fourth step is where you add the fresh coolant. First you figure out how much coolant you need and then again find that radiator cap and then find a funnel from your tools. After that using that funnel pour fifty/fifty blend of “concentrated antifreeze” and distilled water inside the radiator. Now you can also use “Preemixed engine coolant” with any dilution or something but for that you will have to pay extra because this stuff is bit costly.
As you are pouring the antifreeze inside the radiator you have to be very clear about the overflow of tank. This is why you have to make sure that the tank does not overflow and the fluid level touches the service line. And the fact is that the overflow tank is made of plastic and it connected to the radiator with a small and flexible hose.
Now after pouring the liquid you will have to start the vehicle and run it for a while and after that check if there is any leaks in the system and if not then congratulations you will not have to repeat the previous works in five years or before 100,000 miles of driving.
Step 5
This is basically last of the last step. This is where you shutt the car off and then you add little more of the distilled water and the antifreeze. And make sure you check the overflow tank became your target is to make some antifreeze appear in the bottom of the overflow tank.
After that you will have to open the cap of the overflow tank and then you will have to again fill it with more distilled water and antifreeze and make sure you keep the liquid couple inches below the service line. After that you are done and done for good.
Wrap Up
We buy a car becauae of our daily need of travel regarding our personal life or work-life or we buy car just because we love them. No matter why we buy it but we definitely want it run for a longtime. And for staying fit in the long-run the car needs to have a healthy cooling system and for that a healthy radiator and to keep that one must maintain the radiator properly buy proper radiator flushing. And this article mainly showed you how to flush the radiator.