attempted a coolant flush, but don't think it did anything... ?
 

Well, me and my Champagne87 did coolant flushes on our respective cars as prescribed in the haynes manual, but i'm wondering if it did anything. What i don't get is that the water we added to flush it(with all the plugs on the radiator takewn out, water dripping out the bottom hole) the water seemed to flow right down into the water pump/into the engine, not through the radiator at all... does the car have to be perfectly level or something? Also, my colleague at work said that with all the cars he's worked on, he had the car running with the drain plug removed(on the radiator, not engine) and added water as needed to the filler on top of the engine... This sounds like a better way to me, but scares the hell outta me having coolant pouring out with the engine running! Can someone tell me what i did wrong, or if i did it right, or suggestions? Thanks!


~Jesse also i think the car runs a hair warmer now too :(

Another thing, the coolant plug on the engine was no where to be found! There was, however, a plug a couple inches to the right of where it should have been, and the bolt was like size 23 mm i think... anyways it was a weird plug, had a fitting before it with a small diameter tubing coming out of it, is that the coolant plug? Thanks again,


~Jesse

bump

so no one knows?

The coolant plug is located on the drivers side right where the motor mount is. It usually is a silver plug that is a size 14MM if I recall correctly. That 23MM plug you saw is probably your oil lines. Can you take a pic of it? Also, the best way to do the coolant for me, is to put in a bottle of that Prestone cooling system cleaner. Then you drive with it in the cooling system for a couple days, then drain and flush the block and radiator.

To drain the block, just pull off the lower radiator hose, and pull out the block coolant plug. Then take off the thermostat neck, and run the hose down the thermostat hole into the water pump. This is back flushing (against flow)

As for the radiator, I have a Griffin AL radiator, so I just leave off the lower hose, and put the hose in the fill cap on the top for 10 minutes or so. COmes out perfect.

Next, replace your thermostat with an OEM one, not some POS Stant or anything like that. Fill with correct ammount of coolant and distilled water for your area, and pour in a bottle of Redline Water Wetter for extra cooling help. Don't forget to put back in your coolant drain plug or you waste your $7 bottle of water wetter (ask me how I know that) :)

Ah, thank you! I wish i could take a pic, but no digital camera or scanner... if anyone else could post a pic that clearly showed the plug, i'd be way appreciative. I'm positve the plug i was looking at was an oil plug... good thing i decided not to take it out.. For the back flushing part, should the engine be running? Thats what everyone who doesn't have a 7 is saying, but I don't like the way it sounds.. So don't just take off the radiator fill cap(which on mine is located just above the thermostat neck, and i dont have a cap on top of the radiator), but take off the whole thermostat neck, thermostat included? Will i need a new gasket from mazda for this? Also, does the car actually need to be level, or can it be on ramps? thanks again,

~Jesse

bump...(just so I can find this later after work, hehe)