I want/need to flush the cooling system and I just wanted to know if the regular flush is better than a power flush. I guess they pressurize the system and blast all the bad crap out. does anyone have any sugestions for me.

 

In my opinion it is best to do it yourself, take your time and do it repeatedly. The only problem is that on a 3rd Gen it is somewhat difficult to fill the system and get all the air out time after time after time. Sometimes the best thing to do is to get one of those kits that has a garden hose fitting that connects to the system using a 'T', then you can either open up a radiator petcock or the block drain plug or just pull a heater hose off and run your garden hose full blast. If you have the time and patience, drain out all the antifreeze, fill the system with some water and PRESTONE Super Flush and bring it up to temperature. Drain and flush. Repeat at least one or two more times. Then refill with antifreeze and distilled water.

I'd be leery of some Wal-Mart type of shop doing a "power flush".....

 

IMO, it's better to fill with distilled water and run the car for a while, drain it, and refill with normal coolant. Unless you believe something in your system is actually clogged, flushing is unnecessary.

Dave

 

^^^^^

Agree. One of the problems with using a flush product is getting all of it out when you're done. Plus, it's best to use distilled water (un-softened tap water usually has too many minerals, and softened water contains sodium ions which will corrode the system) with any A-F or anti-rust product, so if you flush out the flushing product with tap water, you then should flush that out with distilled water.

 

my heater isn't working to well and bought the car about a month ago. it had been sitting in the guys drive way/ garage for the past 3-4 years! he and his wife only put about 4k miles on it after they bought it from his brother inlaw(1st owner). I've got a stack of paperwork on it a mile thick. I'm just being careful as we all know that not all shops take as good of care of our cars as we do. a local mazda dealership drained and filled my brother's fd and put a bunch of radiator leak stop in his, they also cut the boost line to his turbos! and so to be careful i'm doing a complete fluid job on my car; coolent, oil, transmission, and diff. i posted about my heater yesterday and a clogged heater core might be the problem. plus having all that coolent sittin for long periods can't be all that great for the car. so if i drain the coolent and fill it with straight deminerilized water and drain again (rinse and repeat), will that help clean the cooling system. what about a additive that'll clean any potential "scaling" off the radiator?

 

^^^I agree 100%. I've done it twice before, works like a charm.

 

i don't wanted to sound like a hippy, what is the best way to get rid of the coolent? down the drain or do you need to take it some where?

 

In California, you can take it to a hazardous waste disposal site, and often to local recycling centers. Do they have similar facilities in Texas?

 

It's also safe to flush it down the toilet (as long as your toilet doesn't dump into a septic tank). Water treatment facilities will handle automotive coolant just fine. Dumping coolant into a storm drain is a no-no.

 

went into autozone today to see what they had..... they've got this prestone power flush stuff. the guy was a bit odd and didn't know what a rotary engine was and said there was now such thing. bozo!!!!!! anyway he said to use tap water and run it in the cooling system for a week. i'm not stupid but i think that's a no no. anyone ever tried this stuff. I figure i'll run distilled water and maybe this power flush stuff through it if everyone say's it's cool. i'm still a noobie about this kinda stuff and i really don't jack my car up. oh yeah then he (stupid guy at auto zone) told me to go to a coin auto wash place and drain the fluid and blast the radiator with the power washer!!!! this guy shouldn't work at an auto parts store! any other good coolent additive helpers any one knows about?

 

clr

 

that won't hurt the rubber lines?

 

Yeah, you were dealing with a moron. I would never add anything to my system but coolant and distilled water. (Ok, water wetter too).

If you run one of those cleaning agent you'll have to figure out how to get it out, too. That's why I'm a fan of simply circulating / replacing regular coolant. It's not like oil, which loads up with metal dust and grit that needs removed - simply changing coolant every year is plenty of maintenance.

Dave

 

dunno. maybe if you left it in there forever, but all the times i've used it, i haven't noticed anything detrimental.

the guy who had my fd before me overheated it and used that block sealer stuff and plugged up the heater core. i was tired of having no heat, so i flushed the heater core out with murriatic acid. i once again have heat

 

In Austin you can take it here:

http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/hhw.htm

 

I also agree with Dave.

I've seen an engine that's be ran on tap water.. It will leave ton of mineral deposits. Some say you could add little bit of white vinegar, warm up the engine, and than drain/ fill it back up. But the problem will be how you are going to drain all the fluid (same goes with other cleaning product). You could drain it from the block and the radiator and flush with distill water.. but that might be quite a bit of work.

What I've done in the past is do multiple coolant change. With this device, It makes it quite easy. I hook it up to one of the line from radiator to ast, and suck up the coolant and fill it back up. Also makes your oil change a snap! I've been using this device for over 4 years (oil change, auto tranny fluid change, and coolant change).



To order goto: http://www.griotsgarage.com
They also sell other great car care products.