I decided that I'm going to dump the coolant and just go with distilled water and Redline water wetter. This is actually my first rodeo when going without coolant, so I'm wondering what is the best way to get all the coolant out, or as much as possible, without using water from a hose? I'm also going to remove the t-stat. If there is still a little coolant in the bottom of the block, would that be an issue?
How do I flush out the coolant without a pressurized hose?
- Thread starter BuickMike
- Start date
I use water and RMI125, no coolant. You really need at least a garden hose, or you will leave a ton of old water in the block. Remove the upper hose from the radiator. Stick a rag in the upper radiator hole, start the car, and let the water pump shove the water out the engine and out the top hose. You really need to spray water in the radiator while this is happening, and it will flush most of it out. You will always have some old water left somewhere in the block.
I'm not worried about old water for a contamination reason. It is still clean. I just had it in my head for some reason that I could not mix water wetter and coolant. Really though a little coolant won't hurt. I refuse to put anything but distilled water in my cars. Everything that has been distilled from the get go like a brand new car or fresh build has never been contaminated and all I've done is drain and refill what I can every 15k miles.
Sorry for the confusion here. I should probably rephrase my question to be, how to I drain as much as I can without introducing tap water into the system?
I should also add that I have a motor with 5k miles, fresh radiator, and core. Nothing but coolant and distilled water have touched the cooling system. It is still clean as a whistle. I just want to try using water wetter instead of coolant because the car runs a little on the hot side and I want to try this first.
I should also add that I have a motor with 5k miles, fresh radiator, and core. Nothing but coolant and distilled water have touched the cooling system. It is still clean as a whistle. I just want to try using water wetter instead of coolant because the car runs a little on the hot side and I want to try this first.
Last edited:
Thanks!
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
I just want to inform you Mike that WaterWetter is not a complete radiator additive. It does have a surficant to lessen water tension for better heat transfer, but it will not protect the system and will defiantly be caustic and acidic, so eventually your solder will removed from inside the radiator.
In the very early 90's I was using WW, and when my radiator literally fell apart after a year of service, I was fortunate enough to find RMI-25 which is the best radiator additive ever produced, and have used it ever since!
Thanks Nick. Looks like even the guys running water wetter also run it in conjunction with coolant or RMI-25. Also seems like they only use 1/2 a bottle of that stuff. I'll grab a qt off Amazon. How much do you put in? I'm guessing you also sell it, but you are easily 50 miles or more from me.
John Larkin
Sublime Master of Turbology
- Joined
- May 25, 2001
Those block drains are fragile in my opinion. I tried to get mine out amd they are square and an odd size. Not 1/4" but close. I remember getting something on them and they felt like they were going to twist off. I was going to replace them with petcocks but it ended up being more trouble than they were worth. I flushed mine with tap water and it's been fine.
- Joined
- May 26, 2001
So will RMI-25 lubricate the water pump plus as well as provide other critical benefits!
TexasT
Texas, Where are you from
- Joined
- Sep 10, 2002
Maybe remove the thermostat, and put the neck back. Cut up a bicycle inner tube so you have the nipple where you put the air in and enough to clamp the cut tube to the neck. Hose clamp it to the neck and roll up and clamp the other side of the cut with a vice grip or a quick clamp or something to seal it. Then put some air to it to push the liquid in the block out. Is that redneck enough for ya? haha
Alrighty, so I got around to this. Again, my coolant was really clean still, but my car was running around 190 with the AC off and 200 or so with it on. I trained all I could, pulled the T stat, put it on the stove in hot water to make sure it opened properly. That was all good. I then reattached the neck without the t stat and piped compressed air through the upper radiator hose. I got quite a bit more out. Probably about 3 gallons total. I filled it back up with distilled water and RMI-25. Thanks for the advice Nick! I'll return the water wetter. I jacked the front of the car way up so I could burp the system. Got it to operating temp with the heater on and ran it at 2000 RPM while filling her up. Buttoned it up and went for an 80 mile drive today. It stayed at 165 -170 AC off and 175 with the AC on. I'm a happy camper.......except the AC went out when I was around the corner. After a little troubleshooting I found that the magnetic coil on my compressor clutch went out. Note to everyone Stay the Hell away from the AC Delco replacement compressors. I have a spare that has a good clutch on it. I may just swap them out if I can do it on the car. I guess if I didn't find some gremlin to chase every time I drove it, it would not be a turbo Buick.
FYI thanks for the tip. I did it easier. I threw the neck on without the t stat and connected the upper radiator hose to it, then duct taped my high pressure nozzle to it to seal it up.
Ditto: RMI and water is safest in case of any internal failures!! Years ago we back flushed from bottom hose thru block & then thru rad, not sure if that applies to our cars?? May have to remove thermostat to get total flush, but it really cleans out !!
Neel Dhudshia
New Member
- Joined
- Nov 8, 2004
Any info on RMI 25 you can read their web site. www RMI 25 .com. When just using distilled water would double the dose ( 16oz)
