coolant flush question

I've been reading up on coolant flushing, running water through the system until it comes out clear and what not. I'm wondering how large of a bucket I'm gonna need to do this. According to the service manual the coolant system holds 2.8 gallons, so figure about that plus however much water runs through until its clean. So for those that have done this before is there a good size for a bucket/catch pan that'll do the job without having to start/stop to empty it? Or is that something I'll have to end up doing regardless?

The problem I had was that I had the right size but it was too tall so I used 2 old paint buckets that you mix paint in. It got to the point to where if one was getting full I moved it and put the other under really fast and made it work

310toumad said:

I've been reading up on coolant flushing, running water through the system until it comes out clear and what not. I'm wondering how large of a bucket I'm gonna need to do this. According to the service manual the coolant system holds 2.8 gallons, so figure about that plus however much water runs through until its clean. So for those that have done this before is there a good size for a bucket/catch pan that'll do the job without having to start/stop to empty it? Or is that something I'll have to end up doing regardless?

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Buy like a storage toat and have it drain into there.

The street works, lol.

Noob question here, where do I start with the coolant flush??? I purchased a 2001 pontiac grand prix Gtx edition and the coolant looks horrible, so any ideas on how to drain the coolant?

how to flush coolant.

remove the t stat, put the t stat housing back on, take the upper hose off the radiator, then push it down to the ground to a bucket or let it fly.

get your garden hose out, put it in the rad turn it on, then fire up the car, let it run till clear water pumps out the top hose.

then turn the hose off, run the car till no more water comes out the upper hose. then turn it off.

put your t stat back in, with new gasket, the upper hose back on.



now take 1 gallon of full strength green antifreeze, not the 50/50 crap. ( parts store cheap green is fine to use) dump the whole gallon in the radiator, fire up the car, fill the rad with hose water till its full. top as needed till its ready to be bled of air. it will burp and take coolant as the water in the block warms up the t stat opens up for a few seconds till cold coolant hits it and it shuts again.

now to bleed the air out, let it idle rad cap off till the fans turn on, (when the fans are on the temp is over 195 deg, the t stat is wide open) then open the bleeder screw on top the t stat housing a few turns till a steady stream of coolant comes out the hole, shut the screw, top off the rad. cap it.

done.

The "done." is the greatest part lol.

For the future, coolant is no longer considered hazardous waste therefore you can just pour it down your sink or toilet. I just let it drain down the driveway and spray it down just so people don't b!tch

Sent from my LG G3

Does this method also flush the coolant that runs through the transmission?
It is my understanding that my 04 Comp G has an internal trans cooler and i'm wondering if those lines have some blockage because I am constantly getting high trans temps when driving about 20-30 miles in 100+ degree weather.
What coolant flush do you recommend? I read that Blue Devil is very good......

the trans cooler is just inside, you dont flush it separately. its just in there.

your trans temps are hot cause its hot where you live and you could use a external cooler added to it to get it back under 200 degrees.

any rad flush will work, prestone has been around for years and works, some how im sure blue devil cost 3 times as much, nor have i ever heard of a flush they sell.

Is it possible that the lines that run through the transmission could be slightly blocked if the previous owner was using dexcool and didnt flush it properly. It had the green stuff when I got it.
As far as coolers go, is there an inexpensive option?

theres no flushing the cooler. im not sure what you think goes on inside the rad.

external trans cooler, 40 bucks off ebay, 28,000 gvw truck oil cooler, hayden brand.