We always flush with tap water until clean and clear then we do a couple of distilled water flushes to get the tap water suitably diluted to be a non issue.
Cooling system cleanliness
- Thread starter freedom_in_4low
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We always flush with tap water until clean and clear then we do a couple of distilled water flushes to get the tap water suitably diluted to be a non issue.
Ha ha! I'm afraid of what might show up. I'm sure ther are plenty that just need replaced.
Good call. The force of the flush can bring out a surprising amount of crud. Do you pressurize the distilled or just pour it through?
OP
I did but I flushed with distilled about 3 times afterward.
Logic used: Cooling system holds 10 quarts, figure probably 1 in the bottle, so call it 9. Say 2 stays in the block when you drain it.
first drain and fill - 2 quarts tap water out of 9 = 22% tap water
second drain and fill - 2 quarts of 22% tap water out of 9 = 5% tap water
third drain and fill - 2 quarts of 5% tap water out of 9 quarts = 0.3% tap water
@freedom_in_4low
I need to do a full cooling system replacement as well (water pump, thermostat, hoses, etc). I do know the cooling system is pretty dirty. Should I do a Thermocure flush before or after I replace the water pump and other stuff?
I need to do a full cooling system replacement as well (water pump, thermostat, hoses, etc). I do know the cooling system is pretty dirty. Should I do a Thermocure flush before or after I replace the water pump and other stuff?
OP
I can thermocure and flush for close to what it would cost for the filter setup, but I wouldn't rule out some way to filter it outside the Jeep and reuse the coolant since chemically speaking it should have 3 more years left in it. Coming up empty on anything like that though. A gravity filter that I could just pour it through into a clean 5 gallon bucket would be the ticket, but everything I come up with in a search are intended for vehicle installation. I don't know enough about filtration to know what else to look for to engineer a custom solution.
This was almost 25 years ago, but a shop I worked in actually did coolant flushes where it sucked the coolant out with a pump, filtered it and put it back in. Obviously doesn't do anything for the block, but that would save me from having 2.5 gallons of antifreeze to dispose of.
OP
Makes sense to me to flush before so you're not running dirty stuff through all your new parts.
I was thinking that too. The only concern I have is I know that the water pump is bad and I don't want to run it too long with a bad water pump at the risk of it overheating. I need to watch some videos on how to do the Thermocure flush.
Cheap paper towels in a deep funnel are a surprisingly effective sediment filter.
OP
is it leaking through the weephole? Or how do you know it's bad?
The good thing about the water pump is at least it doesn't have a bunch of nooks and crannies to trap junk, so if you have to change it first, it's not the worst thing. I would definitely wait until after the flush if you're replacing the heater core or radiator.
The biggest downside on having to flush with the new water pump is that the opportunity to spray out the inside of the block through the open water pump hole happens before you've done the flush, whereas I think it would be more effective to do it after. I don't know if anyone else actually does that, but I did it on my previous TJ which was far worse than this one.
We do the same with coolant. I'm not going to drain the block so we mix our coolant 70/30 coolant to distilled and when that mixes with the distilled left in the block, that brings it to 50/50.
OP
I was musing about coffee filters but I like that even better. My wife still hasn't psychologically recovered from not being able to find paper towels in 2020 so we have rolls and rolls.
Fill, radiator cap on, start it up and run it for 5-10 minutes, drain and repeat.
OP
do you mix it and then pour it in? I've contemplated pouring in half the system volume of concentrated antifreeze and then topping off with distilled, let the system mix it for me and put 50/50 in the reservoir. The only hangup is if the cap releases some 70%-ish into the bottle before I've burped all the air out, then I'll have more than 50/50 in the bottle and less than 50/50 in the system until enough transfer has taken place for it to even out. I can't imagine it would be enough to worry about though.
Stop being an engineer for 10 seconds. It takes 2 gallons of coolant and 1 gallon of distilled to get 3 gallons of 70ish/30ish.
Using 3 of the empty jugs that held distilled, pour the coolant into them until all 3 have the same amount in each. Top off all 3 to full with 1 gallon of distilled. Now you have 3 gallons of pre-mix 2/3 coolant and 1/3 distilled.
I was just about to suggest coffee filters. Cheap, effective and readily available.
Those pics look like sediment that got stirred up from the bottom of the block? I don't think a cleaner will get rid of it. Blaines garden hose idea is probably the best bet
The water pump is weeping, and the mechanic that I took it to when I bought it a month ago said this. I want to do it on my own. I bought this Wrangler as a project and it needs a decent amount of work. I'm thinking of doing the water pump first because it'll help to circulate everything within the cooling system. I know the cooling fluid is old/dirty/rusty. With a bad water pump, I don't know how well it will circulate everything. I've already had the Jeep overheat once.
OP
fair enough, I've gotten into the habit of overthinking things at my desk at work because sometimes it saves me having to stand there and think in my 100 degree garage.
buuut FWIW
, my reservoir held 2 quarts to the full line, leaving 8.1 quarts under the cap, so it works out almost exactly to a gallon of antifreeze into the system and half a gallon of 50/50 into the reservoir. The laziness is tempting.