I have been reading through a bunch of threads dealing with cooling loss and they say flush your cooling system, use prestone easy flush and whatnot.

My question is, is that just flushing the rad or am i able to run high (ish) pressure water/flushing fluid or whatnot through the top rad hose going into the engine and have it flush all the internals out the bottom rad hose? (my rad is not in atm) or is this a bad idea?

Cheers
Jess

 

sorry forgot background info. not that it should make a big diff. I have an 85 GSL stock(12A). Rad is getting cleaned and sealed, wanted to clean out all the cooling passages as best i could without removing the engine and taking apart....

 

you need to have the engine running to flush out the internals of the cooling system, which is probably a bad idea without a rad
i say needs to be running cuz the thermostat needs to be open
i dunno what to tell ya; one of these other rotards could tell ya this, but would it be better to flush the engine through your newly cleaned radiator, or borrow another rad just to flush? you can always drop another 50 bux and have the rad cleaned out again :shrug: probably be fine tho. my .02 (worth about .005 USD, but its rising)

 

My advice:
PULL rad - take to rad shop for proper dunk 'n flush. They can get more stuff out than what a simple back-flush can do. Great time to change out ALL the heater and rad hoses too... and maybe thermostat and new rad cap!?
Don't forget to use distilled H20 on the refill-
Stu Aull
80GS
Alaska

 

100% on that bro. Flushing the radiator will not unclogged the mineral build-up

 

ok koool, yea i brought it to a shop to get cleaned and sealed i was just wonderin about the coolin passages and whatnot but will do what you guys recommended

thanks again

 

he already has the rad pulled. the rad is at the shop getting cleaned out. He is asking about flushing the engine side of the cooling system while the rad is out of the car

 

Recommended flush procedure is to remove the T-stat and flush. Actually water is brought into the engine by the lower hose not the top. Water is expelled out of the top and back into the radiator.

I would recommend removing the t-stat and inserting the garden hose in the opening and just allow the water to go through the engine without it running. After you do this then you can install the radiator, fill it with water and the flush. Follow the instructions on the label then install the new t-stat and correct amount of antifreeze.

 

This would be the best way, for sure. If you have access to something that can put some pressure on the water (not a pressure washer, but a nozzle that can hook up to a compressor) then I would suggest using that. If the engine was just run, don't put much water through, probably 1/4 full pressure until the water doesn't come out hot anymore.


Its also good to flush through the heater-core separately, just to make sure there is no junk in there, but make sure you don't use too much pressure through there, or you might risk causing the heater-core to fail.

 

K Thanks again guys.

Am i allowed to switch topic even if it is related?

I am installing an electric fan...I know you dont need it blah blah i have some clearance issues so i need one leave it at that. Do i need a special thermostat to hook it up or will i still use OEM mazda one?

 

Ford Taurus E fan. I have it, only cut a notch at the bottom for the hose. I have maybe 1/8th inch clearance between that and a pully. Just enough to scare ya.

I run AC as well. Having the fan on low blows as much, if not more, air than the stock fan. And be prepared to loooove 2nd gear more

 

I know about the ford taurus fan and how alot of people have it. tho i do appreciate you letting me know the clearence haha.

 

You lost me on the question.

Are you referring to the engine t-stat?

The t-stat has nothing to do with the operation of the fan. When installing an electric fan you can either just run a on/off toggle switch or use one of the controls that go into the upper radiator hose that automatically turn the fan on and off.

If you want to get more creative you can drill and tap another opening in the back of the water pump housing and install a regular fan switch and run a relay through the electric fan.

 

Yea sorry doc thats my bad. i was noticing reference to a thermostat and got confused but the one i was thinking of was an adjustable that clips into the rad. thanks again everyone for your help

 

You are probaly taking about and electric thermostat for the electric fan right? Yes they make some that clip to the radiator and don't actually have to touch the water.

 

Yea got it all figured out. Slightly confused at the moment but got figured it out. Thanks for the help, if youve removed your rats nest please help me on a question in the other thread. cheers