Can anyone direct me to the engine flush thread...

[greazzer]

I plan on trying the 2 day flush deal on my EWP project so I will post some snappies there.

[Clemson88]

Originally Posted by greazzer

I plan on trying the 2 day flush deal on my EWP project so I will post some snappies there.

My citric acid is in the mail. I'm going to start the flush mid next week. I'll drain the block and flush the old fluids out then set up a wash cycle using a dish detergent.

I'm planning on running the liquids into the head and out the feed where the lower radiator hose hooks up at the front of the engine. Will that work?

[vstech]

I hooked up a sump pump into a 5 gallon bucket filled with hot water and a mix of cascade dishwashing liquid, left it running overnight, dumped it out, flushed with hose for an hour, mixed up some citric acid in hot water, ran pump overnight, flushed with hose an hour again, then used a leaf blower for an hour to dry it out and filled with distilled / zerexG05 and drove the car for two years and parked it... it's still got sparkling clean coolant.

[Clemson88]

Originally Posted by vstech

I hooked up a sump pump into a 5 gallon bucket filled with hot water and a mix of cascade dishwashing liquid, left it running overnight, dumped it out, flushed with hose for an hour, mixed up some citric acid in hot water, ran pump overnight, flushed with hose an hour again, then used a leaf blower for an hour to dry it out and filled with distilled / zerexG05 and drove the car for two years and parked it... it's still got sparkling clean coolant.

That sounds good to me. The citric acid came today.

[strelnik]

Originally Posted by Junkman

You shouldn't need battery connected to measure coolant voltage. Regardless, changing coolant will take care of the problem of old coolant causing electrolysis if there is one.

There are arguments all over the place regarding whether an additive is required for a flush. I personally use water from a hose. Just make sure that the engine is cold when you begin. It probably doesn't matter but I'd hate for cold water on a hot engine part to crack the part.

I have talked to several water guys (they run industrial or municipal water treatment plants), so I listen to what they say. FWIW:

Municipal or ROPS (reverse osmosis purification system) water should be ok because it typically has few minerals and nothing brackish in it to stick to cooling walls.

I did notice that one guy who does NOT have a MB follows the detergent/descaling phase + rinse + citric acid flush + rinse + mix of 50-50 between demineralized water and the Zerex G-05 for his car, which is a Volvo 960 '97 (?) (vintage). The engine on those is pretty solid and so is the radiator, but apparently the heater core is the weak part of the system.

Not too different from what many people here do. His advice: NEVER use well water or water with a lot of softening salts.

Like I say, FWIW.

[Clemson88]

Gentlemen, I got distracted from this project. I got a good ole southern hankering to paint so I moved to the interior restoration of this year old project. I reckon the engine cooling system flush is the only thing left to do outside the cabin.

I have this thread bookmarked and I'm not about to restart my engine without flushing the cooling system.