The coolant in my car is a reddish-brown color.

This is not normal, correct? All the coolant I've dealt with in my other cars was greenish.

So I got some radiator flush and plan to run it through later today after work and then put brand new coolant in.

Is there anything else I can do to better clean this other than flushing it and then running water through?

Also, I hear it's a major PITA to get the plug out of the bottom of the radiator, any ideas on an easier way?

If anyone knows how much coolant/water our cars take, that info would be cool too. It's a carb'ed 305.

Thanks.

 

well some cars actually do use a redish colored coolant, to my knowledge, its supposed to last longer, i doubt if that is what u have though. as far as the drain plug goes, i usually just tap it or if time is tite, remove the lower rad hose.

 

As I sit here with my beagle(Snoopy) I can recommend this. Get a prestone flush kit, it comes with fittings so you can install a fiiting in the heater hose and hook up a garden hose to it. Take out the stat and put the stat housing back on. Then reverse flush the system. If the coolant has been neglected you may want to do this over a period of several weeks. you can also add a flush that is safe for aluminum and run that for a couple of days. It is possible someone changed the coolant to the newer DEXCOOL which has an orange color. Depending on how well the system was cleaned of the older style coolant in some cases the DEXCOOL will discolor. If is ain't DEXCOOL, the you have a pile of rust in there. After you get it as clean as you can then I would recommend changing over to DEXCOOL, it is a zero silicate long life coolant. Also use only distilled water for the final mix. Get a new cap for the rad and a new stat and you ought to be OK. I would also recommend a complete hose replacement. Heater hose is cheap and as long as you have a mess why not get a top and bottom radiator hose. These cars do run hot, a properly maintained cooling system is more important than anything else. I converted to DEXCOOL when it first came out, and I ordered a sticker from GMSPO that attaches to the radiator so some idiot doesn't add the green crap accidently. If you want the part# drop me a post.

 

Well, I got all the coolant out. It was almost black w/ red tint(rust deposits i guess)?!

Got a flush kit from a different manufacturer and another small bottle of "10 minute flush", ran them both through, then ran a full load of water through. Water came out almost clear.

If anyone wants to know...the capacity of our cooling system on the V8 is 17 quarts... I have to go get another gallon of dexcool now because the first time i read it i read 7 quarts.

2 gal dexcool and 2.25 gal distilled water sound about right? That's 17 quarts...

Thanks for all your help guys.

 

I actually like to put in the system flush the day before I do the flush and drive around with it like that (if it's not going to just sit for an extended amount of time until then).

I also like using that backflush kit. I used the Zerex kit. It's a cheap piece of crap and I had to modify it a bit so it wouldn't spew the coolant all over my expensive paint job, but it sure did flush things out nicely, and it doesn't look too bad ('cause you can permenantly install the t-fitting) in the engine compartment.