I'm flushing out my coolant system pending a new radiator install, for the simple fact that I would rather the rust, and whatnot be in the OLD radiator as opposed to the NEW. Well I've flushed about 3 times now, the third time with superflush, and have gotten lots of rust out of the system. I plan on flushing once more with another bottle of flush, but want to consult you folks first. Will it hurt anything?

Also, is distilled water the same as the "drinking water" sold by the jug at wal mart? I bought 3 gal. of pre-mixed but will probably need to top it off with more.

Last but not least, I managed to unclog the knock sensor plug to drain out coolant, but have yet to get the other plug to budge. Has anyone else had this problem, and what did they do? I'm considering just flushing some more, but would like to get every bit of old coolant out of the block. Thanks.

 

okay, already added the 2nd bottle of flush, is coming out cleaner now.. still stumped about the drain plug not coming out, and the distilled water, but i now have another question

regarding transmission lines going to the radiator.. what size wrench do I use? Do I have to use another one to secure the transmission cooler, or not? I assume not since the radiator is getting trashed anyway. But I dont want to twist up the hardlines. Thanks.

 

It's impossible to over-flush a system. The cleaner the interior passages are, the more free of gunk, corrosion, grime, etc, the better.

Distilled water is essentially free of imperfections by means of distillation (boiling the water and condensing the steam as the distilled water). Different from regular drinking water (some drink it, some say don't).

Try heating the area/using a pentrent such as PB on the drain plug. Since it's just a pipe plug, it has a tendency to freeze. Air tools will bust it loose in a jiffy.

Not sure on the wrench size, I just pick up wrenches and try them to see if they fit. They're just tube nuts so there SHOULD'T be any twisting of the hardlines. If all else fails, you can always splice with a short section of rubber line.

 

Woah!

Wait a minute here....you realize that superheated water (over 212) is explosive, right?

Seen mythbusters?

There was an episode where the myth was that if you could superheat water to beyond the boiling point, it would explode, heres what they did....

They took 2 cups of water, 1 tap water, 1 distilled water, since distilled water is free of impurities and will not boil. Let me repeat that, because I think its important here....distilled water will not boil. They heated the 2 containers in a microwave, until the tapwater boiled. Then they kept heating the other container a bit longer, opened the microwave, and dropped a fork into the cup, and BOOM, the water launched itself right out of the cup and all over the place. Because an impurity was introduced to it.

Now, if you go putting distilled water in your radiator, what happens when it gets to 212 degrees? It wont boil over! Isnt it supposed to boil?

Is it common practice around here to put distilled water in your radiators?

I guess it gets rather impure once it circulates around in the engine for a while....I guess I just never considered putting distilled water in my radiator....

 

Don't forget, your cooling system is pressurized, I believe a 15PSI cap raises the boiling temp to around 240*. A bunch of antifreeze (around 50%) gets you a few more degrees to play with.

For the time I've been working on cars, first there was no mention of distilled water for cooling system use, then it was all the hype (at least in the stores, they started putting it in displays) and now you don't see it nearly as much.

The whole point to the distilled water idea is to keep calcium out of the system...anyone that's looked at an old abused radiator will understand that. Same concept as your tap at your house, the more calcium content, the worse the buildup. So distilled water just ensures you aren't adding any calcium.

Antifreeze might be all thats needed to keep the problem you mention from happening, it's not a good idea to run anything on straight water obviously. If I had some antifreeze and distilled water around, I'd try the test method you describe but with antifreeze added and see what happens!

 

if your gonna run distilled water then make sure you add a bottle or watter wetter. Thats what I use. I think is cost 50 cents a gallon at walmart for the distilled water and then I just picked up some Red Line water wetter at my local parts shop. my main reason for runningit is to slow down the build up of impurities in the system. If it drops below freezing in your neck of the woods then I would suggest not doing the water for ovious reasons