So I bought my car a few months ago and being 16 I now decided to check my engine coolant. So I open the cap and the resivoir where the coolant goes is full of this brown muck (car was owned by some guy who lived on a farm and he had owned it for over 15 years so I think its mud). I know that it isnt good to have mud running through your engine so I started to remove the container so I could wash it out. I am able to pop that pin out on top but the bolt that holds it will not come out. I mean I can turn it all I want but it wont come out but when I turn it the other way it is able to tighten. How can I remove it so I can clean it? After I clean it should I flush the radiator too? How do I do that?

 

Don't take it out. With the car cold, take the overflow hose off at the radiator. Plug it with something. Fill the bottle with water, and take a bottle brush to it, then just drain it out through the hose and flush it with water once. Reconnect, good to go.

Check the coolant in the rad. Is it green? or more of that sludgy brown? Cause if it's sludgy brown and bubbly, that might be indicative of other problems. If it's green, you should be okay, but you can still drain the rad with the petcock on the bottom corner.

if you are going to flush it, follow the instructions on the flush product you buy, to the letter. It's usually put it in, fill with water, run for X amount of time, drain, refill with proper coolant/water mixture.

Though, about half the time people I know have used flushes, they have wound up with leaks they didn't have before, and then it's egg, pepper, or silver flake time.

Pull your dipstick too.. see what the oil looks like.

 

What do you mean by bottle brush? If I cant get the thing clean with the first flush with water can I do it again? Oh when I checked the radiator it was still nice and green which I was very happy to see.

 

LOL. It's a brush that looks like a foxtail on a long wire handle.. for cleaning baby bottles.

yeah, once you have the drain hose off (and draining to the ground) you can clean it out as much as you want.. you are just letting it run out to the grass or driveway or whatever. I'd collect the "brown crud" first, and dispose of it properly, but after that, you are just rinsing.

the reason I said disconnect the hose from the rad (the little one that goes to the bottle, not the one that goes to the engine) is cause then you can just drain through that when you flush the bottle. Though, in areas where there's high iron in the water, I've seen those bottles brown/red just from the oxidation of the water people poured in them.

 

The bolt goes through the fender - reach up above the tire and hold the nut.