Changing/flushing antifreeze Lebaron, ''95, 3.0L V6.

On Mon, 21 Feb 2011 12:19:53 -0800, QX > wrote:

>On Sat, 19 Feb 2011 14:45:52 -0500, mm >
>wrote:
>
>>Well, I can't believe it but I've forgotten how to change the
>>anti-freeze. This must be the start of Oldtimers Disease.
>>
>>It was 70 degrees in Baltimore yesterday, and a good day to flush the
>>cooling system. Lebaron, ''95, 3.0L V6.
>>
>>I ran the engine until it was hot or at least warm.
>>
>>The petcock opens with no tools -- that's nice.
>>
>>I drained the coolant into one of those rectangular bottles that lie
>>in their side; I removed the thermostat and flushed for 5 minutes with
>>a garden hose in the radiator neck until the water ran clear. Let it
>>drain, put back the petcock, put back the thermostat, filled the
>>radiator with 50/50, but it took less than a gallon.
>>
>>Ran the engine a minute or two until I realized that maybe I had only
>>filled the radiator.
>>
>>Went to see if I could add more coolant, but I couldn't. Usually I
>>can keep adding and adding, even when it starts way above empty.
>>
>>I added about 3 quarts, when the capacity is 8. (That's right, isn't
>>it?)
>>
>>After sitting all night, today I could add a 3 or 4 ounces more.
>>
>>Could it be I never drained the engine after all? How could that be
>>when I removed the thermostat and the petcock and after flushing let
>>it sit until nothing was coming out of the petcock hole.?
>>
>>
>>There's a big chuckhole in the road near here. Maybe I should go
>>drive over that.
>>
>>I found a lot of webpages about changing antifreeze, and all but one
>>said nothing about the thermostat, not even to consider changing the
>>thermostat when changing the antifreeze. Lots of webpages about
>>flushing the engine and not a one about removing the thermostat to
>>help this. Even though one page went into the fact that the
>>thermostat closes when it's cold. -- They all seemed to talk about
>>flushing the radiator and not about flushing the engine.
>>
>>
>>P.S. I also got a Felpro gasket for the thermostat and it has a
>>brown plastic ring on the inside circumference on one side. But
>>nothing on the card to say which side of the gasket goes up. Which
>>does?
>>
>>
>>Thanks.
>>
>>mm
>
>
>Stop a just about any auto parts store and get a
>Prestone Flush-n-Fill kit. Permanently nstalls in a few minutes,
>use whenever you need a complete flush. This system has been around
>for decades. Works well, lasts a long time.
> http://www.prestone.com/products/print/461?popup=1

Thanks a lot. I'll look into this. The url says it does just what I
want.

On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 22:14:11 -0600, "Daniel who wants to know"
> wrote:

>
>"mm" > wrote in message
.. .
>> On Sun, 20 Feb 2011 19:14:15 -0500, "Rob" <nobody >
>> wrote:
>>
>>>there should be a drain plug or petcock on the block down low on one side
>>>or
>>>the other.
>>
>> I see. Thanks. I'll look.
>>
>> But how come I didn't get most of the fluid out of the block by
>> removing the radiator petcock. Most of the engine is higher than
>> that, right, and water seeks its own level. So shouldn't it flow
>> through the lower radiator hose, into the radiator, and out the
>> petcock opening? How could it not do that?
>
>
>On a "normal" engine it would but IIRC on a Mitsubishi 3.0 the water pump is
>driven by the timing belt and the lower rad hose goes to a pipe that runs
>down the valley between the heads below the intake manifold hence it is up
>higher than the block water jackets and would prevent a full drain.

You are absolutely right.

You were right to begin with and then I found my shop manual, with a
picture!

I ended up prying the heater hose off the engine tube. I used a
ruined phillips head screwdriver that I had sharpened and it worked so
well, it was so easy to get off, even on a 16-year old car, that I
went after the other heater hose that is more hidden but which would
allow a reverse flush.

I had a small brass device, that I bought 40 years ago and had never
used, that was meant to replace the petcock in an all-metal radiator
and connected to a garden hose at the other end. I clamped some
rubber fuel line on the small end and easily forced that about 6
inches into the heater hose. It was a good fit and no water came out,
but brown water came out the other end for a full 5 or more minutes
before it ran clear. I connected the other hose back to then engine
and was able to flush the engine and the radiator at the same time,
with the water coming out the other heater tube from the engine and
the petcock opening. Again it took more than 5 minutes to run clear.

There was no need to drain the engine as long as I could flush it
adequately.

I certainly wasn't going to take out a freeze plug, or whatever that
would be, and then try to replace it properly, so it woudn't leak,
outside in February, with or without a lift, and it wasnt' necessary.

To refill, I removed the thermostat housing and also added via the
radiator -- neither alone was enough -- and I got a whole gallon of
anti-freeze in, and much less than a gallon of added water.


And best of all, the heater works as well as ever now, putting out hot
air when the temp gauge is a full mark short of the max value that it
reaches. When last month it only put out slightly warm air at most.

The air is still not as hot and there's not nearly as much of it as
with my full-size Pontiac and Buick convertibles were, but they had
318, 359, and 400 CID engines. The engine on this car doesn't even
get hot enough to melt the snow on the hood. (Although I just noticed
that a friend's small size Nissan pickup had a hot hood 5 minutes
after turning off the engine. I thought maybe no cars generated so
much excess heat since the engine mileage laws.)


I saw the the Prestone device at the store and the pictures made it
much more understandable than the webpage QX gave me (which had no
pictures or drawings! It would be very good on any car it would fit,
but there just wasnt' space to connect it here.

Tbanks to all of you, and thanks to you, Paul.