Complete Cooling system flush

Can some one post how to properly drain, flush and refill the cooling system.

Thanks alot.

99 LX Coupe 5-speed 2.3l VTEC

quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyLow

Can some one post how to properly drain, flush and refill the cooling system.

Thanks alot.

99 LX Coupe 5-speed 2.3l VTEC

First off,, make sure engine is cold,,,,,,,,

remove radiator cap..
loosen radiator drain plug, put a pan underneath so you can catch the old coolant or you will have a big mess
At the rear side of engine block, below oil filter, there is a drain plug,, it is either 17 or 19mm remove it, this will drain the block
after all the coolant has drained, get a water hose and put it in radiator and let it run till clean liquid comes out from the block drain hole ,turn water off..
after it has drained again,, put some honda bond ,, or liquid gasket on the drain bolt and reinstall drain bolt
have a 50-50 of antifreeze and water, ,, tighten the radiator drain plug
On the t-stat housing there is a nipple looking nut,, it is a 12mm ,, that's the coolant bleeded screw
loosen up the screw, fill the radiator till coolant comes out of the bleeded screw.. tighten bleeded screw
remove the reservoir bottle, clean it if dirty and fill with the mix coolant to MAX
with radiator cap still off, start the car and let it warm up ,, ( fan comes on ) if necessary add more coolant to top radiator off
install radiator cap............You are done

As always double chk your work,, make sure everything is tight and there are no leaks,,

Thanks, that sounds easier than removing the t-stat for flushing, and top and bottom radiator hoses for draining.

Does this method drain the heater core?

The best way to get all the fluid out is to use a coolant flush machine. Jiffy Lube does it (costs signifacntly more than desert's method) or you could get the $2000 machine.

Did desert mean 7mm or 8mm hex piece to remove the drain plug below the filter? Cause 17 or 19 is way too big.

Oops, that was not the coolant drain plug just below the oil filter, but rather an oil plug. So now I can't find this coolant drain plug on the back of the block, any help is appreciated.

**You can buy a backflush unit from AutoZone for about $3.99, it comes with the 3 different sized t-es and all the parts to do the job right, when your done with the back flush thru the heater core you leave the T-in until you back flush again some other day.
Directions are on the package and YES anyone who can read them can do the job..**

WheelBrokerAng

quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyLow

Does this method drain the heater core?

quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyLow

Did desert mean 7mm or 8mm hex piece to remove the drain plug below the filter? Cause 17 or 19 is way too big.

YO FLY,, i could not understand why you could not find the plug,,, i went back and read what i wrote and i know now,,,,,,,,, ..plug is located ABOVE THE OIL FILTER , LEFT SIDE .. below the water pipe,, and again it is 17 or 19mm ... sorry pal.. i meant to say before ,, below water pipe and i wrote below oil filter ,, ,,,ooooooops ...

quote:

ORIGINAL: FlyLow

Does this method drain the heater core?

You need to turn your temperature dial to full-hot before you turn off the car. With your car, the dial doesn't directly move the actual heater valve.

On my '98, there's still coolant left in there, somewhere. I remove the thermostat, drain the block, fill with water, and there's still plenty of color left from the old antifreeze. I have to drain/fill 4 or 5 times before all the color is gone, even tho I use the block drain. That's pretty normal for every car I've owned.

go oldschool... pull the thermostat, remove the rear drain plug, ensure that the heater is on "hot" then duct tape a water hose onto the upper radiator hose and crank it on! yeah!! okay so that's not the best thing in the world to do but it works in theory...

I would not recommend leaving the "t" in from a flush kit. They do not last long and will crack from the repeated hot cold cycles. I had one in my '89 sable and it cracked right in half leaving my car to pump out all the coolant in a matter of minutes

Thanks for the help in this post, it's about to be cold here (even in FL) lol, so I wanted to completely flush mine out, and have fresh Anti-Freeze.

Going to do it in the next couple of days, is there already a full DIY with pics? If not I could try taking some..

One question though, my stepdad said that on his diesel him and others use Cascade in the radiator, then drive a couple days since it cleans all the junk out real good before doing a full flush. Is this a bad idea on my Accord, if so.. would the Prestone flush stuff work?

This forum is awesome.. I've found all the help I need so far, step by steps/pics.. I'm addicted to searching through old posts