got it, i just came back from the store, i bought 2 gallons of AF 50/50 and 5 gals of distilled water........i'm gonna flush tonite...here's my plan, i'm gonna open plug, drain water, close, put distilled in, start, run about a minute, turn off, drain again, fill with distl, repeat, maybe 3 times, i should have all the water out?? then drain, fill with the 50/50 and go? what do you think?

 

No, each time you drain there's probably a quart left in there. I prefer to use non-premixed so I can take account of the quart of distilled water that's left in there.

However, you're in Hawaii, right? How cold does it ever get? I think you'd be OK with 40/60. Here in the land of ice & snow I want my car to have 50/50.

I've heard some people disconnect a radiator hose & use a shop vac to suck the last bit of water out of the engine block. Don't know firsthand whether that works...

Also, before you do all that, make sure you look and see whether the stuff you first drain out has any rust-color to it.

 

no i'm in sunny california......so, should i take 1 of the 50/50's back and get a 100%...???

 

North California where you get cold? Then either try to suck out all the water and use what you got. Or take it back & get 100%.

Southern California where it never gets below freezing? Just go ahead & use it.

Sorry about Hawaii, I just figured because of your screen-name...

PS: There IS a block drain plug on the backside of the engine, near the oil filter. That'll get more out, but not completely ALL.

 

ok, i'd say i'm ok, when i drained the water, there was probably a gallon in the drain bucket i have, it was green, so i'm thinking i should be ok, i filled the car up with distilled water, burped it as best i could, and turned on the rad cap 1 click, heater to high, and ran it until it warmed up. I turned it off, and let it sit, we went to dinner and now it's too dark, soooooooooo in the am, i will drain it and do it one more time. I took back the 50/50 and got 100%, it doesn't get that cold in Norcal, maybe 38 at nite, but i'm not driving at that point.......

 

Welp it's done,........loaded up with 100% AF, air out, as best as i can, it ran for 40 mins, heat to max, fan to max, rad cap 1 click...my top hose was a lil warm, my lower hose was cool.... but my fans didn't cycle, of course it's a nice 70 deg here......weird.......no leaks....i removed the connection to the bat for 20 mins, while i drained out the distilled and filled with AF. I'm assuming my Chk Eng light is fixed, so I guess i'll drive it, and see what happens....Thank you Poorman, jimblake for all the help and suggestions......

 

Sounds like you are on your way . Just check the overflow and the rad over the next few days and top off as needed.

PS - next time you have to bleed the system....turn the blower "off". It can act as a small cooling fan....is some situations that is a plus but when bleeding I always feel better when I see/hear both fans cycle at least once.

 

ok, so all's been well, except for this stupid code 43........the car runs great, i'm getting 400 miles on a full tank of gas....no hiccups.........it came on the first nite i drove the car after replacing the hose, has been ok since, (March of this year) it's now May and it came on yesterday May 6. Do you think the sensor is bad or do you think maybe i messed up the cable when i changed the hose?? Suggestions? If i need to replace this 02 sensor, how hard? any special tools??? Thanks for the help!