Triton318

Today I (on my '96 Cherokee-I6 4.0L):

1. Flushed the cooling system using a Prestone Flush and Fill kit (inserting a t-connector in the heater inlet house); followed directions in kit.
2. Drained the radiator. I did not remove the drain plug in the engine block as the Haynes Manual said to do. I wasn't sure if I was identifying it correctly. And if what I think was the drain plug was indeed the drain plug, I didn't want to mess with it.
3. Installed a new thermostat, thermostat housing, water pump, and fan clutch.
4. When I went to fill the system with 50/50 coolant-water, I was only able to get about 5 quarts in. I did let the engine idle with heater on high for a while. It went down a little, but was only able to add about a pint after that. I squeezed the radiator hoses to expel air as I've read on here to do. I drove it a little, and the level of coolant in the radiator remains at the top. When I let it idle and drove it, the gauge read just a bit below the 210 mark (which is a little cooler than it had been running). Despite this, the engine seems to be hotter/radiating more heat than before.

Could the reason I was only able to put in a little over 5 quarts be because about 7 quarts of water remained in the engine block after the flush and drain?

Thanks in advance for any help/thoughts/advice you can provide.

dzywicki

When I do a coolant flush, I use a compressor and blow air into the coolant hoses that attach to the thermostat housing. I get quite a bit more coolant out of the block than the drain method you used. The only way to really get it all is to use the block drain but it is a PITA. The forced air method can also get the coolant out of the heater core using the heater lines.

Ralph77

This is the reason you don't use 50/50 anti-freeze. After the flush you never really get all the water out. Of course I never thought about blowing air through to get more out like dzywicki said. Of course at the time I did not own an air compressor either. Anyway, after the flush if you can manage to get about 1 and 1/2 gallons of full strength in you are good. If there is any room left then you just top it off with water. I started using distilled water awhile back. Also the Lisle funnel kit is worth the cost to help burp the air out of the system.


I used to drive it around for a couple days, keeping an eye on the levels, and adding as needing. 3 days or so all the air will have burped out by then. With the funnel you keep the RPM's at about 1500 or so, make sure that there is always some coolant in the funnel, and after about a 1/2 hour of this you are good to go.