jon_89

Flushed my coolant today with a prestone flush/fill kit. Followed the directions to a tee. Went to fill it and it only used half a gallon and the manual says it uses about 3 gallons. I put the tee in upper heater hose, pulled the upper rad hose off, and flushed until water came out clear. Did I miss something?

bigbadxj

Not sure what your question is?

jon_89

Sorry. why did it only take half a gallon and not three like it said in the manual?

redmuck

did u drain all the water out afterwards? i remember my manual says to open up the drain plugs in the block to let everything out. then when u hav it all flushed out and hav it all closed up again, put your 50/50 in at what ever amount u need, top off with water and run it and burp it as they say,then either more 50/50 or water to fill it up.

Skreed

I'm gonna assume you have an 89.....First of all your not gonna get three gallons in unless you drained the block. Second your gonna have air trapped. What I recommend is taking your thermostat out and drilling two small holes at 6 and 12 on the metal flange then put it back in ( gonna need a new gasket of course). This will "self burp" any trapped air. Also try adding some coolant into that tee fitting that will get some more air out, then try to continue filling the coolant tank with that tee fitting cap off. Once it starts really circulating be careful cause coolant will start flowing out of that tee so close it quick. Fill it to the full line then let it cool with the cap off check it later and you will most likely have to add more to top it off then you should be good.

jon_89

So how do you drain the block? How big of holes should I drill?

Skreed

Driver side of engine block under the exhaust manifold.

Drill hole about the with of a BB

sv41878

Actually this is one of the best parts of the design. Not sure I like how they are notorious for needing this intricate burping process, but here goes, on the lower back driver's side of the block (I'm assuming you have a 4.0) there is a plug. This is your coolant drain plug. Go at it. But I only pulled the bottom radiator hose and flushed it that way. Then again I also did the thermostat at the same time so it was real easy to just run the hose through it for awhile.

jon_89

So what does the prestone flush kit actually flush than? Just the heater core?

Skreed

It flushes the entire system, however the point is that there will be some amount of tap water left in the system if you dont open the drain plug in the block. Tap water of course is not good for the cooling system due to the minerals in tap water. All that being said I prob have some tap water in my cooling system, but I flush mine alot.

bigbadxj

Yea most of what above is correct. I have never done a flush like that, I do not see a reason unless you think you have a blockage. But if you want to get the tap water out with out pulling the block plug(which I would not do) Then just add your coolant mixture till you start getting that out instead of clear water.

jon_89

Okay so I drove my jeep for a little while today after only about 2 minutes of driving my temp gauge is telling me I am over heating. I replaced the coolant, thermostat, and the housing. now what?

Skreed

did u drill the two holes in the t stat?



Like that .....im willing to bet u have air trapped

jon_89

Yes two holes at 6 and 12.

Skreed

maybe a blockage how old is yur radiator?