I had a water pump leak from the weep hole. I changed the pump and lower hose (too much trouble to get to later if it leaked). Thermostat was changed just before winter. I'm pretty sure that the radiator is plugged and I know the heater core is plugged. I put in some cleaner from Advance and it should be working (I am adding about a pint of water for the 2 days I have had the cleaner in). I see that the engine is definatly running cooler. Question is for the flush, will I be able to flush it out good with the lower hose removed? That outlet seems to be a couple inches above the bottom of the radiator. Any response is appreciated. Thnk you. It took me 2 hours to get the drain valve removed and probebly an hour to get it back in when I drained the coolant. Don't really want to do that again.

 

Yes. A lot of people just remove the lower radiator hose for flushes as it is easier.

 

When I flushed mine, I popped off my lower hose from the water pump and let it drain. Then I popped off a heater hose line and ran water through it until the water started coming out clear. Then put the hoses back on, filled the system, let it run a bit and repeat the drain and flush.

 

Yes, that's the ticket. In fact, the drain valve can be really problematic. Sometimes you get them open, and then can't get them closed. A lot of us just solve that problem by leaving them completely alone and doing any draining by removing the lower rad hose.