Flushing the Radiator

You know what? The problem with having too much time on your hands is that you think you can do things better than anyone else. And when you do that, you found out that its actually much better to pay other people to do things for you. But sometimes, there are things you can actually do without killing yourself or losing a limb in the process.

And so, today I shall show you how to flush a car radiator without getting your hands burnt (much).

Just as I opened the car bonnet, its unbelievable
that the Bengmobile has deteriorated to such level.

For those of you who do not know where the radiator
is, look for anything that has a silver cap that says,
something to the effect, "Do not open when hot". But
most of us would already know it because of frontal
collisions where the radiator is the first to go and also
the tell tale signs of leaking water. Oh, alright, its in
the front of the car, the part where it burns your fingers
when you try to open the bonnet when the engine's hot.

Its been years since I flushed my own radiator. I have
not seen anyone flushing it when they service my car.
The closest would be to drain it and then use a hose to
pump the water in before opening a fresh bottle of "El
Flouro-green" into it. There is a reason why they use
this, which is very useful when detecting leaks. So, I
never ask them to flush it because it costs extra.

OK, after successfully removing the drain plug at
the bottom, the water from the radiator is brown
which is bad news. Also, its not easy to remove
the plug because my Bengmobile is very low.

Keep the plug in a safe place because once you lose
it, not only does it cost money to buy it back, but
you cannot drive the car further than 10cm.

And so, emulating a bored worker, I let the water
hose into the radiator opening and sort of used
the pressure to "flush" out any big rust particles
even though I believe this is a stupid thing to do.

OK, once I screw the plug back, its time to pour
in the RM12.00 radiator flush chemical. Funny.
For a moment, I thought it smelled of oranges.
Then, add water until the radiator is full. Close
the radiator cap but not completely, just one
notch. Well, that's what is said on the label. Run
the engine for 10 minutes.

10 Minutes? I have a much better idea!
Vroom! vrooom! vroooom!

After that, let the engine cool down a bit before
opening the radiator cap. You can see the froth
which, I think, the chemical is working.

This is the part which I hate because I have to stick
my hand into the engine bay again and this time, its
not a nice thing since the engine is still hot and I can
get burnt from the exhaust extractors. So, after
waiting for awhile, I used the water hose to cool the
extractors while I put my arm in. Drain the stuff out
and this time, fill up with water and go vrooming for
another 5 minutes before draining it again.

This is the last stage which you will be putting in
the new coolant. Make sure you have screwed the
radiator plug tightly or you'd be wasting the Long
Life RM24.00 Toyota Coolant. I wanted to use this
for a very long time. I bought one years ago but I
lost it during the move. It was sttee (RIP) who then
suggested to use this as he said it was quite good.

So, instead of green, I now have ribena red coolant
in the car. I wonder if hey have blue.........

Anyway, time to clean the injectors too. Can't
afford to pay for ultrasonic cleaning though.

And so, this is the easy part. For the next few weeks, I would need to find a workshop which can change my oil filter, fuel filter, engine oil, and most importantly, flush the brake system. Yes, yes, all these can be DIY too but its too difficult for me. Moreover, I have to get a proper set of jacks or stands for the car. I still have the car's electronics to worry about as well. Let's see what my next and final paycheque will let me do......