Coolant flush

Discuss any maintenance you've done to your Vibe & Matrix and ask how to perform maintenance on your vehicle
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Jschaf024
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 9:42 am

Coolant flush

Post by Jschaf024 »

Just did a coolant flush on my 2005 base fwd with 113,000. Bought it used. It had the green mystery coolant. Flushed 4 times with distilled water. Drained engine block with rear end raised. Flushed heater core. Used slight pressure compressed air to drain core and got much more from engine block this way after hooking one of the heater core lines back up with engine block drain open. Ran the zerex Asian 50/50 after 4th distilled water flush.flushed that then topped up with zerex and she seems good. I took every effort to get as much water out as possible. Burped the system, took it for a spin and he beat cranks better than ever. Fingers crossed I didn't miss anything or have some catastrophic failure due to mixing coolants..but I'm honestly happy about it all and confident I got most of that green crap out. Thanks for all the advice.
2005 - base. FWD
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ctgottapee
Posts: 232
Joined: Sat May 02, 2015 4:08 pm
Location: cornfields of IL

Re: Coolant flush

Post by ctgottapee »

Not to freak you out, but I did a flush, accidentally tore one of the heater hoses upon reconnect and didn't notice it.....
I might have worn the end a bit as I was using that specific hose as a flush point, so lots of reconnecting.

It started leaking, but it was raining out so I didn't notice the leak.
Eventually overheated and by that point, I had f'd the head gasket! Nothing else was damaged and the mechanic said all looked good inside, but it's a labor intensive job, ie $$$


Along with the flush, it's important to check hoses.
Sounds like you did a thorough job.
Jschaf024
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 9:42 am

Re: Coolant flush

Post by Jschaf024 »

Thanks for the heads up. I'll recheck everything over and be sure they're not split or cracked
2005 - base. FWD
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Chiadog
Posts: 971
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:41 am
Location: Abrams, wisconsin

Re: Coolant flush

Post by Chiadog »

Jschaf024 wrote:Flushed 4 times with distilled water. Drained engine block with rear end raised. Flushed heater core. Used slight pressure compressed air to drain core and got much more from engine block this way after hooking one of the heater core lines back up with engine block drain open. Ran the zerex Asian 50/50 after 4th distilled water flush.f
Sounds like you did a great job! I'm guessing the rear-end doesn't need to be raised when blowing coolant out with compressed air, correct? Also, which heater core line (top or Bottom) did you put compressed air into to complete draining of the block?
Thanks for the good info! I'll be following it on my Son's 03 Base this Summer.
Jschaf024
Posts: 19
Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 9:42 am

Re: Coolant flush

Post by Jschaf024 »

I hooked hose up to both top and bottom core ports? I guess you call them. and flushed that into a container. then hooked bottom one back up, and ran air through top one (vinyl hose that I put on top one, bottom core house hooked up to engine)with the engine block drain open. I got quite a bit more out this way. I did raise the rear end and the front end at points just to try and get all the water/old coolant out best as possible.
2005 - base. FWD
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Chiadog
Posts: 971
Joined: Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:41 am
Location: Abrams, wisconsin

Re: Coolant flush

Post by Chiadog »

Thanks Jschaf!
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