Sorry lol i text that way so by habit i do it on here.

My father and I are going to flush my radiator tomorrow, (was supposed to be today but rain).. now when i took the cap off of my radiator leaking out of it was a rusted water, it was filthy so my dad and me decided lets flush the radiator. we already bought the coolant and 2 other bottles i forget what though.

The Drexone is reddish and is not the greenish.. we plan on putting a hose in the radiator to let it drain and replace the coolant.. is doing that bad using a hose to clean it?... i know nothing about manual car repair thats why i ask.

What should i do? i have a 98 blazer with 96 thousand miles on it and ive owned the truck say 4 weeks? already invested 1000 into it for ***** joints and hub bearrings

 

Much better.

I suggest you get some heavy duty flush at the auto store and follow the directions. You will never get all of the brown out but do the best you can.
Using a hose is fine.
There is a block drain plug on both sides of the block just above the oil pan. I suggest you remove them if you can. On a 4wd one or both may be hard to get to. They are 9/16" or 14mm. Use a 6 point socket to prevent rounding the heads as they are usually pretty tight. If you can't get 1 or both block plugs out you have to flush extremly well to get all of the flush chemical out. And you will leave some water in the bloch that will not drain. Have the heater temp. control on hot while flushing.

When you are ready to fill add 1/2 of the cooling system capacity with full strength antifreeze (not 50/50 antifreeze). Then fill with distilled water. Take the heater hose off ath the front of the intake manifold until the water/antifreeze starts to come out and then put the hose back on. This helps get air out of the system. It helps to have the front of the vehicle higher than the back and slightly higher on the radiator cap side. Also have the heater fan running with the temp. control set on hot.

Reverse flush the radiator and the heater core.

If it already has something other than DexCool there is no benefit to using DexCool. (DexCool is pink when new). If it has DexCool now you can use what ever type od antifreeze you are comfortable with. There are different coolant types. Take a look at the Zerex website as they have some good info.

 

I am about to do a flush (convert to GREEN since there is brown sludge in the radiator). I cannot access the ports on the block and all I have is Prestone All Makes All Models 50/50 antifreeze and the flush solution. If I were to flush it 2 or 3 times (with the first with Prestone Flush) will that get all the DEXCOOL out? This was the procedure I was looking at: http://autorepair.about.com/od/regul...lant_flush.htm

 

UPDATE: I tried getting the drain valve open: It was stuck. Then I tried the lower hose. No go either. I hit the drain plug and the lower hose clamp with WD-40. Still no go. The clamp on the hose loosened, but the hose was stuck. The rad and hoses are only 30k miles old on this truck and the coolant is only 12k miles old. I ended up trying to siphon the DEXCOOL out of the radiator into a drain pan. Only got a couple cups. That is when I noticed all the mud in the radiator. It literally looks like our little dog jumped up over the radiator filler neck and went to the bathroom in the radiator. I ended up tightening the hose clamp as tight as I could get it in that confined space and pouring the coolant back into the radiator (the drain pan was new. Thank god.). There doesn't seem to be any leaks, but after running it for only 1-2 min (to get the car in the garage), the temp gauge went up 1/4 of the way. Weird since I could idle the truck for 5 min and drive 3 miles over hills and it won't be up to operating temperature. I also would like to thank the engineer who invented the Stant Lev-R-Vent Cap. The cap was not hot when I tried to remove it again, but when I lifted the lever, coolant bubbled into the overflow tank for like 5 seconds. If it was a conventional cap, I would have been on my way to the ER right now instead of typing this message. I saw some bubbles in the overflow tank. I saw some residual antifreeze on the frame and floor from the drips from the filler neck. I wiped that up. The drain valve will move a hair farther into the closed position, but will not open. I put most of the antifreeze back after almost emptying the plastic tank just under the filler neck. Did I cause any harm taking it out and putting it back in? If I have the system completely flushed twice, will switching to Prestone All Makes/All Models cause any trouble or eliminate the Dexcool related problems (stop further sludge buildup)? I already had the intake gaskets replaced with FELPRO gaskets at 72000 last year. I got 88000 on it now.

 

If you don't remove the block drain plugs and completly drain the system after a flush you will have some amount of water in the system. Then if you use a 50-50 pre mix the coolant will be diluted and you will have less than 50% antifreeze. That is why I suggested adding 50% of the system capacity straight antifreeze and then topping off with distilled water.

The antifreeze products that are sold claiming they mix with all types are in my opinion a joke. All antifreezes do not have the same chemical make up and non compatable types should not be mixed. Zerex claims on their web site that these types of antifreeze are actually NOT compatable with 60% of the antifreezes being used.
I would not be surprised if mixing non dexcool products with dexcool may contribute to the sludge problems.

 

Ok, so I've read through this ENTIRE thread. It took me several evenings to get through it all, because I would fall asleep, not from boredom, but from exhaustion (long day at work, two kids under 5, etc...

ANYWAY...

I've got a 99 Blazer 4wd, v6 4.3L Automatic with 152,000. I replaced the manifold gaskets and water pump between 90 and 100k, and did numerous flushes. That should have been my first clue, but I digress. I've gotten wiser as I've gotten older.

I now have a crack in my radiator, so I obviously have to replace it. I'm going to replace the heater core, water pump, thermostat, cap, and hoses as well. This pretty much leaves the overflow tank, temp sensor, and the block.

So, my question is this. I'm concerned that doing the flush after replacing the radiator, heater core, and water pump will just junk up those brand new items.

Am I overly concerned, or is there something I should do to minimize the contamination of the new parts?

I have a post here that I posted yesterday, but alas, no one has responded yet.

https://blazerforum.com/forum/2nd-generation-s-series-1995-2005-tech-41/99-4wd-radiator-dex-cool-replacement-what-else-reccomended-44943/

Thanks for any advice, input.

Jonathan aka Jonboy

 

I was using Dex-cool. Im still fighting all the rust, so I said screw it. I buy the green supertech stuff now. lol

 

If you have to make a statement like that... Double posting is against forum rules. Anyone wishing to respond to Jonboy, do so in his thread on the topic. Not this one.

 

When I bought my '99, the Dex-Cool was clearish (it was low enough for it to start running hot, so hard to tell) until my dad topped it off with the green. I was later told this was a very bad thing to mix them. I was just wondering if it is bad to have them mixed because the Chevy where I work ('96 Silverado K2500 Vortec 5.7 4x4) was supposed to have Dex-Cool but it now has green. But it has been dripping lately and was topped off with the Dex. It almost looks like the Dex sits on top of the green. I was told that having the green stuff in a Dex vehicle will eat away at the seals because they are 'special', is that true? Thanks
P.S. my Blazer now has an orange-y Dex-Cool Substitute from the shop when the intake gaskets were replaced

 

The problem with mixing them is that it shortens the life of the coolant to that of the green stuff. Also, the boiling & freezing point are slightly different between the two, but not really enough to worry about.

The main enemy of Dexcool is air in the system. Keep the system full and free of air and it will not cause any problems that the green stuff wouldn't also cause (intake manifold gaskets...).