Questions after coolant change

[leathermaneod]

Hey all,

so finally got around to changing my coolant. It went fairly well. Started with draining as much as I could through the rad drain. I parked my truck facing on my slight downhill slope and then jacked the rear up as much as I could. Unfortunately I only got about 4-4.5 gallons out. Anyway, then I closed the drain and flushed with garden hose for a few mins on high idle until the water coming out was flat and no longer foamy. Open d the drain at the end just to flush that a little as well. Then shut off the water and let the truck run for a few seconds til water stopped coming out the upper rad hose. Then shut truck off and allowed to drain. Next put thermostat in and closed everything up. Next added one gallon of straight coolant(green from Napa) to the top of the rad. Then mixed coolant 50/50 with distilled water. Anyway I've only got in a total of about 4.5 gallons so far and that's with the overflow tank almost full. I ran the truck at 3 cyl high idle for a little when we first got the rad filled to try and get the temp up to open the thermostat, but it was registering on the temp guage very quickly, I assume because there wasn't enough water on the sensor yet. So I stopped that and just let it idle for a bit continuing to add coolant to the rad as I could. Then went for a drive. Temps were fairly normal, a little more fluctuation then usual but I was able to watch the thermostat open by the temp on the scan gauge. This was on Thursday evening and I was hoping it would suck more coolant in from the overflow and allow me to add some more coolant to get a better ratio, but even after a few hot/cold cycles it hasn't sucked the overflow down much if at all. Is it normal for it to take a while for all the air to get out? Do you think my ratio is good enough being that I must have had about 1.5 gallons in still and only did one gallon of concentrate before doing the 50/50 mix? Sorry for the long post, thanks in advance!

[Me78569]

Did you run the heater?  A good bit of fluid can get stuck in the heater

 

 

I wouldn't worry about the ratio, I am never exact with it and it is fine.

[leathermaneod]

I set the heater to heat before hand yes, around lunch time. Then the truck sat till about 6:00 when I drained it. And it was on during the flushing. Should I have filled the block through the thermostat housing? I though it should pull coolant in fine from the overflow tank as needed....

Edited August 13, 2016 by leathermaneod

[dripley]

I can see how the heater core is not going to drain. The inlet and outlet are on top of the core. What stops water from circulating thru the heater when it is not in use? I never turned mine on when flushing. I did notice that I can run water thru mine while it is idling with no t stat and get clear water out of it, but if I close the system and drive it I get dirty water, muddy looking for lack of a better term. Not like mud puddle or anything you can still see thru it. I petty much drive and drain mine a few when I flush.

 

If you are worried about cold protection just get you one those floating ball tester things and see where you are. I have never been that precise on my mixing either. I got near 2.5 gallons in mine the other day.

[leathermaneod]

I do have one of the float testers, and some of the test strips as well so I will check it. I just wanted to get some opinions on how critical the ratio is. I'm also still wondering why it hasn't sucked anything out of the overflow tank yet. The block can't be full just from filling through the rad....maybe it just hasn't had enough run time and hot/cold cycles yet.....

[dripley]

I did mine 6 days ago. Filled the overflow half full with straight anti freeze. Made one trip to and from Richmond Va, 300 miles each way and about 200 other miles and the tank is only down about an 1" but does appear to have mixed with whats in the radiator. Thats not much different than any time before. 

[leathermaneod]

Did you fill the block through the thermostat or just the rad?

[dripley]

Both. T stat then the radiator.

[leathermaneod]

See I didn't do that....do you think I need to pull it back out and do that? Or just give it more time?

[IBMobile]

1 hour ago, dripley said:

What stops water from circulating thru the heater when it is not in use?

Nothing!  There is no heater control valve in this system.  The  engine coolant flows through the heater core when ever the engine is running. This is way it is important that the blend door functions properly.

 

1 hour ago, leathermaneod said:

The block can't be full just from filling through the rad....maybe it just hasn't had enough run time and hot/cold cycles yet.....

. Yes it can.  I've flushed my radiator a few times over the years and filled it through the radiator with no problems.

 

A 50/50 mix is good to -34°F.  A max mixture of 65% anti-freeze to 35% water will have a freeze point of -60°F.  Increasing the mixture of anti-freeze to water will raise the freeze point.

 

 

 

[leathermaneod]

Thanks guys! I guess there's nothing to worry about then. I'm still hoping it sucks more from my overflow tank, it's a few inches over full because I expected it to suck a lot out lol 

[IBMobile]

5 minutes ago, leathermaneod said:

I'm still hoping it sucks more from my overflow tank, it's a few inches over full because I expected it to suck a lot out lol 

Don't worry about that.  If it's need it will be there and if it's not need it will still be there.  

 

[dripley]

2 hours ago, IBMobile said:

Nothing!  There is no heater control valve in this system.  The  engine coolant flows through the heater core when ever the engine is running. This is way it is important that the blend door functions properly.

 

. Yes it can.  I've flushed my radiator a few times over the years and filled it through the radiator with no problems.

 

A 50/50 mix is good to -34°F.  A max mixture of 65% anti-freeze to 35% water will have a freeze point of -60°F.  Increasing the mixture of anti-freeze to water will raise the freeze point.

 

 

 

Appreciate that info on the heater. I have never seen a control valve on the heater but it seems most folks tell you to run during a flush. I never saw a need to and have not.

 

What ever my mix is I am good to -30* or so and dont think I will be seeing any where near that. 

 

@leathermaneod if you just filled from the radiator with the t stat removed it will just come up and run out of the opening as it fills the engine. That is the way I have done most of my other vehicles over the years. This is the first vehicle I have ever done thru the t stat opening and never noticed any difference doing it either way.

 

2 hours ago, leathermaneod said:

See I didn't do that....do you think I need to pull it back out and do that? Or just give it more time?

 

Absolutely NOT.

Edited August 14, 2016 by dripley

[leathermaneod]

I see what your are saying @dripley, unfortunately I filled it though the rad with the t stat installed. So I could see how air would be trapped in that case. Hopefully it will work its way out. My t stat does have the little holes and wigglers(don't know what they are called lol) so it should. Based on what @IBMobile said, sounds like that shouldn't be an issue. Hopefully not anyway

Edited August 14, 2016 by leathermaneod

[dripley]

Those wigglers as you call them will let the air thru. From my understanding they are there to always allow some coolant flow. That being said they will let the air thru also. Like @IBMobile says about the overflow bottle, if the engine needs it, it will be there, if it does not, it will be there. 

[leathermaneod]

Well I'm a little concerned now, I started my truck this morning and I think I got a faint wiff of antifreeze....from some previous reading I've done it sounds like that would indicate my heater core is leaking I think....does that sound right? Or could it be something else since I just changed antifreeze?

[dripley]

If you were not smelling it before the change give it some time. 

[dripley]

I should add that maybe you should look around under the hood and on the ground to be sure you dont have a leak elsewhere.