Hey all,

Flushing and refilling my coolant at the moment (AU2), but ran out of daylight and don't want to still be doing it at midnight......how long after running it from cold for 20min should I wait before I drain and refil with cold (as in, straight from the bottle) water? An educated answer would be great soon so I can continue my work....

Also, save me starting another thread, can anyone tell me whether the thermostat housing is the same for EF/EL and AU - the book at the auto place said 'EF onwards', and it looks exactly the same.....

As long as its not overheated, you can pretty much put in cold water straight away, but have the engine running.

The thermostat regulates cold water.

easy method to flush the system, undo the lower pipe, plug up the hose, run engine at idle with heater ON and turn the tap on slowly.

There is other ways that pressure flushes but requires adapters and removal of thermostat etc.

Be water conscious!

once your satisfied with the clear water, re-attach the hose and add the inhibitor, and add demineralised water.


Honestly, I'd be removing the radiator and flushing it before you add water/coolant.

Thanks.

My intention was to leave the top and bottom radiator hoses off and stick the hose in and flush the radiator that way, and back into the motor as well - since I'm replacing the thermostat, housing and gaskets all at the same time (thats all off at the moment). I've drained the hot coolant (well, it was only 'warm' when I drained it) and I'll leave it another 30min before I stick the hose in - I think it should be ok by then, its not like it was driving around in summer, it was just ran enough to get the temp gauge 1/4 way then shut off (which was about an hour ago)

Oh, I've worked out the thermostat housing is the same.

thats the way i did mine and no cracked head so its all good

Yep, all done, and it was FILTHY. I think I might do it again in a few months, this time starting early in the morning, so I'm not finishing up at 10.30 pm.