10/9/2001 Coolant Flush page 2
It's time to flush the heater core, first, close the heatercore service valve up front to allow pressure from your gravity flush to push coolant out of the heater. With the intake removed from the previous step, you can now can get at the two heater system hoses. Inlet and outlet. To pop these guys off, you may have to resort to yelling at the car (it is tough). That seems to be an important part of this step. We used flathead screwdrivers and Pat's favorite tool, the 90 degree bend large pliers. FUN!
We recommend you use a system similar to this to flush the heater core. We used an old oil filler cup and ran the hose into the top of 2 heater core hoses, and let the bottom one drain into the bucket.
Another angle. We used about 3/4 of a gallon of coolant to flush this system. You can tell when you're done by watching the color of the fluid coming out of the lower hose. Once it changes color completely, you're done flushing. When done, reattatch the hoses. Make sure to open up the heater core service valve up front now.
It's a good idea to make sure your overflow bottle is empty. We used a cheap bottle pump from the local auto parts store.
Cheerios in the bucket are necessary to keep the coolant from eating through the plastic............ Just joking!
Once done, we decided to modify the overflow bottle cap like this to ensure no water is pulled back into the new NPG+ System.
This step is not necessary if you are just flushing your system with regular coolant. All we did was remove the center hose that goes into the bottle.
At this point, it's time to get ready to fill the system up. Get under the car, and put the 14mm engine drain bolt back in. Move to the middle, and put the to 12mm middle system bolts in. Move up front, and tighten up the radiator drain valve. Leave the service hoses open to the air.
Remove the pressure cap, and begin filling. Watch the top of the system for overflow. It will happen, as the system fills very slowly, and backs up from time to time. Once the hoses up front are to the level of the rear pressure cap you can put the cap back on, and start up the car. Let it run for a few minutes until the temp gauge starts to rise. Turn the car off, check for leaks, and look at the level of the service hoses. If they are low, add more coolant. Repeat this a few times until the system won't take any more. You may now want to take a short drive to verify stability, just keep one eye on the temp gauge. If it goes above half way, their is a problem, since the 3SGTE will never read above half way unless their is something very wrong. "Don't forget to bring a towel", and a your tools and a bottle of coolant.
Properly filled system.
Take another drive to your local auto store, and drop off the coolant. Call ahead first, as not all stores can dispose of coolant.
Time for a bath!
SWEET!
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