hello everyone, I have 96 sc. I'm looking for a write up on the site on how to flush my coolant. i'm not overheating or anything but I the coolant just looks nasty. Also theres a lot of muck getting built up on the inside of my coolant resevior. I could take it to get done, but I enjoy learning how to work on my car so if anyone could direct me to a link or a write up I would be greatfull. thanks

How to flush a rad:
1. Climb under car and remove the little plastic faseners that holds the bottom plastic guard on. A rough guess wuld be that there are 9-10 of them. You pull the plastic center, and the rest of the clip comes out of the hole.

2. Remove plastic guard from the bottom.

3. Facing the front of the car, on the right, under where you removed the plastic, is a hole for the rad drain bung. Remove the bung and let the coolant run into a shallow bucket.

4. Dump in a container of something like Prestone Rad flush.

5. Top up with water.

6. Run the engine, for around 15 min with the heater on full plast.

7. Let car cool.

8. Drain rad again. Replace bung.

9. Remove the coolant canister and rinse out with a hose if desired.

10. Fill with new coolant following the reccomened mix on the bottle. I use prestone "mixes with anything" stuff.

11. Top up the coolant canister to the cold mark.

12. Open the little valve on the LIM where the large coolant hose enters it. It will be on your right, by the boost bypass actuator. Near the EGR on the 95. There is a little screw for bleeding out air, slot screwdriver opens it.

13. Run the engine, wait for spitting on the little valve. Close valve.

14. Let engine run for a bit. Cool. Open Valve again, repeat engine run till water comes out valve.

Thats about it, off the top of my head. I do have a folder full of pics from my rad change that documents the same procedure, that will eventually end up in a write-up when I find time.

good writeup on flushing, but here's what I'd do if I were you:

drain the radiator.
Add RMI25 according to instructions on bottle (a good cleaning solution and lubricant)
Refill with proper 50/50 mix (use distilled water for that 50)
repeat next year.

I've never been a fan of flushing the system.

Here are a few pics I took while draining/refilling the coolant on the 99 Riv today.
Hopefully they will help someone.

The radiator drain bung is kind of hard to spot so here are a couple of pics of what the little bugger looks like after it is removed from the radiator.


Here is a pic of the bleeder screw:

And a pic of the chin spoiler/belly pan that must be removed to gain access to the radiator drain bung:

The chin spoiler/belly pan is a lot easier to remove/reinstall than it looks. It only takes a couple of minutes to remove or to reinstall.

Bert

Looks like the weather was nice there today for working on the car.
It's been snowing and raining and snowing here all day. And it's only the middle of October !!!!!!

How much radiator fluid does the Riv take?

Just about 2 gallons in my experience. One gallon of anti-freeze and one gallon of water.
I pre-mix the two or you can buy the Anti-Freeze already pre-mixed at the auto parts store. Just look for 50/50 on the bottle.
Then you just have to put it in and not be concerned with mixing it.

[quote="95 super3800"]theres a lot of muck getting built up on the inside of my coolant resevior.[/quotewhen you have the cooltaint out of the system then take the resevior(remove the litle tube what goes to the radiator and some nuts)

when you have it off but a bit of SAND in it and somekind cleaning fluid like dich waching fluid (i'm not kiding...) and add some water in it till its 1/3 full.
then but the cap on the resevior and hold one finger on the place where the tube connects the resevior and SHAKE IT!...the sand will start to rube and hit the dirt off the walls and the cleaning fluid dos not let it get stuck again...do it so long till its clean...fluch it whit water....

I cleaned mine this way

Actually, that does sound like a good way to clean the inside of those tanks

What's wrong with running straight anti-freeze? A 50/50 mix doesn't sound like it would be good for below zero temps.

I've heard straight antifreeze actually freezes sooner than a 50/50 mix! And without water I doubt it cools as well. Costs more than water, too.