well, I will explain how I drained, and flushed and added new Antifreeze and will tell you what I saw and maybe someone can tell me if there would still be much dirty rusty crud in the radiator.

First off, when I say flush, I know that being it wasn't done professionally, that it wasn't truly "flushed" the correct way. sadly, I couldn't afford even 80.00 to have it done so I did it myself.

loosened the drain valve but couldn't get a good angle on the spring clip to back it off and to pull the hose off the radiator at the bottom so I left it alone and did it the slow way.

rusty crud with water only was draining out and after a bit I started the truck up and dropped the hose in until clear water was coming out. shut the truck off and pulled the water hose out to let the rad. slowly drain through the loosened valve. I wanted to stop flushing with hose water to see if the rust colored water would re appear at the end which it did. I did this 2 times and after the 2nd time clear water would drain out. Of course I had the truck running when adding water to the rad. but I would shut it off again after a minute or so and let it drain quietly. Then a 3rd time I started the truck and opened the heater to 3/4 and stuck the hose back into the top of the radiator and flushed it and a bit more and seeing a bit more rust off colored draining. I did this twice, and so I thought ok, to tightened the plug. I then unloosened the reservoir box and turned it upside down and the filth that was in it was beyond me. How the previous owner could let a system get like that was disgusting. I hosed it out and got all the dark whatever it was crap out. All nice n clean so finished by pouring a gallon of full strength down the hatch, then started up the truck, and slowly added a gallon of water.

waited a while then opened the heater and added 3/4 of another gallon of full strength. then 3/4 of a gallon of water and topped off the reservoir with 50/50 mix. I still have some water and a freeze left over so i'll be checking the level tomorrow or after driving it a few days.

the thing is.......is when I had let too much water flow at the top; of course ya have to wait a bit so it works it's way through the core but when it did come out the top it was not real green and actually even a tad bit rust color was coming out and that bummed me out. anyway, it's better than it was before so I guess i'll be good for winter. Thanks for any input

 

Why didn't you go get a flushing tee kit like I suggested? I'd go get one and flush it RIGHT. They are only about 5 bucks.

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...N0185&pt=N0185

 

I was reading the directions and I just thought it was too darn difficult. Then someone at Napa behind the counter said the same thing so I was just lame and decided not to buy it. Sometimes I give up too quickly. I had to borrow the money just for the darn anti freeze.

I don't come from a very good gene pool when it comes to directions although I remember 2 yrs ago I installed a boat blind for my 17.5 foot duck boat and didn't make a mistake. I was surprised. I probably should have just stepped away from reading up on the instructions and came back to it a day later. sometimes that's all it takes to grasp the entire project.

 

I have mixed feelings about flushing a cooling system with tap water. It usually has enough hardness that it will plate out on the cooling surfaces and sometimes plug a heater core. I had to replace a heater core one time due to this issue.

Now, I only put distilled water in my cooling systems.

 

Roadie, I did think about using distilled water. heck it's only a buck a gallon. So why didn't I buy it? I just thought that the Afreeze would protect against all corrosion. Maybe that's not true if there is some sort of damage that is already starting. Anyway, it's all green up top and temp gauge is even lower and the engine seems to be quieter. I love this truck.

pulled out 1 plug weeks ago and it looked ok. from the pics I took and showed it to a mechanic he agreed.