Does the antifreeze from the resevoir go into the engine or into the radiator?

I'm wondering if I start the engine, with it being cold, and open the radiator drain plug while pouring fresh water into the resevoir. Do this until clear water comes out of the radiator. Stop the engine. Drain the radiator. Add 2 gallons of antifreeze. Then top off resevoir with water. I'll use room temperature distilled water.

Will this work without getting cold water into the engine?

I have a 4.6L V8.

Thanks.

 

Good way to burn up your engine! Water is drawn into the radiator from the reservoir by suction only. Removing the cap will stop this from happening. So you will end up with no water running through the engine.

If your not sure about where the reservoir dumps it's water, I'd not try any DIY work on the engine.

 

When I've drained the radiator and filled the resevoir, it's worked. Both the resevoir and radiator were filled up. I'm just wondering if I can do this while the engine is running {without damaging the engine}.

 

Why do you want ALL of it out of there? Just drain and fill it. If your that concerned about flushing it have it done professionally. Thats really the only right way to do it.

 

drain and fill ftw

 

I wouldn't even consider it. Ford Dealership's in my area offer the Coolant Flush for under $100.00. If you want it done right, have them do it.
Last summer, I drained the radiator and resevoir. Flushed the radiator and resevoir with tap water and let it drain. Refilled with a 50/50 mix as recommended. The coolant in my block was (looking through thermostat opening) was a nice green color. Seen no reason to get everything out of the block. If your coolant has a brownish color to it, and you have concerns, have the Dealer flush your system. And yes, I installed a new thermostat when I did this.

 

You treat the reservoir the same as you would any old time car without one..... It's the same thing... If the rad itself had a cap, then you fill/flush from it... If the rad has NO CAP, but has a pressure cap on the reservoir, then you fill/flush from from the res.... What's the diff??

You can run the res without the cap on it to full engine temp and your coolant will still flow thru your engine as always... That's what the mechanical WATER PUMP does... The T'stat controls the flow according to the temp of the engine, so that's what determines what goes into the rad or not..

Geeze... Some of the stuff that gets tossed around here is insane!

In other words, you can either just drain the rad, fill it up with a 50/50 mix of AF and call it good, or go thru a whole cycle of flushing to get the stuff in the block out...

I've left the rad drain open, and put a hose in the res and adjust the flow so that it's barely a trickle over the res, but keeps the rad full.. Let the engine idle for about a beer or two (about 20 minutes or so) and all you have is hot water coming out of the rad drain and when you are satisfied that it's clear, hot water, it's flushed...

Let the rad drain completely, then pour in some 100% AF to the top, burp the system and you are good... Now, if you have 'hard' hose water, you will want to use the distilled stuff and adjust your procedure accordingly.. Or, you can cut the hose for the heater core, pour in your 50/50 mix until you see it coming out the cut hose, cap it, fill the rest and you are good to go.... Choose your own poison depending on what your individual situation calls for...

Since I have my Auto meter Water temp guage plumbed in the heater core hose, I simply remove a line after flushing with hose water, pour in my 50/50 mix of AF until I see the tint of green coming out the water from the hose, cap it back up, fill the rad, run the engine with the CAP OFF THE RES for another beer or two and that 'burbs' the system and top off and call it good... Sure, takes a couple of hours, some gas and a lot of water, but I've spent the day in my garage with my truck not having to do household chores and the wife thinks I'm a 'saint' because I just saved us $100 bucks in labor! ha, ha!!

good luck in however you decide to do your rad flush!

Mitch

 

Considering the long life coolant is good for 5 years/100k miles, for how often it has to be changed, I'd have a dealer or shop do it with a proper machine. It's illegal to dump antifreeze on the ground or down the drains these days. I look at it the same way as a tranny service with a fluid replacement machine.

 

Thanks Mitch! That's what I was planning to do. I'm changing antifreeze color and want to get all of the old stuff out before adding the new stuff. Flushing through the resevior seems alot easier than drain, fill, repeat.

My city has a recycling center drop off for used fluids, so none is going down the drain.

I guess I'm just stubborn and cheap. I want to do it myself.

Thanks for your help.

SunnyTime

 

If you are changing antifreeze type, you HAVE to get all the old stuff out. If you can get at the proper heater hose, the easiest way is one of those old Prestone "flushing tee" kits. This is also a good time to replace the thermostat on general principle, the tee kit works best with the thermostat temporarily removed.