I called the dealer to get a price on a cooling system flush. They said it would be 89.95. I was just wondering if this was a good price.

 

On how much "your" time is worth to you and if you trust the place to do a good job.

Figure the anti freeze and flush will cost ya $20. An extra couple bucks for the water you will use, and about two hours of time.

I'd say that's an OK price to have someone do it for you. I just like doin' it myself......

 

The coolant flush/change is one of the more time consuming maintenace procedures you can do at home.

The advantage is that if you drain the block, you know that you are getting all of the scale out because you can see it.Dealer flushes through the lines and doesn't have the same interest in doing it right as you do.

If you have the time (a few hours) you can do this yourself.

 

When doing a cooling system flush, where does the old stuff go? Do you just drain it on the ground or does it have to be disposed of in a "correct manner".

Is there a correct manner?

 

I'm pretty sure you have to catch every drop and dispose of it at an approved hazardous waste facility.

But.....

You don't want to drain it directly into the gutter either. Most times it's a storm drain that goes directly to a river!

What I do is (and I'm not saying it's correct either), drain as much of the coolent as I can into a container. Then park my rig over a part of my property that has dirt on it and that's where I do the flush part. I cycle so much fresh water thru the engine, that it will dilute any coolent that remains and it just soaks into the ground. No wells in our area. You would want to be aware of this first!)

Then I use the empty antifreeze containers to put the old coolent in and just find a place that takes used motor oil and coolent. I've dumped it off at Shucks and other auto parts stores for free.

IMO, flushing an engine by letting "it" circulate the fresh water thru it is just the same as opening all the drain valves on the block. You still need to circulate fresh water thru the entire system to get all the junk out of it anyway. Plus, you are assured of getting all the air bubbles out of the system if you monitor the opening and closing of the T'stat as you are "flushing" it out.

Again, just what I do. Have done it for years, and last did it on the F150 about six months ago.

 

These days, with the various state and federal laws, I'd rather pay somebody else to do it. Shop around and see if you can get a better deal elsewhere. Not sure if you can trust anybody else more than your dealer, though...

 

i trust a pig with a garden hose up his butt more than the dealer here,that's mostly cause they never try and sell me somethin though.i sat out there waitin for 30 minutes one night(while they were still open)waitin for a salesman to come out(i was lookin at a stang) i just did it for a test.you don't just sit there when somebody pulls up in a $30,000 truck and not try to sell em somethin,not very good business if ya ask me,cause they sure lost all of mine