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Coolant flush- missed anything? Posted by Saana88 [Email]  (#207)  [Profile/Gallery]
(more from Saana88) on Sun, 6 Aug 2006 07:56:33
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The backstory: I needed to change my water pump and heater valve. I'd made some bad decisions in previous years by getting an aftermarket heater valve in August 2004 and a Laso water pump in April 2005. Right on schedule (9 months of storage last summer) the heater valve started leaking on hot days and the water pump made audible bearing noises, just like the OEM one I'd replaced. The only difference is that the OEM pump lasted six years and 90k and the Laso pump lasted nine months and 10k. Live and learn, I suppose. The car is my happy '88 900 (yes, that means 8 valves) with 207k.
I'm curious if I missed any spots when I flushed out the cooling system. Originally I'd only planned to drain the block enough to replace the two components, then I realized the coolant I'd bought (Saab's blue mix) was probably incompatible and it's a waste of time to get halfway there and not finish the job. The old coolant had been in there for nearly two years, so I went for it. I drained the coolant by (covering the inner driver with plastic wrap first! and) removing the block drain plug and then removing the lower radiator hose. I actually managed to catch almost all of the drips in the drain pan. I then closed the block drain, replaced the heater valve and water pump, and proceeded to flush out the car (lower hose still disconnected and aimed into the drain pan). I flushed out the heater core by aiming the garden hose in the top heater valve fitting with a slow stream of water. I found that moderate spurts of water in the top fitting, then allowing it to drain out again, brought more green liquid out of the core than just a slow, constant stream. I checked the heater valve connection to the core; it was no longer leaking. Next, I ran water through both heater hoses until it ran out the lower hose, some trickling out the radiator. Finally, I put the hose in the upper radiator hose until the liquid coming out the bottom of the radiator was clear. After reattaching the lower hose, I moved the drain pain and (another piece of plastic wrap!) drained the accumulated, clear water out of the block again. At this point I was happy; I reattached the heater and upper radiator hoses, closed the block drain, opened the bleeder, and refilled with a 50/50 mix of new coolant. Putting the belts back on was the penultimate step; with the coolant up to the maximum line I started the car, ran her until the thermostat opened and the fan cycled, closed the bleeder screw (no more bubbles) and went out for a thorough test drive. The cooling system seems to work fine and there's a lot more heat than I experienced last winter now that the heater hoses are properly crossing themselves, hooked up the right way. The cooling fan only allowed the temperature to go up around two-thirds on the gauge; since this is my winter car I have the standard thermostat and the stock (87 degree) thermoswitch, with the AC button wired up to activate one cooling fan when I dictate (sitting in traffic). The thermoswitch was new in '03 when I changed the radiator.
I really like doing this stuff now. It beats having to worry about it in the middle of February, although we didn't have a winter this past year.
Did I miss anything?
, Sun, 6 Aug 2006 07:56:33 <-- Viewing This Message
, Sun, 6 Aug 2006 10:38:03, Sun, 6 Aug 2006 21:14:54
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