How to Flush a Radiator

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Keeping the cooling system in your vehicle operating at maximum efficiency is one of the best preventative maintenance items you can perform. Everyone remembers to change their engine oil regularly, but keeping your cooling system operating correctly is very important as well, so it’s important to learn how to flush a radiator.

Your engine needs a cooling system to help keep temperatures in the proper ranges to keep from damaging your engine. During combustion, much of the energy produced by the explosions is transferred into the pistons and propelling your vehicle. As any system, there is some wasted energy that can’t be converted into momentum that has to be removed in the form of heat. If your cooling system doesn’t properly remove this heat, terrible things can happen.

Your engine and its components are designed to operate below certain temperatures. If those temperatures are exceeded, damage can happen quickly. First, your engine oil will be operating outside of its temperature range causing it to thin out and not lubricate properly. Next, materials in the gaskets and seals in your engine can start to break down or even melt causing leaks. Lastly, the actual metal in your engine will expand past it’s designed tolerances causing warping and cracking which will similarly cause leaks and loss of compression.

The cooling system in your vehicle is always designed with a little extra capacity to make sure things stay cool, but as your coolant and cooling system age, its ability to cool your engine will be decreased. Flushing your radiator and consequently your cooling system, is the best way to keep things operating correctly and your engine cool.

As you’re learning how to flush a radiator, you may also wonder how often it needs to be done in your vehicle. You can try checking your vehicle’s owner’s manual, but many manufacturers won’t have an interval for this maintenance as it’s more of a judgment call from your mechanic. For help determining how often you should flush your radiator, check out our article about that here.

To properly flush your radiator, you need to start by draining your cooling system. The quick and messy way is to simply remove your lower radiator hose and allow the coolant to flow out. Since this is often a large hose, it will be a fast flow and you’ll need a very large receptacle to catch all the coolant and keep from contaminating the environment. Your vehicle may also have a drain on the bottom of the radiator or on the engine block to more easily remove the coolant.

If you suspect a large amount of debris or large clogs in your system, you may consider flushing the system with clear water by removing different hoses and spraying water through them from a garden hose.

Even if you choose to flush your system with clear water, it’s important to use a chemical cleaning agent to ensure all the scale, rust or corrosion is removed from the system to increase its efficiency. For this step you should use BlueDevil Radiator Flush to flush the system. If your system is already drained, add BlueDevil Radiator Flush along with clear water to fill the system. Then, run your car for at least 10 minutes, or up to 6 hours of drive time as long as you’re certain the outdoor temperature will not drop below 32 degrees. Then you can simply drain your cooling system the same way and add the manufacturer’s recommended amount and type of coolant.

For more in-depth directions on how to use BlueDevil Radiator Flush, click on the banner below!