Howdoo.  I split this from the other thread to save a confusion....

The general principle of flushing remains the same whether there is a drain plug or not.  It just gets a bot messier.....

Al you require to do is undo a botton radiator hoseclip when engine is cool and no pressure in the system (saves getting scalded!) to allow water to drain out.  Refill from the header tank, bleed out the air with cap off and heater on full, then drain/repeat a few times until water is clear.  Thereafter drain again and refill with neat antifreeze untill you get the correct %age mix.  Someone who knows what this is will no doubt be along later to advise!

Straightforward to do, just take care not to get scalded.   

ChocolateMonster wrote on 23. Sep 2007 at 11:09:

That would be great 

The recommended coolant of choice is the genuine Vauxhall/GM 'Red' stuff which has a longer life and is very cheap on Trade Club 

Yep - bought a 5L tub for 11.90 (inc VAT) from Vauxhall in Taunton....

Dealing with  the coolant flush and creating a guide will probably have to wait until next weekend - but thanks for all the help and advice. When I stumble again, I may be back!!

I suspect my problem is going to be access to the bottom hose on the radiator....I just don't remember it being easy to get to....

I'll post back when I have an update!!

omegaman2 wrote on 24. Sep 2007 at 17:59:


Only because I have absolutely no idea when it was last changed. To be fair, the coolant in the header tank doesn't look too bad.

This is more an exercise to grow my confidence in all things mechanical really - changing the coolant can't hurt, and I learn some stuff as well!!

Kevin Wood wrote on 25. Sep 2007 at 16:43:


Time for a stupid question - sorry.

If the system is "sealed" once I have refitted the bottom hose after the final flush, how does further air get bled from the system. Where does it escape from?

It doesn't really matter - I was just curious. I want to make sure I understand what I'm doing!!

OK - the weekend got away from me a little, and so plan to tackle this one evening this week.

Just to make sure I have a complete understanding of what I am doing:-

1. Drain coolant.
2. Fill with clean water.
3. Run engine until warm with heaters on full blast.
4. Drain (now dirty) water.
5. (Repeat 2 - 4 several times)

Now comes the bit I am not clear on.

When I do the final drain of dirty water, surely some water remains inside the cooling system?

Therefore, if I were to add a 50/50 mixture of coolant/water to the system, then the resultant mixture would be at a weaker concentration than 50/50 because of the water that remained in the system after the last drain.

Should I, therefore, after the last drain of dirty water, simply fill the system with NEAT coolant - as the water that remains in the system will effectively dilute it to 50/50? Or is there some other way to mix the coolant to end up with the right concentration in the system?

And finally, do I need to remove the header tank and flush that out and refit during the flushing? After all, if not, how do I get rid of the potentially icky coolant that might lurk in there?

Sorry for being a dufus....

Thanks for the help!!

So, what you're saying is that when I drain the system there is still 3.9 litres of fluid remaining in the system - even when no more fluid drains from the bottom of the radiator?

I have no reason to doubt you one little bit - but how do you know that it is 3.9 litres (as opposed to 6 litres, or 2.8 litres etc etc etc)? In other words, is this based on experience or is there a goldmine of information out there that I don't currently have access to???

Cheers!!