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That is fantastic bit of information. Thank you sharing. If I had to pay a mechanic to do this, I don't think they will go into this much detail! Thanks!
Worth mentioning in cars that don't have a coolant drain on engine block to take the thermostat out and stick in garden hose through there to perform a good flush out of the block. Good video mate
I take your point but disagree that thermostat removal is necessary to flush the engine. As you see in the video, an amount of old coolant will always be left in the engine regardless of how you drain it so that's why cold and hot flushes are done. Unless you're replacing the thermostat, leave it be. 👍
My car actually calls for it. I need to flush the radiator independently of the engine. So it's radiator flush and back flush then thermostat out and flush through there and then back flush through the bottom radiator hose. Then I can do the distilled water run.
+118Wilson I understand you doing the radiator flush but if you left your thermostat in place, filled with water and ran the engine for 30 seconds then drained and repeated, your engine would run clear. A hot flush with distilled/deionised water would then finish the job. My thermostat is very accessible but I still Leave it alone and I wanted to show in the video how a clean engine could be achieved without thermostat removal. On some cars, they're ridiculously inaccessible.
No need to remove the radiator vent hose when refilling the system as you already have the expansion tank cap off and it vents there. Excellent video though, looking forward to seeing more! Maybe how to clean / clear the AC drain?
Hi! Excellent job! I'm not a car mechanic but a "mechanical engineering technician" (... hope this is the right British English description of my education 😊)... I perfectly understand how this works and what you've done... Now my question: I would like to flush the small radiator (which is behind the firewall) as well. Do you think it is necessary? Or will it be flushed well with this method as well? The reason I'm asking is because I do not have good heating. This winter we had sometimes -12 to -15°C and the car was only blowing moderately warm air (about 20-22°C) so maybe it's clogged a little bit... (Just my opinion). But there is a that stiff horizontal steel bar and I can't really reach those 2 hoses to flush them separately... (I even have less room to work as it's a 4.4L V8). Any ideas? Or will this solve that problem as well? My XC90 was built in 2006 (15 years old) and I never ever changed the coolant. I let it measured at 2 fill-up stations, both told me it's good 'till -23°C, but the same coolant fluid is by now 15 years in the car... (310+ thousand kms under the hood). Sorry for my bad English, I'm from Hungary. If you have time, I would be very happy for a reply, I would like to change the coolant next week. Thanks for that VERY precise described video. I know that 90% of YT watchers want to see short videos but I'm one of the 10% who also want to know the "reason behind it" (I always get bad comments for long videos, where I describe something in depth). Again sorry for my bad English! Hope you reply 😊 Once again: EXCELLENT FOOTAGE! THANKS FOR SHARING IT HERE!
Hi. On an XC90, both heater pipes should be equally hot when the engine is up to temperature. If one heater pipe is noticeably hotter than the other, you have some kind of restriction in the heater matrix/radiator.
Tap water content and quality varies so much around a country, it's easier give blanket advice and say don't use it. If you live in a soft water area, some manufacturers may allow that to be used but if you see how hard water scales a kettle or boilers, you definitely don't want that happening in the extremely fine fins of a car radiator or the slim channels of an engine block or heater core. Unrestricted circulation is essential for correct cooling and protecting your engine. If you have a condenser tumble dryer, you could even use the water from the drawer but ultimately, when talking about deionized water, we're talking about buying something that's less than £1 a litre every 5-10 years so for me, it's not up for debate. Hope that helps and thanks for the question.
very nice thank you . thought if one take the thermostat out it should drain the engine block. also ??time to change the radiator hoses and thermostat at ??what miles thx
Hi, great video again, thank you. You mention distilled water in your video but use deionised water. Is it okay to use distilled water instead of deionised?
Don't worry about draining the engine as it makes little difference for the time it takes. 6 litres is about right so repeat and flush with water until clean like in the video.
Hey mate, planning to do my flush this weekend, just for peace of mind; when you take the bottom radiator hose off at 10:00, are you think flushing (with garden hose) through the coolant expansion tank, or from the top radiator hose? (I have 2003 XC70, so should be same/similar set up) Thanks.
Hi, love the video! Got a question. I recently got a 2000 (classic) v70 2.4 and I noticed that the coolant was red and not particularly clean. I assume the someone once upon a time decided to put g12 in it while Volvo says only their own coolant or a similar g11 coolant is allowed. So since I got no garage I wanted to drain it, flush it with water a couple of times and put g11 coolant in but since you can’t get all of the old stuff out I’m afraid the 2 coolant types will mix and mess things up. Heard strange stories about clogs and reactions. What do I do?
Volvo until the 2014 model year used G-48 coolant. That's a HOAT type coolant that BMW also used until 2019. Flush the system thoroughly,I personally would use a flushing agent to remove as much old coolant. Flush it out again with distilled water several times and fill it with either new Volvo or G-65 coolant. The G-65 coolant is Volvo approved.
SiRobb Thanks for video. I got a trouble - I was recently replaced timing belt and waterpump. And in garage guys was replaced my coolant as well. But they drain and fill red color antifreeze. If it's gone be ok for my D5 please?
When the radiator is empty, did you have to fill up from the expansion tank? I don't see a radiator cap that Im' used to. DO you have to run the car, and keep the expansion tank filled so the radiator sucks up the coolant?
If you have both a radiator and expansion tank, you fill through the expansion tank until it is at the marked maximum level on the expansion tank then fill the radiator to the top. Replace both caps and run the engine up to temperature when the thermostat opens. That should be enough to bleed air out and create space for a top up to the maximum mark on the expansion tank and to full on the radiator *when the engine is cold* . Some systems have additional bleed screws in the pipes which need carefully loosening just after the engine has been started until coolant leaks out then close the bleed screws. Mine doesn't have or need the bleed screws so you need to be familiar with your own system and seek help if you're not certain.
@@sirobb thanks. My vehicle is the Volvo XC90 2008. I don’t see a radiator cap. So I just fill up from the expansion tank even if the radiator has been drained?
Is it safe to literally drive the car for a few days with only distiled water until it does a very good flush to the entire system? I mean when there is not below 0 degrees Celsius.
@@szucsanlaszlo7437 Some versions of the manual were correct @8 litres as you can see at the start of the video but then 12 litres incorrectly appeared in later manuals and that mistake was repeated in the Haynes manual. When you do the job, you will see that 12 litres is impossible.
Probably a mis print which has been repeated but best to ask Volvo or Haynes. It would be impossible to get 12 litres in the cooling system regardless.
I flush repeatedly with distilled water, so I know that's the only fluid remaining. Then I add concentrate to 50% of the system's volume then top up with more distilled.
Robb. I am stuck. 2010 xc90 2.4d With the engine cold, i emptied the fluid via the bottom radiator hose as there is no access to the drain plug due to the sump guard on my xc90. I got all arround 5litres or more out. when topping up (with pure deionised water for a hot flush) i took off the top radiator hose poured down the hose and poured into the tank resevoir as much as i could. But i cannot seem to get another 5-6 litres back into the system. I have been squeezing the top radiator pipe like crazy and got air bubbles out, but there is no more to come. I started the engine with the ac and heater on, to try and circulate the water to get more in, and then i hear a bad sound come out from the water pump i suspect so i immediately turn it off. Do you know what i can do? Ideally id like to start the engine to get the air out that way but i feel it is going to keep making bad sounds and dont want to damage anything. I was looking forward to this but hasnt been as straight forward as i hoped. Do you know what i could do next?
Don't worry about getting it all in in one go as the system will never fully drain. You'll also struggle to exactly replace what's been drained due to the complex channels in a cooling system. Only regular use of the engine can get all of the air out of the system so you check it daily and top up if necessary until the cold coolant level stabilises. Usually within a few days. So long as the cold level in the expansion tank is above minimum and not above max, *and* there's no chance of freezing, you can use deionised water for a few days and repeat the drain or go straight to putting in the concentrated coolant if the system is draining clean.
If the coolant level is correct when starting the engine and there are no leaks, draining and filling coolant has zero influence on the running of the engine. If you turn the engine on and it dies, it won't be a result of anything relating to the coolant change. I don't know why your engine is making a funny noise so only you can decide if you want to start it again.
@@sirobb im with you 100%. i have never heard the sound before, its not an engine sound, it definitely is on the right side and i feel like it can only be the pump running dry? But i cant get anymore water into the system?
A worn engine mount can allow engine/gearbox contact on the subframe so you could check them and any other mounts. You can't fill a cooling system without the water pump being flooded with water so if the pump is original, genuine Volvo it's generally good for 300k+ miles.
That was excellent 👏. Can you do mine ? Only joking. 😀. Ive got a 53 plate volvo v70. 270,000 miles. Mine has never seen distilled water. In fact I used some from a stream at Whernside , Ingleton last week. It was peaty water. I think 8 need to sort. Thanks again , very informative 👍
Thanks for the comment. Some natural waters and soft water area tap water can be ok but to keep this as universal as possible, I recommend distilled/deionised for certainty. Some areas have hard water which will cause no end of problems long term.
How I do it takes a few hours so you probably wouldn't want to pay for that. Most garages will do a drain and fill change which is good enough for about £50. It's an easy cooling system to work on.
It's a pain in the bottom if you don't have access to all of this, i.e., a place to work on, access to a water hose, etc. etc. So you're left with 2 options: 1) leave the car to a garage and pay for the job or 2) just drain out the old fluid through the radiator drain plug and fill it up with a 50-50 mix. Also, it doesn't really matter how much comes out as you keep topping up through the reservoir tank. Anyway, just my 2 cents.
I suppose any DIY job is a pain without suitable tools or facilities and like any DIY job, there aren't many correct ways to do a proper job and million wrong ways. I would never use 50/50 premix for example as you guarantee a weaker final mix.
