Turbo Buick Cooling System Maintenance Flushing Procedure

[t-topflyer]

How often should the cooling system be flushed on a Turbo Buick?

What is the proper procedure to do so?

Is there a specific brand/type of coolant that should be used and/or brands/types that should be avoided?

Thanks in advance for your advice and help.

 

[87gninpa]

Not sure when Buick recommends to do the service (I think 50k?), but you can just use regular old coolant, no DexCool. I usually use about 3:1 distilled water to coolant and throw in RMI 25 and my temps stay around 160-170 under normal conditions.

As far as refilling, just fill the rad then start the car. Once the stat opens up it will suck the coolant in and just keep adding to the rad until it doesnt take any more, then close it up. Make sure to fill the reservoir to the proper level as well. Not much to coolant service on these cars.

 

[novaderrik]

if there are any drain plugs in the bottom of the block, open them up, too. a lot of crap settles in the bottom of the blocks that should really get cleared out when the coolant is changed.
i like to drain al lthe coolant and fill it back up with straight water.
then drain it again.
then take the thermostat out and jam the garden hose in there with all the drain plugs removed and petcocks open and run the hose until the water runs clear.
put the thermostat back in and hook the hose up. take off the heater hose that is the highest up.
then i fill it up with the water/antifreeze mix until it comes out of the unhooked heater hose- this means that the engine is full and there are no air bubbles.
hook the heater hose back up and top off the radiator.
start it up and watch the level- if it starts to drop down, then keep it topped up. as soom as it doesn't go down any more, it is full.
put the cap on, fill the overflow to the "full cold' mark, and let it run until it gets up to temp. a quick drive around the block will warm it up a hell of a lot faster than just letting it idle.
if it holds pressure, you should be good to go. recheck the water level after it cools down and top off as necessary, but it shouldn't be low.

 

[t-topflyer]

Do you just flush with straight water or do you use one of the coolant flushes available at the auto parts store?

I know there is a drain for the radiator at the bottom, but are there any in the block?

 

[1quick6]

For another way to do it ... Here's how the good old fashioned Chilton manual describes it:

Completely draining and refilling the cooling system every two years/30k miles at least will remove accumulated rust, scale and other deposits. Use a good quality antifreeze with water pump lubricants, rust inhibitors and other corrosion inhibitors along with acid neutralizers.

1.Drain the existing antifreeze and coolant. Open the radiator and engine drain petcocks, or disconnect the bottom radiator hose, at the radiator outlet.

Before opening the radiator petcock, spray it with some penetrating lubricant.

2.Close the petcock or reconnect the lower hose and fill the system with water.

3.Add a can of quality radiator flush.

4.Idle the engine until the upper radiator hose gets hot.

5.Drain the system again.

6.Repeat this process until the drained water is clear and free of scale.

7.Close all petcocks and connect all the hoses.

8.If equipped with a coolant recovery system, flush the reservoir with water and leave empty.

9.Determine the capacity of your coolant system (see capacities specifications). Add a 50/50 mix of quality antifreeze (ethylene glycol) and water to provide the desired protection.

10.Run the engine to operating temperature.

11.Stop the engine and check the coolant level.

12.Check the level of protection with an antifreeze tester, replace the cap and check for leaks.

 

[TR Custom Parts]

And don't forget to add this.............. RMI-25 Coolant Additive

 

[Sweetwater GN]

After a couple years of use I can say the RMI25 definitely cleaned out the coolant passages on my GN and 40 yr old mustang. No antifreeze, just RMI... then if you pop a headgasket you won't have to worry about dumping antifreeze into your oilpan and taking out bearings. I dump, flush rad, refill, run up to temp, repeat.