Help! Needing to flush cooling system

[JW]

I am needing to flush my cooling system and am not sure how. My clutch cover formed a hole allowing gear oil to mix in with the cooling system. Now it looks as though I have pudding in my hoses which I am going to replace, but I know if it is in the hoses then it has got to be in the rest of the system to. Any body had to flush their system before? Any suggestions would be great on the best way to do this.
Thanks all :thumb:

 

[zilla]

Well if it was me, I'd pull the hoses off and start there.. Then run a garden hose in the top of the radiator, and let it run out.. You could also use a hose clamp and clamp the garden hose to the top of the head and flush the engine from there..

 

[Joe-dick]

I run an auto repair shop and we sometimes have similar problems. The key is that the hoses don't like oil too much, and like solvents even less. You want to get the oil out of the system and inspect the insides of the hoses without adding anything more harsh. The answer? Laundry detergent! We use it to scrub our floors, clean engines, wash benches and counters, etc. It cuts a little slower than solvent but doesn't make rubber parts unhappy (or the city water treatment plant.)
Blast out as much of the pudding as you can with the garden hose, then mix up some detergent and water in a bucket (we use about twenty percent detergent but you can use a little more if you like) and fill the cooling system and run the engine for a few minutes to scrub it around and shake out the air bubbles(take out the thermostat first if you have one), let it soak about half an hour, drain, rinse and repeat as necessary.
Be sure to look at and feel the insides of your hoses after you rinse the soapy mixture out. If the oil has damaged them they'll feel sorta gummy and squishy. No Manufacturer endorsements - it just works for me.

 

[Gary B.]

Gotta agree with Joe. Had a similar situation with a customers truck a few months back. Use lots of patience, time, detergent, and water. Good Luck!

 

[JW]

Would it be okay to use the Prestone coolant flush that they sell?

 

[Gary B.]

I don't think it will cut the grease (oil) as well as plain old laundry or dish detergent. :think:

 

[JW]

Well, we already had the prestone cooloant flush and got the cooling flush kit. We hooked the kit up to the garden hose and ran it until the water cleared up, used the coolant flush today and it seemed to get it pretty good. The fluid that came out was real creamy looking from the oil and when we ran straight water through it it came out pretty clean. So I hope that did the trick for now. I will probably try the detergent at the end of the season to clean her up real good since the season is almost over. Thanks again guys.