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Old 07-30-2016, 11:35 AM
undead toaster undead toaster is offline
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Join Date: Jul 2016
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Default coolant flush - water ratio and bleeding

I hate for my first post here to be regarding something on which there is already a lot of information, but most of it is slightly inconsistent and I'm a bit nervous I messed something up following several tutorials at once. This is a 2001 Ranger XLT (non-pressurized reserve tank)

What I did was this:

- Opened pet**** and drained radiator
- Ran tap water through it until it came out clear
- Continued running tap water, but with the truck running and the heat on.
- Closed pet**** and filled radiator with water and ran truck until heat blew hot and then drained the radiator again... I repeated this a couple times, the last time with distilled water. I had to rev the engine to get the heat to blow warm, maybe I was just impatient. The radiator cap was off for all of this.
- Drained the radiator again, as well as the reserve tank.
- Poured maybe 3 qts of pure antifreeze in which filled the radiator. I put the cap on, ran the truck/heater and then added more antifreeze. The radiator was full before I had added the full 5.25 qts, so I poured the rest of the antifreeze into the reserve tank and filled that to the line with distilled water.
-- This is where my main concern is - my impression was that the radiator would hold all my antifreeze and then some water... will it be a problem that this is basically pure antifreeze? Presumably it will mix with the water that should be in other parts of the system and be fine? But it seems realistic that more than half of the coolant system capacity is held outside the radiator?
- I ran the truck and heater for about 20 minutes and when it was cool the radiator was still full, though a little was pulled from the reserve tank.

Does it seem like I'm good to go now? I should take the radiator cap off, run the truck/heater for 15 minutes or so, replace whatever spills out with 50/50 coolant and keep an eye on levels for a few days? I'm a bit nervous that I missed something and the engine will overheat while I'm driving around and the guage won't accurately reflect the temperature.

Thanks
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  #2  
Old 07-30-2016, 12:57 PM
dvrich dvrich is offline
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Posts: 3,181
Default Re: coolant flush - water ratio and bleeding

Any stronger than a 50/50 mix will reduce the coolant's ability to remove heat.
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Old 07-30-2016, 01:55 PM
Fasttrackranger Fasttrackranger is offline
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Default Re: coolant flush - water ratio and bleeding

It'll run hotter with more antifreeze mix. Better have a good thermostat. Although as an engine rebuilder, I love engines that aren't all rusty. drive it and if the gauge goes up stop and put water in it. I like to rev it with the cap off and the pump will suck it out the radiator. Keep on the throttle while adding more water then replace the cap. After the cap is on let off the throttle.


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antifreeze, bleed, burp, coolant, flush

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