What exactly goes into this process? Draining the coolant and then flushing water through it a couple times? Or do I need to buy some kind of detergent/degreaser to get the built-up gunk out? I was going to replace my coolant reservoir with a new one that I got in a big lot of parts, and I figured since I have to drain my coolant for this anyway, it would be a good time to get my coolant system nice and clean. Just some basic tips would be nice, I'm pretty comfortable working on cars, just have never performed a coolant flush before! It's an '89 VW so it's just about the simplest car to work on.

I had an '86 Golf. I always thought they were designed by engineers who were mechanics first. I usually just run water through the radiator from top to bottom. You just have to make sure it goes through the radiator, and not just down one tank and out the outlet. In through the cap and out through the outlet should work.

And since coolant is way poisonous, I always park my car in the grass when I flush, so the coolant doesn't go into a waterway or get licked up by animals. In the grass the bad stuff gets filtered out by the soil. At least I think it does.

there is a thing you can put in your heater hose its a plastic tee that you can screw a garden hose to and then with the engine running and the heater on and the drain cracked you can flush out the whole cooling system

Posted by splumer I had an '86 Golf. I always thought they were designed by engineers who were mechanics first. I usually just run water through the radiator from top to bottom. You just have to make sure it goes through the radiator, and not just down one tank and out the outlet. In through the cap and out through the outlet should work. And since coolant is way poisonous, I always park my car in the grass when I flush, so the coolant doesn't go into a waterway or get licked up by animals. In the grass the bad stuff gets filtered out by the soil. At least I think it does.

Most of it evaporates when exposed to the sun and dilution is the solution to pollution.

Posted by TheVicariousVadder Most of it evaporates when exposed to the sun and dilution is the solution to pollution.

i always say if it came from the earth it should go back to the earth

Yea, seems pretty straightforward. Gonna drain from the rad, then the pump, run some distilled water through/drain again, repeat a few times till it runs clear. Might use some Prestone cleaner.

Anyone use that G-12 stuff in their cars? Its kinda spendy. I hear it does wonder for engines that run warm, and anyone whos ever driven an old AC-less VW with a 1.8 shortblock knows how unbearable they can be in the summer

G12 doesn't break down like green coolant and has some sealing and lubrication qualities (think of that "water wetter" stuff). It just flows better which helps (in theory) to dissipate heat better. It's pricey but not as bad as the blue stuff they used to use in '87-'92 cars.

And I've never had any luck driving a car with a short block seeing as it'd be missing a cylinder head.

Posted by bandi And I've never had any luck driving a car with a short block seeing as it'd be missing a cylinder head.

Called that because its shorter than the standard 1.8 block to accommodate the funky transversely mounted fwd engine/transmission setup which basically sits on top of the subframe

Was going to suggest the flush thing musket boy said. These are cheap, probably work well, but open up 3 more possible places of leakage. With regular checks and tightening, shouldn't be a problem. The garden hose fitting is totally DIY.