Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Topic: Flush and fill kit? (Read 1216 times) previous topic - next topic

Flush and fill kit?

Having come into some very unexpected money to fix up my car, and also having put the cooling system to the test twice in one weekend, I decided it was time to put in some fresh anti-freeze and dispose of the old. I purchased two gallons of anti-freeze, a few gallons of distilled water, and a Prestone Flush and Fill kit.

My apparent problem is the metal lines on the 5.0. Not very easy to splice a plastic tee into them. :p Anyway, have any of you used these on your 5.0s? (or 3.8s, for that matter.. someday soon I'll have to do that for the '86) If so, did you do what I'm considering doing, in hacking up the line back by the heater core (or taking it out) and putting it in there with a new piece of hose? (if so, do you remember what size hose?) How did it work out for you? I'm not quite ready to remove that whole metal line setup.

Re: Flush and fill kit?

Reply #1 –
I've never done it, but I imagine that the heater hose would be a good place to put it, considering the heater hoses recieve flow all the time (not just when the t-stat is open).

Re: Flush and fill kit?

Reply #2 –
Quote
hacking up the line back by the heater core (or taking it out) and putting it in there with a new piece of hose?
Well, good luck getting something in there.
The stock hoses don't have enough straight sections to insert a "T", the two hoses wrap around each other like they're making baby hoses, and there's so little space between the firewall and engine pipes you may end up using a hose 2-3 feet long, so it can make a gentle enough loop to not crimp closed once it heats up and softens.
Quote
do you remember what size hose
To the core 3/4" with a flow restrictor insert.
From the core 5/8".

Death awaits you all with nasty, big, pointy teeth.

1988 5.0 Bird, mostly stock, partly not, now gone to T-Bird heaven.
1990 Volvo 740GL. 114 tire-shredding horsies, baby!

Re: Flush and fill kit?

Reply #3 –
best bet may be to rig something up using old hoses rigged together and a garden hose adapter

Re: Flush and fill kit?

Reply #4 –
The Prestone Flush-and-Fill kit comes with a few different tees. I'll have to go look and see what sizes are available.

With that flow restrictor in the larger hose, would it be wise to (for example) tack a tee onto one end of that hose to keep the restrictor in the system, and then do the loop with a 2-3' piece of hose like you suggest?