Cooling system advice

[Brother Al]

Best way to fully home-bleed your system is to make sure your radiator the highest point in the cooling system, ie elevate the nose of the truck and keep burping and topping it off until the system doesnt take anymore AF. Either put the front on jackstands or park it on a minor hill, so that the radiator is reasonably elevated above the heater core. Follow the fill, run/burp, refill method noted above and dont let the truck run for more than a minute or two... with the radiator cap off. When it seems to be full, close it up and take it for a good highway drive for about 15 minutes so it gets up to temp. Park it on the same hill and let it cool off for a few hours. Recheck the AF level and refill if need be. PS, go with something other than Dex-Cool/Prestone, which is "OAT" antifreeze (Organic Acid Technology)...

Peak uses "IAT", (Inorganic Acid Technology), thus its a more chemically-stable product for use in our older cooling systems...

Either way, the systems need to be flushed every couple years, no matter what you use.

Also, you should also try to use Distilled Water, not Tap Water unless you are desperate, especially if you have hard water &/or chlorinated water. Chlorine will significantly increase corrosion in the cooling system and hard water leave deposits on the plastic components and further increase corrosion, depending on what minerals are dissolved in your water.

From Chevron-Texaco
"...Chloride, sulfates, Magnesium, and Calcium produce the formation of deposits, sludge, and corrosion. High levels of chlorine attack aluminum. Calcium and Magnesium react with fosfates to form deposits..."

 

[tinfoil_hat]

, ...Chlorine will significantly increase corrosion in the cooling system and hard water leave deposits on the plastic components and further increase corrosion, depending on what minerals are dissolved in your water.

From Chevron-Texaco
"...Chloride, sulfates, Magnesium, and Calcium produce the formation of deposits, sludge, and corrosion. High levels of chlorine attack aluminum. Calcium and Magnesium react with fosfates to form deposits..."

I think that warning is referring to hard water, not municiple chlorinated drinking water. Drinking water does not use chloride but completely different ions of either chlorite or chlorine. I think they are talking about salts and carbonates. Very common in well water. The chlorine in drinking water probably evaporates out very quickly. Dustilled water is still the best way to go though.

 

[Brother Al]

Depends on where you are with the levels of chlorine. Some places have *****/bacterial contamination issues and use the maximum allowable chlorine levels in their municipal water systems. Its usually applied via a gasification method, in many places, but when you turn on your tap and stick the hose in the radiator, it doesnt have much opportunity to completely evaporate out... usually takes a day or two to disperse completely, also depending on temp, containment, and elevation above sea level. That said, chlorine is a very corrosive material and it readily increases corrosion, and it gets worse as alkalinity &/or temp increases. It reacts very negatively with many types of antifreezes, because it reacts with the chemical compounds in both tje water and the AF. The oxidizing agents in water are hypochlorous acid & hypochlorite ions. It readily creates oxidizing reactions with sulfides, sulfites, & nitrites in the AF and the water. It also reacts with any organic materials rapidly. Small amounts in a semi-sealed, and highly-heated cooling system can cause plenty of damage over a 2 year-use cycle.

 

[kennythewelder]

I found a better pic of the hose, and I used a brass king nipple. I bought the hose @ autozone, and the brass nipple from Lowes. I brought in the old hose to match the size.

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[kennythewelder]

As for flushing the system, I like the flush and fill kit from preston. Here is where I installed the flush connector, it is on the same line with the king nipple, just farther down the line. You can just see it in the above post pic, but here is a better pic of it.

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[tinfoil_hat]

I was worried the plastic "T" and cap in that kit looked looked kinda fragile.

 

[kennythewelder]

This is about the 4th or 5th one I put on different cars and trucks. I never had one fail. The one on my truck, has been on there for years, and is still in good condition.

 

[kennythewelder]

There is a rubber gasket behind the cap. It works very well.

 

[Blue Turd]

I wussed out and replaced my Prestone T with a normal line after the flush. Looked fragile and not worth the potential headache in my mind. Glad to hear it is better than it looks though.

 

[Intimi88tr]

I used this on my 98 as I was concerned that a brass fitting may not be compatible with the intake from a corrosion standpoint.

https://www.amazon.com/Spectre-Performance-5954-Heater-Fitting/dp/B00062ZI9U

Added some of the high temp thread sealant (Permatex, red package) and it's been fine.


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Thanks for the link!