427carl wrote:

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Stop putting your finger there! 

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Good advice. Unfortunately it's too late. Can I pull my finger out of the dike (sp) LOL

 

that comes from not changing the adative package. eventhough it wont freeze coolant still breaks down and it needs to be cahanged every three to five or the anticorosion inhibiter need to be replenished. i would drain it flush it with a cleaner and hope the radiator and worse yet heater core arent eaten away, bin their what a mess. i just bited the bulit and change the cores now as a headache preventor

i actually used clr but it took repeated aplication and fairly high water pressure the problem with most of these product is they are acid based so if thing are marginal you will have problems later the finger in the hole is up to you on enengine i cant run to warm up i fill the system with a hot water and claener mix. try useing an expandable plug as a stopgap to run the engine the best is still a hot tank but not always an option

Carl's right. I've used various kinds of rad flushes over the years (even good 'ole Canadian Tire...). Problem is they are very caustic. If you re-install the freeze plug and do a couple of separate applications you'll probably clean that system out pretty well. I remember doing one one time and comparing the radiator tubes before and after. It really cleaned them out. But be careful when flushing, especially if you remove a hot rad cap. That stuff is really caustic so you don't want your face anywhere near it. And in this GREEN age you're really not supposed to flush it down a drain anywhere either (..if you do for gods sake don't tell anybody...!) I don't know about now but years ago the stuff I used came in a container that looked like Ajax and the stuff was about as potent too. They were little pellets that dissolved in water and foamed and boiled up like crazy when they emptied into the rad. I'll bet a couple of app's will "boil out" your rad and block...they may also have more "green" products now too...

64ragtop 

I would use the GM rad flush, run it for a couple hours hot, drain it. Fill with water run, drain. Now put in Extended life coolant , anybodys will work 50/50 mix. I have checked this out with the manufacturer-- Recochem who makes Dexcool and all the makes, they say you can put X life on top of your old stuff no big deal . It probably only helps if you drain it and go clean with the new stuff but that way we dont have to keep both. Don't worry about the colors as there is no rules there and all the manufacturers use water colors that do not mean a whole lot . x-life is usually red, the regular is usually green or yellow, but not always. I have bought red regular AF, got scammed by CAT actually as the label misworded the XLife and made it sound like it was but it was not. I buy XL life HD Diesel and use it in everything.

I think you've got some great advice here form these guys...Use the GM stuff it does work, and hope the rad and heater core don't turn into sprinklers on you!!

I flushed it without the thermostat. Did it twice over the weekend and got lots of rusty water each time. Boiled it for about half an hour each time, even though the instructions said 10 minutes. The GM dealer charged me $1.17 per bottle.