Hi All,

2000 Z28 Convertible with 6-speed manual.

My Power Steering cooler has failed and resulted in cross-contamination between engine coolant and power steering fluid ("join the club" I hear many saying!). I've obtained a new upper-radiator hose and after considering all the pros and cons, I'm just going to delete the PS cooler (at least for now).

My pressing question is about the engine coolant flushing procedure. I'm torn about whether to pull the drain plugs in the block. I've found some threads here and elsewhere detailing the procedure and I'm confident I can do it. . . but. . . I thought the car should be on level ground (or level on a hoist) while draining the block.

Are the people doing this at home actually pulling those plugs really jacking up the car, putting it on jack stands, removing the engine block coolant plugs, lowering the car back to level, waiting for it to drain, then raising it back onto jack stands, putting back in the plugs, lowering it back down, doing the fill procedure. Then repeating all that over and over until it's clear? That sounds like a lot of jacking (heh, ).

Or are they just draining it while it's at an angle? None of the threads are clear on this. But the service manual is clear that the car needs to be "parked on level ground." I'd ask the OPs directly, but those threads are years old.

Thoughts? I'm tempted to not pull the plugs at all. Or, if I do, let it drain while not level. But, I also want to do it right.

Part of my hesitation is that --if it's really all required-- I'll need to jack from the sides (one at a time). My floor jack isn't good at reaching the k-member. If I'm going to be under the car that much, and jacking up the car so many times, I'd also probably want to get better jack stands (current ones are "only" 2.25 ton/pair. . . which is technically sufficient, but it is my life we're talking about).

--H

P.S. Prior DIY experience on this car (just so people can tailor their advice to my --lack of-- skill): alternator replacement, tie rod ends, PCV line replacement, AIR check valve replacement, front brake pads, MAF sensor cleaning, oil changes.

 

So this is a different way to chase it but,,, In the past When I had to clear a similar issue with trans coolers in the radiator, I just built a adapter out of fittings and some hose that let me attach a garden hose to the inlet side of the waterpump/motor. drained the system to catch most of the coolant, removed the thermostat, then hooked up the hose turned on the water and basically just flushed fresh water through till it was clear. If you have access to hot water even better. I typically cranked the motor and fired it up for a few seconds to spin the water pump.. I have also use one of those Prestone flush gadgets that goes in the heater hose and just let the motor run with the hose on and the radiator cap off till the water was clean. (Letting the water run over out of the cap) but that requires somewhere that you can let the water go..

 

Yep, I'm in California though. And while I've read that other states allow people to just dump coolant in a household sink or toilet, it's outright illegal here. So recovering all waste coolant and water is required. And. . . I can only horde so many old milk and juice gallon jugs.

One other complication: The water around here is terrible. I wouldn't ever want to put it into my engine unless I was darn sure I could flush it all out. So I was planning on doing 3-5 distilled water flushes (estimating about 2 gallons per flush). Thus leading to my question about whether I need to be playing "pop ups" with the car if/when I do the block drains.

 

detail details..

If you have bad water buy a good RV hose end mounted cartridge water filter it will make the stuff going in clean enough to avoid issues.

If you need the car level use 4 jack stands and leave it raised while your flushing, BTW a shop vacuum works pretty good if you have the water pump off for blowing a significant amount of the water out of the block..

The other option given your cali restrictions would be to pay a specialty shop to flush your engine with one of those filtering coolant recovery machines.. Up here in Oregon its about a hundred bucks though..

 

Hmmm, I guess I never really considered four jack stands for this job because I chickened out the last time I considered doing that. Maybe I'm being a weenie, but every time I read the specs/manuals for jack stands, it always said explicitly that they were not intended to be used for that. Surprised me. Some googling showed differing opinions on the safety of doing so. I sway back and forth from thinking: "Stop being such a weenie! Everyone does it!" and "You've got two kids, it's not worth it if you do something stupid."

I've considered having it professionally flushed. But I've gotten to the point where I don't trust much of anything on this car to anyone but me. This car and I have grown "old"(-ish) together (bought it new in Dec 1999).

Thanks for your replies. I hope I'm not coming off as someone who isn't willing to accept help and just holds out to hear what he wants to hear ("don't worry about pulling the plugs, the flush will get the PS fluid out fine without it!").

--H

 

I use the 5ton harbor freight ones,, put the car on them and push, you'll find that on a concrete floor you can't even get the car to wiggle. I have spent most of my life under cars with jack stands...

I don't use the cheasy tube and 3 leg ones, I use the Heavy as hell 4 leg welded ones. (some of them I re-welded with 7018 stick casue after all I'm under there..

 

I just did this.

Yes - the car needs to be level. Tilting the rear up seemed to help a bit also.

I never had a proper flush since I had the PS cooler problem, so I chose to do it right this summer. WARNING - it makes a total mess. There is now way to direct the coolant where you want it to be. I also found that removing the alternator (be careful of the exciter wire!) helped get to the plug and also reduced the mess. <- It also kept my alternator dry. This is one of the thread here, which really helped me: https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...k-coolant.html


When I did mine:
- I jacked up the front to remove the plugs and take my initial bath in coolant.
- I then lowered the front and let it drip some more.
- Then I put my jack under the differential and jacked up the rear as high as I could in to the air. (Both wheels at the same time.) I let it hang there until it all dripped out a little bit more.
- Raise the front, put back in the plugs (with proper high temp sealant) and then put everything else back together.