Radiator Flush recommendation

[portculisz4]

About to complete my full service on my recently purchase 2004 E85 2.5i by renewing the radiator coolant. The car has done about 130K miles and has been very well serviced during its life, but does anyone recommend doing a cooling system flush (using Prestone or similar) to flush and clean out the system before putting in the appropriate antifreeze coolant.

 

[kis]

Just with de-ionised water in my opinion... let’s see what others say!

 

[DMike]

Flushed mine recently. One thing to take into account is that when draining from the radiator there will be significantly left in the block. Instead of removing the plug from the block I flushed it about five times with de-ionised water (starting the engine and pump between each flush) and then, with mostly water left in the block, refilled with oem fluid and water, calculated to give a correct concentration.

 

[portculisz4]

That's a thought - I didn't think about the residual flushing solution left in the engine block, I guess you wouldn't want that (no matter how diluted) mixing with the antifreeze when you come to finally fill up again at the end of the flushing cycle. Also assuming a 50/50 mix when filling with the antifreeze, I'me using the Triple QX Blue which conforms to the BS6580 standard (no amines, nitrates or phosphates)

 

[tompayne1028]

These are the instructions I followed to flush my cooling system! https://www.zpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t=488476 - Wishing you the best!!!

 

[portculisz4]

Interest link but using a slightly different procedure since he has the electric water pump and not belt driven as with my car. Interested to note that he avoided removing the drain plug from the engine block, does anyone know if this is an issue and has also avoided draining the block as well ??

 

[Scooba_Steve]

I've only ever flushed when I suspected contamination. Even easier with the electric pump, connect charger and make sure it doesn't go dry.

Drain it, put flush in if you want, run the pump, drain rinse repeat then fill with fresh coolant and bleed.

Only put in coolant that meets BMW spec, TripleQX isn't listed.

 

[kis]

G48 in mine, just make sure you follow the instructions and use de-ionised water (not tap water).

 

[Scooba_Steve]

For BMW coolant, you can use tap as long as it meets the quality requirements (all the UK appears to).

No way the dealers put de-ionised in :lol:

 

[portculisz4]

I have gallons of water filtered, saved and stored from my home de-humidifier, I plan to use this.