Im looking for instructions on how to properly flush and change my coolant.

I get I yank the plug and drain it and then fill it with water run it and drain again then fill it with new coolant. But do I pour the coolant DIRECTLY into the radiator or into the coolant tank or does it even matter.

The other question I have is about air bubbles in the system. When I refill the radiator or coolant tank do I just put the cap back on or is there a procedure to get the air out of the system?

 

bump

 

Fill the radiator with coolant. Start the car with the cap off and let it run. Fill as needed into the radiator. Once you stop seeing bubbles your radiator should be full and without air. This is what I have done to my X and other cars.

 

This is my step by step I use with success.

1. Pull the radiator cap
2. Pull the petcock, let coolant drain
3. Fill with water, where you pull the radiator cap
4. Drain water
5. Fill with coolant, where you pull the radiator cap
6. start car with radiator cap off, look for coolant to bubble
7. when it stops bubbling, replace cap.
8. remove cap from overflow reservoir
9. pull the drain hose out of reservoir a little and wait for coolant to stop running.
10. Profit.

Keep in mind that flushing the radiator doesn't do much more than a drain and fill since all the sediment settles to the bottom of the radiator anyway. The water you flush has so much resistance through the radiator that it doesn't remove much. If it gives you peace of mind, it's only one more step so go for it.

 

bump! My coolant level is low..Do I just add more or replace the whole coolant? Also I pour in from the radiator cap?? I have approximately 18K miles

thanks

 

Is just draining fluid from the radiator sufficient? In other cars, I've had to open up a drain plug from the engine block to get all of the fluid out. Is there such a thing on this car?

 

pics of this wld be nice

 

there is a video on youtube from mishimoto radiators company showing how to flush an evo X prior to upgrade the radiator.
just put the plug back and refill it, or follow your fellows inst.
the video will show you where the plug is

 

Found it thanks.

 

I like to run my car as I do this, with the petcock out, a hose on full blast into the radiator, and I let it cycle for 5-10 minutes with fresh hose water. I then move over to distilled water and Water Wetter or your normal coolant 50/50 mix etc. I feel that this "flushes" the system out better as you're constantly reintroducing fresh water and letting out the old.

Lou

 

Doing this soon. 30k maintenance...should be fun.

 

This is how I change my coolant:

 

^^ i lol'd

 

what kind of coolant do you guys use in your car i just got some mishimoto rad hoses and was going to flush my system and use redline water wetter and just water any sugestions

 

1. Open Radiator Cap When Engine is cold
2. Open Lower Radiator Drain, Then Drain (about a Gallon of Coolant comes out), close drain, add a gallon of distilled water. Open drain again, this will flush everything in radiator better than leaving drain open when adding distilled water.
3. Close Lower Radiator Drain, Fill with About Gallon Distilled water (from Walmart) Leave Rad Cap off, Start Car
4. With the car still running, Keep adding distilled water slowly until ALL bubbles Stop (once bubbles have stopped, wait a couple minutes, where you are sure the bubbles have stopped.) I lightly squeeze the upper radiator hose, the lower radiator hose, and the heater core hoses to assist in bubble removal. (Also the black guard underneath bumper is off at the time of this)
5. There are more bubbles behind thermostat, we’ll get them next.
6. With car still running, and bubbles have stopped for like 5 minutes, put radiator cap on until lower rad hose gets a little hot(you can wait or, I just drive until I achieve this watching the coolant temperature gauge in car, I get out and until I feel lower rad hose is kinda hot), this means thermostat is opening, once lower rad hose gets a little hot, put a rag over rad cap and slowly open, releasing pressure, once pressure is gone, take cap off, add distilled water to rim or use funnel adding distilled water into funnel just above rim, so you can bleed air bubbles out, because the air bubbles (are behind the thermostat or even in heater core.) I lightly squeeze the upper radiator hose, the lower radiator hose, and the heater core hoses to assist in bubble removal. Turn on the heater for a minute or so, and then the defrost a/c where the coolant fan turns on, the coolant will fall below the rim, add more distilled water to the rim and wait out the bubbles. Turn car off and wait until upper rad hose is cooled off completely, don’t rush this, be patient Once the bubbles stop coming for like 10 minutes, put cap on. Turn car off.
7. With Car cooled off
8. Drain coolant reservoir by taking out 12mm bolt and small hose and clamp. Wash out with garden hose, add OEM coolant to FULL, reinstall bolt, hose, and clamp
9. Drain the coolant/distilled water mix out of radiator.
10. Close Drain, add a gallon of distilled water
11. Open the drain again, drain distilled water
12. Close drain, add fresh OEM coolant to top of radiator, start car, repeating the air bleeding technique in step 4 and 5 -USING OEM coolant” instead of” distilled water. Make sure lower rad hose gets kinda hot so that coolant has circulated
13. Since my 09 lancer gts takes like 2 gallons of coolant, I wait till the car is cooled off and drain coolant once more. Add another gallon of fresh coolant, and repeat air bleeding technique again with coolant. The next day or when car is cooled off, I take rad cap off, test the coolant mixture with a peak coolant tester to know my protection level, start car for 5 minutes with cap off to make sure there are no bubbles, put rad cap on, drive until lower rad hose is kinda hot, put rag over rad cap, slowly release pressure and take cap off, watch for a couple of minutes, turn on heat on high, then a/c defrost, add coolant to the rim watching for any left over bubbles. Then you are good, make sure all the bubbles are gone.


P.S.
You should have saved roughly $60.00. I use OEM Transmission Fluid CVTF-J4, it was J1, OEM Coolant Fluid LONG LIFE (Green for my car), and OEM Fuel System cleaner. I am not a chemist and will use OEM fluids even if it cost a COUPLE bucks more concerning my transmission and coolant system. I will, however, use Valvoline Full Synthetic Motor Oil every 4000 miles. I have an infrared thermometer gun from Menards for 10 dollars, when upper rad hose gets 180 degrees, I can feel the lower rad hose start to get hot, which means thermostat is A-OK, at 205 degrees the thermostat is fully open and the cooling fans will turn on without the a/c defrost being on.
I also bought the 2009 repair manual from tradebit.com, this is where I found out about the genuine Mitsubishi fuel system cleaner, the REPAIR MANUAL was only 9.99$ and worth it, downloads instantly.