I just got my 98 Dodge Ram 1500 about a week ago but before I bought it I took it to a mechanic to have them check it out. One thing it needed was a coolant flush. I decided to do it myself and save money.

I pulled the drain plug and it drained fine. I took off the coolant reservoir, emptied it, washed it out and put it back on.

I filled the reservoir about half way between the add and fill lines with water. I put cleaner and water in the radiator. This is where I run into problems. The owners manual says it holds 20 quarts which is 5 gallons. I only got about 1 1/2 gallons in both the reservoir and radiator before it was full. I figured I just needed to run it and let it circulate through the system. I ran it awhile and managed to get another 1/2 gallon in the reservoir so I'm up to about 2 gallons. I'm wondering could my radiator be plugged? Is there air bubbles? Or do I just need to keep running it and let it circulate? If it's plugged or has air bubbles how can I fix it?

 

Draining the radiator will not drain all the coolant out of the system. Heater core will still hold some, as will the engine block.

 

Ok thanks

 

What is the easiest way to flush that out?

 

Easiest? I took the upper radiator hose off the radiator, and pointed it in to a bucket. Had my water hose right there handy, and just kept adding water, as the engine pumped it out, until the water ran nice and clean. (was flushing the flush chemicals at the time.) If you want to drain out as much as possible..... there are drain plugs in the side of the block, that will get most out of the engine, completely emptying the heater core is not really possible without compressed air, or, physically removing it from the truck. (which is a right pain in the ***.....)

And by the way: Welcome to DF.

 

Thanks. Thats basically what I ended up doing. I just opened the plug and put my hose in the radiator and ran the engine till it was mostly clean. I ran out of buckets so I had to stop. It'll at least get me by till I can either do it better myself or afford to have a mechanic do it.

Thanks. I love my Dodge Ram a lot more than my old ford crown vic. I'll do everything I can to keep my Dodge up and running as long as possible