I would rather take the time than to put hose water in my block.

 

Up here in BC there's nothing wrong with what comes out of your tap, no one even uses distilled water here.

 

Couldnt you just rig up a fitting to put on one end of the hose and use air to pressuize the system and blow all the water out the other end??? Or is there something in there that would prevent the water from passing?

Also those coolant wash things you see... do they actually do anything or would a fluch like OP did be the same thing?

 

I recommend distilled water over tap water in cooling systems because it is virtually free of unwanted chemicals and minerals. Contaminates that can compromise the integrity of a cooling system and it's components.

Tap water in many parts of the country is processed containing items such as minerals, chlorides, dissolved oxygen, flouride and chlorine. The addition of tap water to concentrated coolant causes a rapid depletion of the coolants' anti-corrosion additives as it works to dissolve or neutralize those chemicals and minerals introduced into the system. The simple addition of tap water has prematurely degraded the coolants' corrosion inhibitors and consequently,reduced the coolants' effective life expectancy. In addition, any dissolved minerals in the antifreeze/water mixture, now have ample opportunity to form scale deposits and compromise the heat tranfer rate of the cooling system. Given that information, I find that tap water places the user at a disadvantage and recommend distilled water.

 

Distilled is cheap...

 

I should have been more specific. Some pressure testers have a gauge and regulator that can be hooked to compressed air source. This method works great because you can set your regulator to system pressure and then use either distilled water or your new coolant to flush/displace your old coolant.

 

So you have to remove the thermostat correct? The ISB won't properly fill with pressure with the thermostat inplace.

 

I do not know the cost of a Fleetguard optical refractometer. As I mentioned, try a Cummins dealer or big rig shop. I do know that refractometers are available through many online stores or Ebay. Prices range from 20 to 120 dollars.

 

Got 112k on the original coolant. Time for a change now.

Would a 60/40 mix be good for the cold weather up here? So I would need about 20 gallons of distilled H20 to get it fully flushed and refilled?

 

50/50 gets you to -34*F. If you need more than that then yes 60/40 is good.

 

Tap water quality varies quite a bit from one location to another across the country. It's good to know what you're drinking or cooking with, much less putting in your truck. The water here comes from mountain snow melt and is unusually soft and pure, so I have no problem using it in the vehicles.

 

I wish that was the case here! Ours is more then likely pumped out of a drainage ditch next to the power/chemical plants in Freeport. Ours is unusually hard!

 

That's what I was getting at, our water here is good, no one uses distilled water...

 

i'm gonna be running to the store today to get the distilled water and coolant. i plan to flush my radiator like AH64ID did. thanks for the info!

 

So is it a recommended or just a good idea to replace the thermostat when you change out the coolant?

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2005 2500 Crew Cab short bed 4x4 with a NV5600 3.73 With Limited Slip
113,000 Miles, K&N Drop in filter
12K Mile Marker on TRANS4MER MOUNT
BFG KO AT 275/70 R17